So my AirPods Max died...

Yup. My AirPods Maxes decided to die - and hadn't even been with me three months. I ended up fixing them, but I felt like explaining what I did to you all so I can (hopefully) help some others out there with the following issues:

• Failing to connect, either just by not connecting at all or saying "Connection Failed" in the AirPods popup on iOS

• Failing to enter pairing mode, force restart, or force reset mode

• No LED indicators when pressing the Noise Control button, or only showing when at certain angles

• Audio cutouts, disconnects, or screeching when you move the ear cups

• Incorrect battery or charge information

• Failing to detect your head, or not reconnecting after returning to your head

• This is not an all-inclusive list of the issues that can happen. Comment below if you found something else I didn't put here!

Anyway, let's get into it.

Apple designed the AirPods Max with aluminum ear cups. Not following? Let me paint a picture:

If you have aluminum windows, for example, you might notice that in the winter they begin to condensate. The heat from inside of the house combat with the temperature outside, making the condensation that you see. While this isn't exactly what's going on here, it helps to understand a part of the problem.

It's our human nature to expel liquid through our bodies. Insensible water loss is an example of that - the amount of water we lose every day just be being alive and well. That water loss, combined with the aluminum shield around the AirPods Max, makes for a pretty easy way to create condensation on the inside of the headphones - more commonly, between the ear cushions and the plastic of the drivers.

Apple somewhat prepared for this by adding a plastic layer between the drivers and the ear cushions, and in reality it works pretty well. But they left one more spot open, and that spot is where most of the damage comes from.

I learned this the hard way when I woke up this morning, to my AirPods Max not working at all. They would connect but not play any audio, wouldn't reset, wouldn't charge or show the battery level correctly, and wouldn't detect whether or not they were on my head.

Upon taking the ear cups off of the headband and wiping the connectors with it, I was able to get it to connect and play music. And after wiping the ports where the connectors slot into, they work just as well as new.

So basically a PSA: Make sure to wipe off the condensation in the ear cushion slots when you see it. And if you don't need access to taking off the headband, put some tape over that hole for some extra protection.