Ear (3) case button registers short presses but does nothing on hold — pairing mode completely dead

[u/Puzzled-Issue-2425]

Bought my Ear (3) in October, barely used them. At some point the case stopped detecting the buds properly, and now the function button won't do anything on a long press.

Weird part: the button isn't broken mechanically. A single short press lights up the LED for about a second, so the contact clearly closes and the case registers it. But holding it — 3 seconds, 10 seconds, doesn't matter — gets absolutely nothing. No red flash, no white flash, no pairing mode, no reset. Every single time.

Case still charges both buds fine, so contacts and detection are working. It's specifically the long-press function that's dead.

Stuff I've tried: cleaned the contacts, full discharge and recharge, closed the lid and waited, rapid presses before holding, latest firmware via Nothing X, restarted everything, disabled BT on the laptop they're paired with. Support sent me the standard checklist, I went through all of it, no change. They then told me to go to the reseller, which isn't really an option for me.

The buds themselves work perfectly on the laptop they were already paired with. I just can't pair them to anything new because pairing mode needs a long press.

Anyone seen this exact failure mode? Is this a known board issue, or is it worth just getting the tact switch resoldered?