Red light coming out of headphone jacks!

[imacintel]

Ok. I am on an iMac, and there is a weird red light that comes out of my headphone jacks. But it is only sometimes that it happens. It also happens in windows. What could this be? Is my iMac intel possesed?

[jsw]

It's the optical output being incorrectly left on. It's been discussed often here.

Edit: although in what I'd seen, mainly when running Windows.

[imacintel]

It's the optical output being incorrectly left on. It's been discussed often here.

Ok, how do I fix it?

[jaxstate]

This happens with mine too, but I though it was normal. I wish I knew how to fix it.
Ok. I am on an iMac, and there is a weird red light that comes out of my headphone jacks. But it is only sometimes that it happens. It also happens in windows. What could this be? Is my iMac intel possesed?

[realityisterror]

There's nothing wrong with it to fix.

Windows just leaves the optical digital on instead of turning it off when not in use.

[jsw]

Well, first, it's no biggie... so not exactly a bad problem (the optical won't "burn out", etc.). If it's intermittent, it's probably software related. You could, of course, bring it in. Or wait to see if updates fix it... or just enjoy the night light. :)

And if it's only under Windows, you're SOL for now.

[iGary]

Windows.

Hah. :rolleyes:

You defintely do not have The Great Secret to Life™, then.

[bbrosemer]

yet another XP problem... :) And Apple please release a driver to make the isight work, otherwise I am going to have to find some dell camera drivers and hopefully they will work...

[ManchesterTrix]

And if it's only under Windows, you're SOL for now.

Unless you read Apple's Bootcamp documentation.

[jsw]

You defintely do not have The Great Secret to Life™, then.
You're confusing him with another 'mac' member....
Unless you read Apple's Bootcamp documentation.
Ah.... well, I haven't installed it, so I didn't know. :o

However, I won't retract my statement that, if he's running Windows, he's SOL. ;) But maybe he can fix the optical issue....

[Graeme]

I've got a red light in my headphone jack and I don't have Windows installed. It's there all the time and I can't get it to turn off. Mind you it only turned on about half an hour ago when my foot got caught in a cable and pulled my lappy off the desk pulling the audio cable out and bending it. So now I don't have audio through the internal speakers, however audio still works through the port.

Anyone know of a fix or if Apple is going to charge me for fixing it if I have to send it in? It's a MacBook Pro by the way if that matters.

[Navot]

... now I don't have audio through the internal speakers, however audio still works through the port.

This just happened to me today. My MacBook Pro was plugged into speakers via the headphone jack when I closed it. The next morning I unplugged it from the speakers and the power without waking the machine so that I could pack it for work. Upon opening it my internal speakers spotted working.

I've checked all the audio-out settings I could think of and none of them seem to even recognize that I have internal speakers. I have also tried to re-create the "accident" that seems to have cause my speakers to go silent in the hopes that it would undo whatever it is I did...

But... no luck.

[CanadaRAM]

when my foot got caught in a cable and pulled my lappy off the desk pulling the audio cable out and bending it. So now I don't have audio through the internal speakers, however audio still works through the port.

Anyone know of a fix or if Apple is going to charge me for fixing it if I have to send it in? It's a MacBook Pro by the way if that matters.
Unless you are lucky, Apple will recognize that it is your own damage to the machine and not covered under warranty; therefore expect to pay for it. Your best bet will be to take it to an independent Apple dealer, preferably one with whom you alreadyt have a good relationship.

[treblah]

The Digital Audio (S/PDIF) output LED is always on when running Windows XP. How do I turn it off?

The Digital Audio output can be manually disabled by opening the SigmaTel control panel and deselecting the Enable Digital Output checkbox in the Advanced tab.

From this KB (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303572) article. ;)

[sunrobby]

my MBP have this light on the earphone jack on when in windows only, it never happen when in mac os. What does this light mean? Anyway, seems that windows in apple computer is not really fully functioned, i mean i've tried to turn on the iSight in Windows and it'll bring to a blue screen crash of death suddenly

[Tmog]

I have the problem in Mac OS and when it is on the speakers are disabled, does anyone know how to disable the digital out in Mac OS?;)

[Tmog]

I have the problem in Mac OS and when it is on the speakers are disabled, does anyone know how to disable the digital out in Mac OS?;)


I just spend one and a half hour with Apple support (very good service).

Conclusion: There is a switch in the Audio Out port that detects is there is a optical cable attached and it is probaly stuck. On the iMac and other models you can manually select the audio output (built in loudspeakers, digital out or line out) but not on the Macbook....

It has to go in to repair.....

[hbomber]

I've been having the same problem for a few days - I had headphones in my Macbook Pro, then when I pulled them out, the audio out port had a red light and the speakers stopped working.

I just fixed it after lots of tries by simply plugging the headphones jack in and jiggling it around a bunch. Hope this helps people.