MacBook Pro optical out won't turn off

If you don't have the red light...

Another forum suggested another fix which worked for me (and I did not have the red light). Turn off laptop. When you're turning it back on, as soon as the gray screen appears hit OPT+COMMAND+P+R at the same time for about 20 seconds. Logged in & it was working. Went to system preferences/sound/output & Internal Speakers magically re-appeared.

Easy Solution - FIXED IMMEDIATELY!!

I just started having the same problem 30 mins ago, and immediately came here to find an answer. I was disappointed to see post after post of people getting hardware components replaced, and even people sticking toothpicks inside their computers. Finally I came across one guy who stuck a paperclip with tape on it into the headphone jack and not only did it fix the problem, but some dust/dirt was stuck to it. So I tried the easiest solution and it worked.

BLOW INTO THE HEADPHONE JACK

It immediately worked

I verified this was a hardware problem by booting off an external drive; still no sound.

And for those of you who can't get it to work no matter what, get a pair of bluetooth speakers. The Creative D100's are only about $60; sound is much better anyway...

Toothpick worked like a charm. Another reason I love this forum.

Minicube said:

I verified this was a hardware problem by booting off an external drive; still no sound.

And for those of you who can't get it to work no matter what, get a pair of bluetooth speakers. The Creative D100's are only about $60; sound is much better anyway...

Click to expand...

Thats not the point... And it has other effects as well, such as I cant stream to my apple TV because of this. Dont know why that would be, but I cant.

And to whoever said its because of abuse to the plug, NO ITS NOT. I have NEVER used my headphone jack once, and I went today and bought the adapter to try optical for the first time ever and now its stuck on optical. FIRST time ever... explain how that is caused from abuse and not and apple flaw and ill suck your you know what.... and im NOT gonna come suck you off lolol.

dbernie41 said:

Toothpick worked like a charm. Another reason I love this forum.

Click to expand...

I second the motion!

MacBook 1st Gen now working. Took 5 seconds with the toothpick gently pushing to the side turning the red light off.

THANK YOU ♪(ﾉ´∀｀*)ﾉ

The hard way

Some time ago I had the same problem on my Mac Book. I had another Macbook with a broken main board, so I decided to wrack the connector. This showed clearly how the switch inside the connector works. After that I opened my working mac and the connector and cleaned it. Follow the instruction here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/MacBook-Core-Duo-PRAM-Battery/297/1, but not all the way! Don't remove the main board, or the cpu-cooler. Go so far that you can reach the metal strip on top of the connectors. This strip should be bend so that the connector is reachable. See first photo.The audio connector is inside a metal box. That box is for radio wave interference and for strength. So you can just wrack it open with pincers and a screw driver. Just watch out you don't drop any metal parts on the main board! When the box is removed, remove the plastic top. Now it is quite simple to clean the switch. See photo 2, the arrow is pointing to the switch. Don't be confused by the photo, you shouldn't remove the connector from the main board! On the left you see the wracked metal box. I used compressed air to clean the switch. When done (just connect the keyboard and start your mac to test), put back the plastic top, put some tape on it to keep it together and if you don't use brute force injecting a connector, you will be fine...
Hope this helps!

Solved the problem

Used the toothpick in a mid 2009 17" MBP. The red light disappeared after a few seconds and the internal speakers option reappeared.

Late 2009 iMac here. Funny thing is I NEVER use the headphone jack. And when I mean never, I mean NEVER.

Came across the problem installing Win7 on bootcamp. No sound. Fiddled with drivers and this and that for a couple hours even though the software was reporting that everything is good. Looking into the port I see the red light.

Sadly no amount of siwtching fixed anything. I had an extended warranty but it expired around december. Super bummed... not something worth $450 (based on what people are saying here) to fix when the computer is worth something like $1000 at this point in the game.

Any suggestions? Would a third party repair shop be able to handle it? Hell, I have some soldering knowledge, though I have never taken apart one of these machines and the cost of the specilized tools alone might just get a serviceman paid to fix it for me. Or am I dreaming?

Any help is appreciated.

lordofthereef said:

Late 2009 iMac here. Funny thing is I NEVER use the headphone jack. And when I mean never, I mean NEVER.

Came across the problem installing Win7 on bootcamp. No sound. Fiddled with drivers and this and that for a couple hours even though the software was reporting that everything is good. Looking into the port I see the red light.

Sadly no amount of siwtching fixed anything. I had an extended warranty but it expired around december. Super bummed... not something worth $450 (based on what people are saying here) to fix when the computer is worth something like $1000 at this point in the game.

Any suggestions? Would a third party repair shop be able to handle it? Hell, I have some soldering knowledge, though I have never taken apart one of these machines and the cost of the specilized tools alone might just get a serviceman paid to fix it for me. Or am I dreaming?

Any help is appreciated.

Click to expand...

If it's *only* happening in Window then it's a Windows driver issue, not a hardware problem.

Brian Y said:

If it's *only* happening in Window then it's a Windows driver issue, not a hardware problem.

Click to expand...

No... it's not a driver thing. That stupid red light is on. I have read of people not noticing the problem until booting into windows. Not sure why, but either way, I am certain it isn't a drivers issue.

lord wrote directly above:
[[ No... it's not a driver thing. That stupid red light is on. I have read of people not noticing the problem until booting into windows. Not sure why, but either way, I am certain it isn't a drivers issue. ]]

It's not a "drivers" issue.

I believe there is a small -mechanical switch- built into the port, that activates/DEactivates the optical portion of the output when the optical connector is inserted/removed.

That switch can become "stuck", and the result is that the MacBook seems to be "locked" in "optical mode" (which it -is-, because the switch won't DEactivate). As noted above, you can ascertain when the MacBook is in "digital" mode because the red light (optical beam) will always be on.

The trick is to use something to lightly touch the switch so that it "snaps back" to the DEactivated position, in which case a normal (analog) stereo input plug will again work.

lordofthereef said:

No... ...That stupid red light is on....

Click to expand...

Just a slight correction. Seeing the red LED is not an indication that the S/PDIF is active. Almost always the optical LED's are lit in a powered on mode (at least in AVR's, Windows PC, CD's players, iMac, DVD players, Mac Pro,....) even when not passing audio.

So even if the drivers are working correctly and no audio is sent to the S/PDIF the optical S/PDIF will still be lit.

lordofthereef said:

No... it's not a driver thing. That stupid red light is on. I have read of people not noticing the problem until booting into windows. Not sure why, but either way, I am certain it isn't a drivers issue.

Click to expand...

Fishrrman said:

lord wrote directly above:
[[ No... it's not a driver thing. That stupid red light is on. I have read of people not noticing the problem until booting into windows. Not sure why, but either way, I am certain it isn't a drivers issue. ]]

It's not a "drivers" issue.

I believe there is a small -mechanical switch- built into the port, that activates/DEactivates the optical portion of the output when the optical connector is inserted/removed.

That switch can become "stuck", and the result is that the MacBook seems to be "locked" in "optical mode" (which it -is-, because the switch won't DEactivate). As noted above, you can ascertain when the MacBook is in "digital" mode because the red light (optical beam) will always be on.

The trick is to use something to lightly touch the switch so that it "snaps back" to the DEactivated position, in which case a normal (analog) stereo input plug will again work.

Click to expand...

As I said - if you read my post again, if it is *only* happening in Windows, then it *is* a Windows driver issue. Not having the Windows driver installed can, on some models, force the audio card into digital mode. In this case, no amount of flicking it with a tooth pick will solve it.

If it is happening on Windows **AND** OS X, then it is the little switch getting stuck. It is a mechanical switch which detects the presence of metal objects. Metal object = headphone mode, non-metal object = optical, none = internal.

Ultimately - boot to OS X, and if you have sound, the hardware is fine.

Well, not sure what to do about drivers then. This WAS working at one point. I have installed on many a machine. Never have I spend this much time on drivers alone lol.

THE REAL FIX (seriously I tried everything else)

This is the only thing I have found to work but it works EVERY time.

1) Open Computer
2) Go to AUDIO MIDI Setup
3) At the very bottom left corner hit the "+" sign.
4) "create multi-output device"
5) In the settings for that device "check" the box "built-in output"
6) Hold down the "option" key and click the speaker icon at the top in the home bar of your computer and make sure to select "multi-output device".

Now you should get sound back from your computer speakers. But you still might have the grey icon up top and not be able to control the volume. So:

7) Hold down the "option" key and click the speaker icon at the top of your computer screen (on the home bar up top)
8) select "internal speakers"

Now every time you use headphones and then unplug them you will likely have to repeat #6-8.

Q-tip only kinda of works

teklikethis said:

i couldnt find a tooth pick, so i used a qu-tip without the cotton on it. it worked! anything that saves a trick to the apple store is fine by me

Click to expand...

I can get the optical sensor to swtich off by bottoming out a paper Q-tip stem, but it only works while I'm holding it position. So I shortened the stem off so it was short enough that the cotton tipped end would hold it in place. Funky. If it take it out, no more internal speakers. Seems I have no choice but to get the board replaced.

SOLVED as if it was a Hackintosh - Voodoo HDA bypasses Optical Audio "Switch"

So I have had my MacBook for about 4 years and have had this issue, as well as the previous owner a good friend of mine, had it for about a year give or take.

I have tried for years to fix this dam Optical audio issue and recently got to thinking after I built myself a killer Hackintosh for work why couldn't this audio issue be solved using some Hackintosh Kext like the ones I used building my

Well guess what IT CAN!

Here is what I did:

Test theory first with an Ubuntu Live CD - - - AUDIO WORKS!

Download the current Voodoo HDA Kexts from Sourceforge - http://sourceforge.net/projects/voodoohda/ which are for Intel HDA to begin with v286 and ran the installer.

The I downloaded the Kext Utility (Google Search to find it) It will be in the download section of: tonymacx86.com

Just run the kext utility to repair permissions, clear caches etc.

Then restart.

After restart audio possibly will be a little low, or won't mute or won't lower, so you will need to enable the Voodoo HDA Audio fixes as needed here:

1. Open the Terminal and go to /System/Library/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext/Contents directory.
2. Type the command: sudo nano -w Info.plist.
3. Press CONTROL-W (^W for search) and search for the string "VoodooHDAEnableHalfVolumeFix" (without the quotes). Change the value from false to true. Save the file. enable other fixes as needed.
5. Fix your permissions by running Kext Utility and clear your caches.
6. Reboot the system. Volume now at the right levels...

THATS IT!!

PUT THIS 8+ YEAR HEADACHE TO REST!!!

Apple couldn't do it or didn't want to and so many people on the Apple forums said you can't bypass the optical audio switch.... BS!

Send your love....

Friend me on http://www.facebook com/donald.davanzo

I actually found my audio midi program wouldn't show the check box properly on mute/unmute master volume

It was muted. I had no idea. Unmuted it. Life is good. Reported on yosemite bugs

and yes I have a 2010/2011 MBP

dondavanzo said:

So I have had my MacBook for about 4 years and have had this issue, as well as the previous owner a good friend of mine, had it for about a year give or take.

I have tried for years to fix this dam Optical audio issue and recently got to thinking after I built myself a killer Hackintosh for work why couldn't this audio issue be solved using some Hackintosh Kext like the ones I used building my

Well guess what IT CAN!

Here is what I did:

Test theory first with an Ubuntu Live CD - - - AUDIO WORKS!

Download the current Voodoo HDA Kexts from Sourceforge - http://sourceforge.net/projects/voodoohda/ which are for Intel HDA to begin with v286 and ran the installer.

The I downloaded the Kext Utility (Google Search to find it) It will be in the download section of: tonymacx86.com

Just run the kext utility to repair permissions, clear caches etc.

Then restart.

After restart audio possibly will be a little low, or won't mute or won't lower, so you will need to enable the Voodoo HDA Audio fixes as needed here:

1. Open the Terminal and go to /System/Library/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext/Contents directory.
2. Type the command: sudo nano -w Info.plist.
3. Press CONTROL-W (^W for search) and search for the string "VoodooHDAEnableHalfVolumeFix" (without the quotes). Change the value from false to true. Save the file. enable other fixes as needed.
5. Fix your permissions by running Kext Utility and clear your caches.
6. Reboot the system. Volume now at the right levels...

THATS IT!!

PUT THIS 8+ YEAR HEADACHE TO REST!!!

Apple couldn't do it or didn't want to and so many people on the Apple forums said you can't bypass the optical audio switch.... BS!

Send your love....

Friend me on http://www.facebook com/donald.davanzo

Click to expand...

Hey man, I've followed your instructions and the auto-detect when I insert or eject a jack from my computer is indeed disabled, but I still can't get the internal speakers to work (headphones work).

I sent you a love message on Facebook as well

This is what I get when I alt+click my speaker: http://i.imgur.com/VMlFnU0.png

Is there any way to add the Internal Speakers to that list?

I have an iMac, and I had no sound, either through headphones, speakers, or out of the computer (I had previously had speakers plugged in, but no, there is no red light within and I did insert and take out the plug a dozen or so times anyway to no avail). My output possibilities included only "headphones", no "Internal speakers".

I did the dondavanzo fix, but after restarting (and before the terminal biz) I still have absolutely no sound. My list of output options is not exactly like Cdbaksu, but quite similar, and I also wonder if there's a way to add "internal speakers" to the list.

So when does the class action lawsuit begin?

This is obviously a problem they've known about and refuse to fix...and knowingly continue to keep using this same system regardless. There should be a recall on every laptop for the past decade to replace this part.

Is there a software way to disable the digital out? My issue might be a little different in that my speakers work fine....I just can't get my headphones to work. Every time I insert headphones it thinks its a digital connection. Does anyone even use a digital connection out of these mini-jacks?!??

Seriously, there's got to be some way to disable the digital so it will just recognize the regular headphones.

Took my machine in to be fixed. Genius says you can't replace the headphone jack, you need to replace the entire logic board (great job Apple!). To top it off, my machine is now considered vintage & Apple won't replace it period. They can't even get in the parts. Yet another con-job w/ mounting annoyances designed for a frustrated customer being passive-aggressively coerced towards purchasing a new upgrade. Genius recommended I go elsewhere to replace the part etc.

Oh here's the best part. Genius denies this is a problem and that its been going on for about a decade now. Says it's not cry common at all.

!

Got it to work... partly.
I get sound, but the mixer works with numerous bugs. The sound level is unconsistent - it drops suddenly only to get back to normal aftet playing with Audio/midi volume settings.
I use OS X 10.7.5 on a very old 2.0 C2D black macbook.
A big thank you!

MowingDevil said:

Oh here's the best part. Genius denies this is a problem and that its been going on for about a decade now. Says it's not cry common at all.

Click to expand...

He is probably right. It is not common for me; I have had numerous Mac minis and MacBooks and never had this problem. For me (and I suspect many others) this system works well. A few posts in a forum do not a recall make.

A.