I posted this subject in the software forum, but have since discovered (by phoning Apple) that it now appears to be a hardware problem. 
This was my original post:
I phoned Applecare who were very helpful and took me through a number of test to see what's wrong with the speakers.
After 1 1/2 hours we tried the most obvious thing - plug some external speakers into the unit and see if they work. They did.
So it now appears to be a hardware problem - most probably a loose connection (given that sometimes music plays, others it doesn't).
SO, my question is, how easy is it to get to the wires to check if there is a loose connection?
I could and should send my computer away to Apple but I really do need it. They say that it'll take between 7-10 working days to get it back to me, and for a loose connection this seems a bit of a waste.
If anybody can offer any advice as to how to sort this out then I would be very grateful!
Thanks!
This was my original post:
Over the past couple of days I've had problems with getting the internal speakers on my 1.33ghz PB to work while I've been logged into my user area (the only user area on the computer).
When the computer is initially booted up I hear the usual BOING!! (forgive me for such a poor description!
I've been to 'Sound' in System Preferences and checked that all of the settings are correct and that Mute isn't selected, and everything appears to be ok.
I've also tried inserting a movie DVD to see if this changes anything, but the DVD starts a plays the video, but still no sound.
I haven't dropped the computer, or spilt water on it, so I would think it is almost definitely a software issue (backed up by the fact that I get the initial BOING!! sound).
I never play the speakers at full volume so I would very much doubt that they'd be shot either.
I've tried shutting down and restarting the computer, but this does not always fix the problem.
A perfect example of how erratic the problem is that when I booted the computer around 10 minutes ago there was no sound - tried playing music in iTunes and nothing... I've just started iTunes and wahey - music playing through the speakers!
Also, last night while playing a DVD, the sound was perfect for a good 20 minutes or so, but then all sound from the speakers was lost and only the video was running.
Anybody else experienced these problems? If so, how did you fix it?
I phoned Applecare who were very helpful and took me through a number of test to see what's wrong with the speakers.
After 1 1/2 hours we tried the most obvious thing - plug some external speakers into the unit and see if they work. They did.
So it now appears to be a hardware problem - most probably a loose connection (given that sometimes music plays, others it doesn't).
SO, my question is, how easy is it to get to the wires to check if there is a loose connection?
I could and should send my computer away to Apple but I really do need it. They say that it'll take between 7-10 working days to get it back to me, and for a loose connection this seems a bit of a waste.
If anybody can offer any advice as to how to sort this out then I would be very grateful!
Thanks!
