Digital audio problem

[onlymiah]

I have a mid-2010 17" Macbook Pro and recently I have been having issues with the sound when I have it connected to my stereo system. I use an toslink cable. The sounds keeps cutting in and out and it is very annoying! I have tried everything I can think of to fix this issue and I am not having any luck. Through a clear ring on the cable I can see that the red light is staying on, so it isn't the signal that is intermittent. I found somewhere online that going to library/preferences/audio and deleting the two .plist files there would fix the problem. A few weeks back I was having an issue where the digital audio didn't work at all and deleting those two files fixed that problem, but it does nothing for the audio when it keeps cutting out.

The sound works beautifully if I use headphones or the built-in speakers. I only have the problem when I connect it to my entertainment system.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this problem?

 

[johnnnw]

Could it be it's not supplying enough power to the unit?

 

[onlymiah]

It used to work perfectly! It's just recently that it has hiccups. I thought I would ask around online and see if there was a fix or if I need to contact Apple.

 

[onlymiah]

All digital audio has since totally quit working!

 

[onlymiah]

I did a list of troubleshooting on my own before I contacted Apple, including resetting PRAM, deleting the two .plist files and even going so far as to reinstall the OS.

Apple has determined that it is a hardware issue and have setup a mail in service option to have it repaired. I live almost 100 miles from the nearest retail store. There are authorized service centers closer, but he said a lot of times they end up having to ship it to Apple anyway.

My ticket says: "Mac whole unit replacement requested." So I guess I will likely be getting a refurb unit in return.