eMac won't play through internal speakers

[SkyBell]

So I had a pair of headphones plugged into my eMac over the weekend, nothing out the ordainary for me - but upon unplugging them on Monday, it still thinks headphones are plugged in and the internal speakers don't even show up in the Sound settings. I tentatively did a restart on it yesterday (the CRT does not like to be turned off, even for a moment) but that changed nothing. I've tried plugging in and unplugging headphones, also to no avail - anything I can do to help this? It's pretty urgent: I've been using this eMac as an alarm clock for 9 years now because it's the only thing I own that gets loud enough to wake me up in the morning: I've literally been late to work three days in a row now trying to use my phone as an alarm Any suggestions are most appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Dronecatcher]

Try resetting PRAM - if that makes no difference, move the following to the Desktop (or other location), restart the eMac to create fresh ones:

/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/Audio/ (entire folder)
/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemsound.plist

If anything goes wrong put the originals back.

Is there a red glow in the headphone socket that indicates it's switched over to digital audio? If so, something pointy inserted can reset it.

 

[AphoticD]

Not sure about the eMac, but I've had luck with this kind of issue by spraying a headphone male connector with some IPA, then inserting /removing it in the headphone jack a few times and twisting it around at the same time. Maybe a build of dirt/grime became wet with humidity and conductive at some point causing the jack to think there is a set of headphones plugged in.

This technique has fixed most of my audio gear which was in long term storage (which was more likely light corrosion on the internals), the AUX plug in the car and the front panel headphone jack on my G5.

 

[SkyBell]

Try resetting PRAM - if that makes no difference, move the following to the Desktop (or other location), restart the eMac to create fresh ones:

/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/Audio/ (entire folder)
/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemsound.plist

If anything goes wrong put the originals back.

Is there a red glow in the headphone socket that indicates it's switched over to digital audio? If so, something pointy inserted can reset it.

I finally was able to reset the PRAM - after realizing that the reason I was unsuccessful was I was using a PS/2 keyboard through a cheap adapter, and it wasn't registering key presses upon boot. Grabbed an old lime-green iMac keyboard and it worked - both resetting the PRAM and fixing my problem.

Interestingly, I went ahead and looked for those files you listed in those places - and I don't have any of them. Not one. There isn't even a "Preferences" folder under the Library in my user account, though there is under Macintosh HD Why might that be?

 

[Dronecatcher]

I don't have any of them. Not one. There isn't even a "Preferences" folder under the Library in my user account, though there is under Macintosh HD Why might that be?

Bit of a mystery....however, as long as it's working now..your eMac does things it's own way

 

[DouglasCarroll]

I used to have this exact same issue with a powerbook g4 where I would loose internal audio if i put it to sleep with headphones attached. I finally figured out a fix using a maintenance program (Onyx maybe?) to clear the audio cache. Worked every time. Havent had the same problem with any of my current machines so I can’t remember the exact program I used.