Help! My Sound Does Not Work! =(

[nnectw]

I'm not really sure if my sound is broken or if it needs repairing but it keeps going on and off.

Once in a while the sound will go off and when I click on the volume button, usually the volume symbol is white and the sound level bubbles will be too.

In my case, the volume symbol will be transparent (see-through) and the bubbles will not be filled at all (like its mute) and below the bubbles will be a circle and a slash across it.

(Picture of what I am talking about ^)

The only way for me to fix this reoccuring problem is to restart my computer which is VERY annoying and fustrating. And sometimes restarting may not work and I would have to restart it several times to get it to work again..until the problem comes up again....

This problem occurred probably 3-4months ago, but I thought it wasn't a big deal..I also just came back from a long vacation and thought maybe a long rest will do the trick..but nope =(

Please help!

 

[pat park]

Are you plugged into an external monitor?

 

[snaky69]

Either you are plugged into an external monitor using HDMI (sound output is thus regulater by that monitor/TV). Or you have triggered the little prong in the headphone jack for optical cable sound. You would then be seeing a red light come out of the headphone jack.

If that's the case, plug in a pair of headphones and plug them back out a few times, you should be able to pry it back in place that way.

 

[JesterJJZ]

A friend of mine had this problem. It was cause by some ipad remote desktop app thing. Don't remember the name, have you installed anything like that?

 

[nnectw]

Are you plugged into an external monitor?

No, my MacBook Pro is just by itself, I don't have an iMac or anything...if that's what you mean

 

[inaka]

Wow, smallest dock ever!

 

[nnectw]

Either you are plugged into an external monitor using HDMI (sound output is thus regulater by that monitor/TV). Or you have triggered the little prong in the headphone jack for optical cable sound. You would then be seeing a red light come out of the headphone jack.

If that's the case, plug in a pair of headphones and plug them back out a few times, you should be able to pry it back in place that way.

Thanks for the reply.

I don't have an external monitor like an iMac or anything, and I don't plug it into my TV or anything. I only use my Mac for gaming & school work.

Where would this red light be? Is it inside the place where I plug in my headphones? So...red light means sound is off? But it happens sometimes when my headphones are not plugged in as well...

Either way, I'll try playing with the headphone socket area. Thanks for your help!

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Wow, smallest dock ever!

My Mac is old and laggy so I have to limit what I have open to limit the lag I get

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A friend of mine had this problem. It was cause by some ipad remote desktop app thing. Don't remember the name, have you installed anything like that?

Only thing I can think of is TeamViewer which I installed quite a while ago on my Mac and my iPhone but I don't think that's the cause of this problem...Thanks for the help though

 

[krravi]

Go to MIDI Audio in "Utilities" and make sure your audio is configured correctly.

 

[snaky69]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't have an external monitor like an iMac or anything, and I don't plug it into my TV or anything. I only use my Mac for gaming & school work.

Where would this red light be? Is it inside the place where I plug in my headphones? So...red light means sound is off? But it happens sometimes when my headphones are not plugged in as well...

Either way, I'll try playing with the headphone socket area. Thanks for your help!

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My Mac is old and laggy so I have to limit what I have open to limit the lag I get

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Only thing I can think of is TeamViewer which I installed quite a while ago on my Mac and my iPhone but I don't think that's the cause of this problem...Thanks for the help though

Yes, like so:

It can get stuck like that sometimes, from what I gathered from reading here, it seems to happen more often on the 13 inchers.

 

[nnectw]

Yes, like so:

Image

It can get stuck like that sometimes, from what I gathered from reading here, it seems to happen more often on the 13 inchers.

Um...I don't see any red light coming from my earphone plug =(

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Go to MIDI Audio in "Utilities" and make sure your audio is configured correctly.

How do I know if it's configured correctly?

 

[thedarkhorse]

if the red light is on your computer is using the output optical audio (this is for hooking up to an audio receiver/tv, not for headphones or standard speaker connection). you can change this in preferences->sound->output then choose internal speakers or headphone port. I also see you have skype open, I'm not too familiar with it since I don't use it myself but check the preferences of that app to see if there is any sound output options set to optical or digital, and change them to 'default' or internal speakers.

 

[nnectw]

if the red light is on your computer is using the output optical audio (this is for hooking up to an audio receiver/tv, not for headphones or standard speaker connection). you can change this in preferences->sound->output then choose internal speakers or headphone port. I also see you have skype open, I'm not too familiar with it since I don't use it myself but check the preferences of that app to see if there is any sound output options set to optical or digital, and change them to 'default' or internal speakers.

So speaking in general, this problem is not because of my laptop but because something is triggering it? So no use going to an apple store to fix the problem and pay money right?