Macbook pro. No sound, no chime (everything else works ok)

[Martin Devek]

I now have no sound.Tried all the different fixes on here-plugging/unplugging earphones, PRAM, Reset the System Management Controller, etc, etc.

Nothing works. Not getting any key noises, startup chime, basically its mute.

Sound icon is NOT greyed out. If I go to system preferences>sound>output my internal speakers ARE selected, they are NOT greyed out, even lets me select volume etc.

Can anyone help?


MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.11.12), 2012 Macbook Pro

 

[DeltaMac]

Try another PRAM reset. (Restart, holding Option-Command-P and R)
You should hear the boot chime. Keep holding the same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime sound two more times.
If you don't get the boot chime sound, just keep holding the 4 keys while it resets two or three times, or simply hold the keys for a restart for about one minute, then release the keys and let it boot normally.
If you NEVER hear the boot chime, then look inside the headphone port while power is on, and you are at the desktop.
Do you see a red light inside the headphone port?

If not, and you still hear no sound at all - plug earphones in. In firmly, pull out, then back in firmly. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Do anything that SHOULD give you audio, youtube video, iTunes music, etc.
Do you get audio through the headphones? Double check that audio is turned up by pressing f12.

 

[Martin Devek]

DeltaMac, thank you so much for answering so quickly!

Unfortunately, still no joy.

NEVER heard the boot chime, no red light inside the headphone port. Tried 4 times in and out. Still no joy.
Any other idea?

 

[DeltaMac]

No sound likely means - well, no sound.
Do you get the volume icon that shows you that the volume is being adjusted on your screen when you hold f11 or f12 to try to change the volume?
Do you get a "Mute" icon when you press f10? Press that a couple of times, the mute should toggle on an off.

Finally, open your Sound pref pane, click the Output tab.
Plug in headphones and wait a few seconds, maybe 10 seconds. Does the Output change to show that headphones are plugged in?
Unplug the 'phones. Does it change back to "Internal speakers"?

Final question - have you just recently noticed no sound?
Have you recently installed new software/games or used some software that also uses your audio?
Have you been inside your MacBook Pro, and could have disturbed some of the connectors on the logic board?

And, you could boot to your built-in diagnostics, which may report a hardware error of some kind.
(Restart, holding the D key. It will boot to the hardware test. Run both the standard and extended tests. Come back with any error codes that you see. )

 

[Martin Devek]

Do you get the volume icon that shows you that the volume is being adjusted on your screen when you hold f11 or f12 to try to change the volume?
YES
Do you get a "Mute" icon when you press f10? Press that a couple of times, the mute should toggle on an off.
YES
Finally, open your Sound pref pane, click the Output tab.
Plug in headphones and wait a few seconds, maybe 10 seconds. Does the Output change to show that headphones are plugged in?
NO
Unplug the 'phones. Does it change back to "Internal speakers"?
NO
Final question - have you just recently noticed no sound?
Have you recently installed new software/games or used some software that also uses your audio?
Have you been inside your MacBook Pro, and could have disturbed some of the connectors on the logic board?
NO
And, you could boot to your built-in diagnostics, which may report a hardware error of some kind.
(Restart, holding the D key. It will boot to the hardware test. Run both the standard and extended tests. Come back with any error codes that you see. )
EVERYTHING TESTED OK

 

[DeltaMac]

Which model of MBPro do you have (13-inch, 15-inch?)

Sounds like everything is working, except you get no sound at all.
I would take the case bottom off, and reseat the speaker connector(s) on the logic board.

 

[simonsi]

After that comprehensive set of actions unfortunately it sounds like the audio circuitry on the logic board (I think), has died.

 

[Martin Devek]

Which model of MBPro do you have (13-inch, 15-inch?)

Sounds like everything is working, except you get no sound at all.
I would take the case bottom off, and reseat the speaker connector(s) on the logic board.

13inch. I m not sure where the reset button is but I will try to find info in the net about it.
[doublepost=1452498272][/doublepost]

After that comprehensive set of actions unfortunately it sounds like the audio circuitry on the logic board (I think), has died.

If that's would be the case, shouldn't the icon be greyed out and/or the internal speakers not shown in the system?

 

[simonsi]

13inch. I m not sure where the reset button is but I will try to find info in the net about it.
[doublepost=1452498272][/doublepost]
If that's would be the case, shouldn't the icon be greyed out and/or the internal speakers not shown in the system?

Depends on the nature of the failure, the onboard diagnostics can't hear there is no noise so a failure in the amp stages won't necessarily be picked up but will give no audio.

Also you seem to have ruled out any software issue by what does appear to work. Other than a complete OS reload <just> in case a driver is corrupt I can't think of anything else.

 

[Martin Devek]

13inch. I m not sure where the reset button is but I will try to find info in the net about it.
[doublepost=1452498272][/doublepost]
If that's would be the case, shouldn't the icon be greyed out and/or the internal speakers not shown in the system?

I looked everywhere but I can't find how to "reseat the speaker connector(s) on the logic board."

 

[DeltaMac]

I think now that reseating the speaker connector is not a fix. After reviewing disassembly steps, left and right speakers have separate connectors on the logic board. I wrongly assumed that the 13-inch had both speakers in one connector.
If you want to check that out yourself, here's a link to iFixit's online repair steps for your MBPro.

So, no sound, no boot chime, even after a reset. No boot chime, even after a PRAM reset is a hardware issue, not software.
The "disconnect", or common point, if there is one, is a broken headphone port, so that's what I'm thinking, as you don't get any response from the system when you plug in headphones, and no audio there, either.
The damaged port is on the logic board. If that is actually good, then you are left with the sound chip, also on the logic board. The result from either is no sound from the normal audio output.
The fix is to replace the logic board.
Another fix, with much less expense, would be to use a USB sound card of some kind.
But, that leaves your portable, well, less portable, as you would need that external dongle, plus external speakers/headphones if you want to play to any audio whatsoever.
There would also be possible solutions with bluetooth, or thunderbolt external interfaces, but your internal audio is, so far, dead.

 

[Abhii]

I now have no sound.Tried all the different fixes on here-plugging/unplugging earphones, PRAM, Reset the System Management Controller, etc, etc.

Nothing works. Not getting any key noises, startup chime, basically its mute.

Sound icon is NOT greyed out. If I go to system preferences>sound>output my internal speakers ARE selected, they are NOT greyed out, even lets me select volume etc.

Can anyone help?


MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.11.12), 2012 Macbook Pro

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.15), 2012 Macbook Pro
hey i too have the same problem except my headfone and speakers work fine just no boot chime and when i try to reset smc and pram i get the login screen instead

 

[DeltaMac]

Do you get YOUR normal login screen (with the user account name?) Or is it just a simple password block, with a padlock on the left end?
The simple password window (with the padlock) means that you have a firmware password (some call it an EFI password). If you have a firmware password set, that won't allow an NVRAM reset until you remove (turn off) the firmware password. You can do that by booting to your Recovery system, then use the security utility in the menus.

 

[Abhii]

Do you get YOUR normal login screen (with the user account name?) Or is it just a simple password block, with a padlock on the left end?
The simple password window (with the padlock) means that you have a firmware password (some call it an EFI password). If you have a firmware password set, that won't allow an NVRAM reset until you remove (turn off) the firmware password. You can do that by booting to your Recovery system, then use the security utility in the menus.

I have to log in two times to get to the desktop screen and yes I think you are right I have a firmware password , and therefore SMC RESET & PRAM REST does nothing just get on the log in screen ! thanks for you solution I will disable it first and write If that worked .. thanks man !

 

[Abhii]

I checked in the recovery settings their is no firmware password set ☹️ I have FileVault secure date turned on. Is it causing the issue ?

 

[DeltaMac]

The firmware password box is very different from a normal account login. It's just a simple box with a padlock. There is NO user account name, just the password box (and the padlock on the left side of that box) The FileVault login, on the other hand, first unlocks the drive (your first login window), then it continues to another, similar login window, which is for your user account. So, second password takes you to your normal desktop. No padlock icon on either of THOSE login screens -- the padlock login only appears when the Firmware password is set. The firmware password box does NOT appear unless you are trying to bypass the firmware protection, usually when you want to boot to a different partition. For example, if you hold the Option key to get the boot-picker screen, you have to unlock the firmware. Saying this another way: If you get the Option-boot picker screen WITHOUT needing a firmware password, you don't have a firmware password set.

Filevault should NOT interfere with an NVRAM reset. Make sure you are holding down the correct boot key combination.

Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. If you don't hear a boot chime, keep holding those same 4 keys for at least 30 seconds. If you get that far without hearing a boot chime, then something else is wrong.

If you get this far, no reset, and your MBPro always goes to the login window, then you are holding the keys too late, or there's possibly something wrong with your keyboard. Try the same boot command with an external USB keyboard, if you have one. If you have a Windows USB keyboard, with a Windows key, hold Windows-alt-P and R. That usually will work.

 

[Abhii]

The firmware password box is very different from a normal account login. It's just a simple box with a padlock. There is NO user account name, just the password box (and the padlock on the left side of that box) The FileVault login, on the other hand, first unlocks the drive (your first login window), then it continues to another, similar login window, which is for your user account. So, the second password takes you to your normal desktop. No padlock icon on either of THOSE login screens -- the padlock login only appears when the Firmware password is set. The firmware password box does NOT appear unless you are trying to bypass the firmware protection, usually when you want to boot to a different partition. For example, if you hold the Option key to get the boot-picker screen, you have to unlock the firmware. Saying this another way: If you get the Option-boot picker screen WITHOUT needing a firmware password, you don't have a firmware password set.

Filevault should NOT interfere with an NVRAM reset. Make sure you are holding down the correct boot key combination.

If you get this far, no reset and your MBPro always goes to the login window, then you are holding the keys too late, or there's possibly something wrong with your keyboard. Try the same boot command with an external USB keyboard, if you have one. If you have a Windows USB keyboard, with a Windows key, hold Windows-alt-P and R. That usually will work.

thank you soo much such an elaborate and descriptive explanation really appreciated, I got it confirmed through images and videos online that I don't have any padlock or firmware password, I left my MacBook pro powered on for the last 24 hrs with the computer sleep option set to NEVER as my laptop was not in use for about 2 months and I read online that old logic boards tend to malfunction if inoperational for a long time and I also set the Filevault off and after full 24 hrs today morning did a complete shutdown and tried again to reset NVRAM and SMC RESET and to my surprise both work magically, I also don't see the 1st login screen that was previously showing up is gone this I remember and think(not sure) went off when I entered in the recovery mode and from there selected restart. There is only one problem NO CHIME boot sound, I just wanna know can I hear the chime if connected to external speakers by headphone jack?. coz I think my internal speakers are damaged as there is strange wired noise when playing any content through them.

 

[DeltaMac]

Some Mac models do boot chime ONLY through the internal speakers, so I don't know if headphones should provide the boot chime.
But, that's not the only indication of boot on your 2012 MacBook Pro. You have an optical drive, and that should make a noise (a quiet "whirring" noise) at power up, and you should hear the same noise when you try the NVRAM reset.

 

[Abhii]

Yes indeed the optical drive does make the "whirring" noise at NVRAM reset, but not exactly at boot.
so is it the faulty speakers or is it logic board level fault?
Thanks again !

 

[DeltaMac]

Headphones are OK?
Then, the logic board may be OK, just the internal speakers.
Do you get OK sound from just one of the speakers (left-right balance all to way in one direction, then the other)?

 

[Abhii]

right speaker gives a cracking noise and a little low sound than the right one. headphones are working fine and no balance issue or any other kind of issue .

 

[DeltaMac]

Probably a bad speaker. You can buy those from iFixit (which also has the steps to replace the speaker...)

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Repair

Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

www.ifixit.com

 

[Abhii]

thanks a lot man for your help but ifixit does not ship to my country(india), only option for me is Aliexpress, if you could suggest my any good seller who can supply OEM or eqvallent internal speakers

 

[DeltaMac]

I don't know anything about getting parts that will ship to India...
But, I will often find out Apple's part number for replacement parts, and search for THOSE. That may result in a source that you can use... So, here's Apple's part numbers:
Left Speaker (2012 MacBook Pro, 13-inch) 922-9772
Right Speaker (includes the sub woofer) 922-9769

 

[Abhii]

ohh so this is the proper way of searching parts.. thanks !