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nau

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 14, 2010
19
0
Hi there.

Since recently i'm missing a speakers sound on 2017 27" retina iMac. There is sound thru headphones (3.5mm) but not from internal speakers. Internal speakers missing anywhere in system.

Is that hardware problem? I've changed SSD few month ago. Maybe I pulled some connector? Can this be override?
 
Issue is most likely the 3.5mm headphone port. After unplugging headphones, do you see a red light come out of the port?
 
You won't see a red light on a 2017 iMac as those models (and onwards) did not have an optical audio link.

So, if you open sound preferences, the internal speakers do not show as an option?
 
OP:

Open "Audio/MIDI setup" (in the utilities folder).
Do you see any indication for internal speakers there?

What version of the OS are you using?
xx.xx.xx please.
 
OP:

Open "Audio/MIDI setup" (in the utilities folder).
Do you see any indication for internal speakers there?

What version of the OS are you using?
xx.xx.xx please.
No. Only headphones and mic there
10.15.5
 
After installing ssd system worked well for few month and issue happened after power failure.
Can anyone confirm that this is damaged flex cable to headphones?
 
I'm wondering if you could have a -software- problem, as in some component of the OS (required to "see" the speakers) is not loading at boot.

I'll offer a suggestion.
This shouldn't hurt anything and hopefully is easy to do.

Download the 10.15.5 combo updater from here:

... and then "apply it against" your existing installation.
It may restore a file or setting that has somehow become corrupted, and "give you the speaker option" back.

No promises...
 
I'm wondering if you could have a -software- problem, as in some component of the OS (required to "see" the speakers) is not loading at boot.
I don't have quick enough connection at the moment I'l try this asap. But I doubt it would fix it, since even boot chime is missing.
 
Is that hardware problem? I've changed SSD few month ago. Maybe I pulled some connector? Can this be override?

Could very well be something has come loose after it worked for awhile. I'm always suspicious when someone has gotten inside their iMac and then later on something winds up not working. If you feel up to it, open up your iMac again and see if you can find something. Of course you will need to buy another tape kit to seal it up again. The folks at www.ifixit.com sell the tape kit.
 
Your 2017 27-inch iMac doesn't have a boot chime in any event.

Try an NVRAM reset. Restart, holding Option-Command-P-R
Keep holding those same 4 keys. You should see a video reset (Apple icon flashes briefly, returns to black screen)
Keep holding those same 4 keys until you get the flash two more times, then release the keys (or you might hear the boot chime, which is OK, just wait for two more chimes, or flashes, whatever happens.)

The Left speaker plugs in to the logic board immediately to the right of the hard drive location. If you replaced the spinning hard drive with an SATA SSD, that would be a good first place to look. However, the right speaker plugs in on the right edge of the logic board, a long distance from where you might have been working (unless you had some reason to disconnect everything to pull the logic board out, too?) and doesn't explain why you would lose BOTH internal speakers.
I would probably think there is a mechanical problem with the headphone jack, and that's probably not a simple kind of repair.
 
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Update: clear nvram and SMC and clear (drive erased) install big Sur. No speakers appeared but now I have boot chime after power on/reboot. So speakers itself are okay, it seems something with headphones port.
Is there any way to force Mac OS to use speakers?
 
I believe there's some kind of small mechanical "switch" in the headphone port.
When you plug in headphones, the speakers are "switched off" automatically.
Then, when you remove the headphones, the speakers are switched back on.

It appears that switch is no longer working right.

Seems to me like it would be a big job to disassemble the iMac just to get at the speaker jack.
Something else could get broken in the process.

If nothing else works, I'll offer an alternative:
Buy a set of EXTERNAL powered speakers and plug them into the headphone jack.
You don't have to spend lots of money.
They'll probably sound better than the iMac's built-in speakers, anyway.
 
I'm using Bluetooth Bose mini speakers while iMac sound is missing. Is sounds pretty on par with internal speakers but I would prefer more clear look.
 
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