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sound issues with macbook

bill4588

bill4588

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 2, 2006
588
0
Kennesaw, GA
I opened my macbook this morning and used it for a while until I needed to change the volume level. I pressed F4 to turn it down, but for some reason it won't, and I have a "not allowed" symbol under the volume notches. It will either be full blast or mute. I tried adjusting it from the toolbar but it won't move there either (and it's grey in color). I tried repairing permissions and that did nothing. How can I fix this?

Picture 1.png
 
Out of curiosity, have you tried restarting? If not, it's worth a shot.

I've never seen this, but a random guess is that maybe it thinks there's something hooked up to the optical output, in which case there's no volume adjustment available--just on or off. I think it would show under the "Output" tab of the Sound pref pane if this was the case, but I'm not sure as I've never hooked up my MBP to anything via the optical output.
 
Mine had the red light on earlier too when it froze up. I suspect its harmful to look at it though.

Its probably hardware related, I'd call ApplemightCare.
 
There's a small switch in the audio out port that detects if there's something plugged in.

If that switch detects something and electricity can flow through the headphone connectors inside the port, it determines that there are headphones/speakers plugged in.

If the switch detects something and electricity doesn't flow, it determines that there is an optical audio plug (aka toslink) inside.

IF the switch is jammed in the on-position, but there isn't anything in, it thinks there's a optical plug in the port. Because it isn't possible to change the volume if the audio is sent through optical out, you see that "not allowed" sign.

So basically, most likely the switch is jammed inside the port. You can try to stick a needle in there and fiddle with it and see if it works, or you could just take it to apple care
 
i was scared to stick a pin in there, so I got my ipod headphones and stuck them in and twisted it around a little, and it worked! The red light is gone and i can change the volume level now. what a weird experience. thanks everyone!
 
The headphone jack is also an digital optical out. The screenshot that you showed depicted a digital output being selected. The redlight would have been intended for the optical cable that wasn't present. You can't change the volume on the digital out as it's just sending a stream of 1's and 0's...your amp is expected to control the volume.

The headphone jack is supposed to be self detecting of a optical cable....it got fooled.

darren
 
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