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Oct 5, 2015 4:19 PM in response to foundryfireby Harmon Dow,After upgrading to El Capitan on my iMac, I find that the keyboard volume buttons and the sound slider in the menu bar aren't working.
My setup includes external speakers. I get sound from the speakers, which I can control using the volume knob on the receiver I route the sound through. This route is hard wired using a usb port on my iMac. However, when I attempt to use the volume keys on my Mac keyboard (wireless), I get no response. I do get a picture of the key on my screen, showing that international bar in a circle sign. When I check the sound slider volume control in the menu bar, it shows the volume turned all the way to the top, and is grayed out.
I experimented with recording sound routed through my external speakers from Spotify, using Audio Hijack. This worked to record the sound, and for what it's worth, Audio Hijack labeled the sound file as coming from "system audio."
When I switch to internal speakers, I stop getting sound. Unlike with the external speakers, the keys and the sound slider controls respond as if volume adjustments were being made. But still, no sound.
I experimented with recording sound routed through the internal system using Audio Hijack. No sound was recorded, although while the "recording" was supposed to be happening, Audio Hijack recognize that sound was being created - it just wasn't being captured by the recording.
My setup worked fine under Yosemite.
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Oct 5, 2015 6:00 PM in response to foundryfireby Harmon Dow,Okay, I found a 90% fix for my own situation. Basically, I zapped the PRAM & it restored all sound functions except that the iMac volume controls continue to be inoperative when it comes to controlling my external speakers. (No biggie for me because I have the external volume controls right at hand.) (Although I'll probably keep fooling around with it anyway...)
I found this solution at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sound-advice-fixing-common-mac-audio-problems-os-x/
There are some other suggestions there if your mileage varies from mine.
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Oct 6, 2015 1:11 PM in response to foundryfireby mcvaughan,Same problem here with my HiFiMan EF2A headphone amplifier. :-(
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Oct 6, 2015 2:08 PM in response to foundryfireby Harmon Dow,I've come to the conclusion that the absence of output controls for USB devices is deliberate.
As for other sound problems, there's a good article at
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sound-advice-fixing-common-mac-audio-problems-os-x/
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Oct 6, 2015 3:10 PM in response to Harmon Dowby Shadester,Why would it be deliberate? It was there in Yosemite.
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Oct 6, 2015 6:28 PM in response to Harmon Dowby Harmon Dow,@Shadester posted a reply which for some reason doesn't show up when I come to the discussion. Here's what he said:
"Why would it be deliberate? It was there in Yosemite."
I have 2 answers.
The first is that if it was there in Yosemite, it could still be deliberate. In fact, that would be some evidence that it's been deliberate all along, in the sense that Apple doesn't regard that as anything that needs to exist in the OS.
But the second thing is that my recollection is quite strong that it did exist in Yosemite. So - undercutting my own conclusion stated above - Shadester's observation might point to this being another one of those OS glitches like the iCal glitch. The iCal glitch only occurs for some people. The glitch is that if you try to create a new event, when you finish and save the event, it reverts to "New Event." My wife has this glitch on her laptop running Mavericks, I did not have it in Yosemite, but now, in El Capitan, I have already had what I hope is an isolated event of it happening. Because while you can work around it, Apple has shown absolutely no interest in fixing it.
If that's the case, the only hope I can see to fix this Volume Control "glitch" is a reinstall, maybe even a clean reinstall. At which point you might trade one glitch for a different one.
My own solution is based on the fact that the headphones controls work. So I might connect my external speakers by dumping the USB connection & plugging the external device into the headphone port. Or maybe not, since I can just use the volume buttons on the external if I reposition it a little on my desk.
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Oct 6, 2015 6:30 PM in response to Shadesterby Harmon Dow,See my post above. What's odd is that before I posted my reply to myself, your comment didn't appear on my screen, and now, after I posted, your reply suddenly appeared.
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Oct 6, 2015 8:39 PM in response to foundryfireby ProteoMX,Hi, I'm having the same problem with my trusty Creative Xmod, which has been working with every single OS X version since 2008 when I first got it. Now I can get audio out of it but the volume control is greyed out. I'm wondering whether this is somehow related to the new security model in El Capitan?
This is what I see in the Sound panel:
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Oct 7, 2015 11:19 AM in response to ProteoMXby Shadester,The security model might be the culprit, since the Creative Xmod device, Hifiman HM-101 and Hifiman EF2A have the same problem. The drivers might not have full access to the underlying OSX audio device.
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Oct 7, 2015 4:56 PM in response to Shadesterby craig.gordon,Don't think so. I'm having the same problem on a different device (it appears in the Audio setting panel as a Burr-Brown chip—the USB-connected DAC).
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Oct 7, 2015 5:39 PM in response to craig.gordonby Shadester,But that's what I meant. The drivers (audio drivers in general, perhaps) are not working due to the new security model.
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Oct 8, 2015 4:22 AM in response to ProteoMXby Commonbrow,Same thing here, been using Xmod for years and it just lost it's volume controls after the update.
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Oct 8, 2015 7:11 AM in response to Commonbrowby Harmon Dow,So I guess the question is, does anyone know anyone who has upgraded to 10.11 and still has external control of his speakers?
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Oct 14, 2015 9:12 PM in response to foundryfireby mekanik_sg,I have couple of these Xmods at home and the office and now all are pretty useless. I've contacted Creative support. If they give me some workaround I'll post it here.
