foundryfire

Q: El Capitan and missing volume control for speakers

I have just updated to OS 10.11 El Capitan. Upon successful completion of installation, my desktop speakers no longer have ANY volume control. I can not control the volume by the keyboard shortcuts on the keyboard nor by the volume control (which is now greyed out) in the menu bar. Note that I can select and use the USB speakers under the Sound portion of System Preferences, but I can not change the volume at all. Everything worked just fine BEFORE this update (which was a couple of hours ago). With the exception of the new OS, nothing else has changed on this computer.

 

Any thoughts on how I can correct this issue?

 

Mac Pro; 2 x 2.4 Quad Core; 14 GB RAM; OS 10.11 El Capitan

Speakers: Microsoft (yea, I know...) Digital Sound System 80

Posted on Sep 30, 2015 5:03 PM

Close

Q: El Capitan and missing volume control for speakers

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Previous Page 2 of 6 last Next
  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 5, 2015 4:19 PM in response to foundryfire
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 5, 2015 4:19 PM in response to foundryfire

    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.

  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 5, 2015 6:00 PM in response to foundryfire
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 5, 2015 6:00 PM in response to foundryfire

    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.

  • by mcvaughan,

    mcvaughan mcvaughan Oct 6, 2015 1:11 PM in response to foundryfire
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 1:11 PM in response to foundryfire

    Same problem here with my HiFiMan EF2A headphone amplifier.  :-(

  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 6, 2015 2:08 PM in response to foundryfire
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 2:08 PM in response to foundryfire

    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/

  • by Shadester,

    Shadester Shadester Oct 6, 2015 3:10 PM in response to Harmon Dow
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 3:10 PM in response to Harmon Dow

    Why would it be deliberate? It was there in Yosemite.

  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 6, 2015 6:28 PM in response to Harmon Dow
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 6:28 PM in response to 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.

  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 6, 2015 6:30 PM in response to Shadester
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 6:30 PM in response to Shadester

    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.

  • by ProteoMX,

    ProteoMX ProteoMX Oct 6, 2015 8:39 PM in response to foundryfire
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 8:39 PM in response to foundryfire

    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:

     

    Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 11.01.36 p.m..png

  • by Shadester,

    Shadester Shadester Oct 7, 2015 11:19 AM in response to ProteoMX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 7, 2015 11:19 AM in response to ProteoMX

    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.

  • by craig.gordon,

    craig.gordon craig.gordon Oct 7, 2015 4:56 PM in response to Shadester
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2015 4:56 PM in response to Shadester

    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).

  • by Shadester,

    Shadester Shadester Oct 7, 2015 5:39 PM in response to craig.gordon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 7, 2015 5:39 PM in response to craig.gordon

    But that's what I meant. The drivers (audio drivers in general, perhaps) are not working due to the new security model.

  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 7, 2015 8:24 PM in response to craig.gordon
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 7, 2015 8:24 PM in response to craig.gordon

    Mine also is Burr-Brown.

  • by Commonbrow,

    Commonbrow Commonbrow Oct 8, 2015 4:22 AM in response to ProteoMX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 4:22 AM in response to ProteoMX

    Same thing here, been using Xmod for years and it just lost it's volume controls after the update.

  • by Harmon Dow,

    Harmon Dow Harmon Dow Oct 8, 2015 7:11 AM in response to Commonbrow
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 7:11 AM in response to Commonbrow

    So I guess the question is, does anyone know anyone who has upgraded to 10.11 and still has external control of his speakers?

  • by mekanik_sg,

    mekanik_sg mekanik_sg Oct 14, 2015 9:12 PM in response to foundryfire
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 14, 2015 9:12 PM in response to foundryfire

    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.

Previous Page 2 of 6 last Next