MacBook Air no audio output device found ???????? *please help*

The problem just occurred to me for the second time - so I figured it must not just be me. I was disappointed that Apple did not have it on their Tech List of troubleshooting problems for this product, and I found this discussion list.

I am very easygoing and always go along with the Genius Bar at my local Apple outlet, but in hearing these stories and Apple's treatment of them .... this is truly disappointing. I always believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and trusting them, but then when something like this happens - I don't take very kindly to it.

I am a very experienced trial attorney and I have really paused to think about a class action here - that's generally not my style. But at the very least I think I will insist that Apple fix this problem free of charge or I may just sue them on my own accord.

One of the nice things about doing the work I do is that I do have to put of with Corporate BS. I just never thought this would be an issue with Apple. I am not someone they want to tangle with.

I'll let you know how it goes. I hope they do the right thing. I also had the hinge problem. I honestly cannot remember what I paid, if anything, for the hinge fix and my first sound fix, but I will ask for that information. Depending upon what happened on those occasions, they just may need to hand to me one of those no I-pads for free. That would seem fair.

I litigate against the big boys on Wall Street and so this will be child's play if they are at fault. These corporations have gotten out of control. Was just screwed by Audi and they have bought themselves a lawsuit. They cheat the public on small ticket matters $1k to $5k, knowing people cannot hire an attorney for those small amounts. Well that's not a problem for me.

If you really want to think class action I have one I'd much rather see filed.
It involves Apple and ATT and the problem of what to do with our old iphone when we upgrade.
Last time I "paid off" my contract with ATT and signed up for a new contract with the 3GS but, the old 3G that I now owned free of any contract was still locked to ATT and virtually unusable. I own it but, can't use it. I can't even unlock it to use on another legal carrier like TelCel in Mexico. I'm stuck with it. On this old 3G I had it unlocked so that my daughter to legally use it on TelCel in Mexico but, they continue to make that harder and harder.
Being locked to a specific carrier when I have a contract makes perfect sense but, keeping it locked when I pay off the contract in full is illegal in many countries and should be illegal in the US.
This is going to be an issue every year for those of us who "need" the latest. It needs to be resolved.

I had the sound problem with my Air but, Apple frankly bent over backwards to help. They didn't have the cable in stock and actually pirated one out of another MacBook Air and put it in mine, replacing the other one with the new cable when it was received. All the cost was covered with my extended warranty which frankly is why we buy it? right? Understand, I'm disappointed too. It's clearly a pretty widespread issue but, they responded pretty well to my problem.

Yes - I think I am probably under warranty too and they'll probably take care of it - like they did for you. It is really annoying to be doing this twice now - it's a pain.

Your problem with the contract does sound odd. I'll run it by some guys who handle that kind of stuff and see if they are interested.

I, for one, would certainly be willing to join in a class action suit against Apple. It seems that the problem is large enough for them to have taken notice of it but yet they have not. When I went to the apple store, they wanted $329 to send the MacBook Air off to be repaired. If this is the treatment, maybe I made a mistake in shifting to the Mac from the PC. Windows Vista forced me to consider the Mac and the iPhone convinced me to do it. Perhaps, I was too hasty.
I still believe the mac OS is much superior and more sophisticated than whats on the pc but I do like sound. I don't think it's asking too much to have sound...
Why is it an automobile recall gains attention in the news media but a computer problem does not. Has anyone contacted Bill Gates as to his thoughts on this issue...

Larry

< Edited by Host >

There are lots of people having sound problem relating to this "No audio output device is installed" error. Once when I had the same problem I had found a suggestion on how to fix it at http://www.noaudiooutput.com . They have answers depending on different causes. So this might help any of you too to find a solution for your sound problem depending on your cause.
I hope this will help some of you.

Surprise Surprise my sound went on one of my MBA's, Apple tech centre said the sound card needed changing. $160 later sound was back, 3 weeks later sound goes, I restart mac sound is back. Watch something on VLC last night tonight I open my MBA and the sound is gone and I can't get it back. So much for $160.

If anyone knows the name and contact email of someone that can make a decision for apple to research and resolve this matter let me know and I will be happy to write to them on everyones behalf.

I perhaps got lucky with my 18 month year old MBA. Sound also went about a week ago. Had an appointment with an Apple Genius yesterday. Didn't even look at anything on the machine, knew straight away it needed new audio cable and sound board (told to expect 100GBP approximatly as out of warranty). He did explain that he needed to tell me worse case scenario it could be the logic board (350 GBP) though 99 times out of 100 it was the cable.



I politely asked a if there was a way to prevent this in future or it only affected gen1 MBAs to which he didn't know.



However after quoting up to 350 GBP and 4 week waiting time he then went to speak to another Apple Genius/Supervisor. On his return he informed me that as this wasn't a new problem on this occasion they wouldn't charge for the repair or parts. At the same time I was told about the hinge issue and that my hinges were on the way out so Apple would replace those as well at the same time... I left a very happy customer despite 4 weeks without my MBA.



I hope others can get so lucky. I'm sure this isn't a policy, but there are instances of goodwill if you get lucky. I would suggest casually mentioning to the genius that you read about this online vs. demanding a free repair of an out of warranty machine.



In the last 12 months I have recommended Macbooks to many colleagues so I'm glad that although the defective parts are disappointing, in my case the Customer Service was A + and I will continue to recommend

Hi folks
Before I take apart my computer as many of you have suggested, can someone please help me understand why I should replace the audio cable when I can hear it thru a USB headset, tho I cannot hear any sound thru earphones or the MBA's external speakers. If I can hear thru the USB headset wouldn't I assume that my sound cable is attached? My MBA does recognize the USB headset in settings but doesnt recognize earphones or built in speakers. Thanks for your help!

My friends i had that problem too,my old Macbook Air was replaced by Apple and the new one has it again, it was fixed but its just a question of time... Its a flex cable that bursts with the heat, Apple knows about it but ignores it, just complain and demand a new one!

When using a USB headset, your computer bypasses the sound cable. If you are happy with USB headset, fine, no need to open up your MBA and replace the cable. But if you really want to fix the problem, follow iFixit step by step procedure, cost for a new cable $30 .

hey guys, im having the same problem. my volume has been locked on mute for a while already, but recently i decided to take the time to try and fix it. i blew in the earplug socket a few times to try and clear up the outlet(i dont know if this helped at all though). after restarting my laptop a several times, my volume magically started working again, but ive noticed EVERY TIME I APPLY PRESSURE TO THE KEYBOARD, THE VOLUME BREAKS AGAIN!

hopefully some of you can figure out what is wrong with this piece of information? and good luck to all others who have this problem!

I will add a "me too". A year ago the sound went out on my MBA... fortunately it was still under warranty so I took it to an Apple repair shop. They first replaced the sound card... then replaced the logic board... then returned it to me. After getting it home (70 miles away) I discovered it still had no sound so I took it back in. Finally, they replaced the audio cable which fixed it. All was fine until a month ago when the audio started having problems again until the sound went completely away. So now I am out of warranty and will need to fix it myself for pay out the nose for an Apple engineering flaw.

And oh BTW, my MBA hinges also broke last summer (another flaw), but oddly Apple will repair that for free even when out of warranty.

Hi All
My Laptop has had the same issue and as this has been occurring since 2008 or before, perhaps Apple needs to take note that this is indeed a design fault.

How do we get apple to recognise that a machine costing over 1000 pound should work without hassle for at least 5 years not less than 2.

Any idea's how we can highlight this to apple. I have a intel machine that is still working 10 years later and the upgrade is added memory. No parts replacement.

Bruce

Adding a me too, started flaking out about a month ago, and today, no matter how many reboots, I am audio-less (greyed out icon for audio, no devices detected, etc) Was really hoping it was software until today (and reading this long thread). Yet another systemic/wide-spread problem I've had with this laptop, and yet another annoying trip to AppleCare.

Great product design, great software, not exactly reliable (in the slightest).

Me too, it has now happened twice. I took my laptop to the Apple store and they replaced the speaker assembly, the audio out cable and the audio board at no cost. It worked great for a couple weeks and now it has no sound again!! Frustrating. They seemed to be familiar with this problem and asked no questions. Now I'm going to have to take it in again!! Nancy