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

I also have the same problem. Suddently the sound card stopped working. It was last saturday at 18:01.
It is possible to check the logs of the problem with the terminal window.

$ cd /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/
$ ls -la

You might see one file with name coreaudiod_%.crash where % is the date and time of the crash.
If you want you can try to read it or copy to your Documents folder.

To read the file:
$ more coreaudiod2008-10-04-180103Mac-de-Joao.crash
There is not much useful information there, maybe for the programmers of Apple, but who cares...

Even trying to restart the coreaudio daemon again, there is no more crash logs but the audio is still not working.
I'm sure it is an hardware problem. I already contacted the service center nearby and I'll have to leave the laptop at least 3 days. 1 day for them to make the diagnostic + 2 days for them to receive the hardware audio board and replace it.

Joao
Portugal

Message was edited by: nomukaiki

My MBA is on it's way to a service center of Gravis (Apple reseller in Germany). Will take 2 weeks...

They're going to call me when they know what going on, I gave them the description from agabot (thanks!). They aren't sure if it's just the audio module or the logic board. Time will tell...

Message was edited by: PatQ

Same problem, guys. Happened just yesterday (October 7th).. I remember the computer freaked out and didn't shut off for a while even when I was holding the off button. After I turned it back on again there was a space between the airport and the bluetooth icons in the top menu bar. It took me a while to realize what was missing, but now I'm horribly disappointed! How come it all happened at once? Was the new iTunes update to blame? And no DIY solution? How sad... .

It cannot be hardware related because so many people are experiencing the same issues:
no sound, no flash video, no iTube videos, blue screens at wake up
at the same time!

Also I did a clean reinstall of the OS and for a while I had sound and videos, then it started again.
If it were a hardware issue it would still have not worked.

The only hardware link to this is maybe the fact that I connected the earphones some time before it happened again... but again why then a reinstall of the OS would clear it?

AdiM

In my circumstance it is hardware related, it is still in repair waiting for parts. I'll post when I find out.

btw, in my circumstance I had no sound output of any kind but no kernel panice, blue screen, or other "software" problems. The only exception is the youtube and itunes problem (where it wouldn't advance). I don't know whether that is a software problem alone or a hardware problem that shows symptons in software.

Your reinstall gave me a little hope that it might not be hardware so I just crossed my fingers and did the latest software update. Hope against hope -- it didn't work. Also, it does seem as if this is some kind of large-scale problem covering many computers, so maybe we'll hear something from Apple. Maybe even before the new MacBooks are announced.

Otherwise, I guess it will have to go in for repairs. It's really crippled without any sound.

It's easy to see if it's hardware related. if you reboot from an external HDD and it still happens, then it's on the hardware. It's possible that a chip is fried or a PRAM needs to be reset, but the test definitely proves it's not a damaged driver, preference or something like that.

I kinda think it has something to do with the new iTunes updates. Maybe our macbook airs just aren't strong enough to handle the new version. I remember doing a hefty number of updates the night before, one of them was iTunes from 8.0 to 8.1... It's just odd that it happened to so many of us all at once. I'm not really concerned with what the cause of the problem is at this point, I'm more eager to see a solution. I rely on my laptop heavily for school, and to have it gone even for a week is going to be hard (I'm a Journalist student for crying out loud.) If they don't release any kind of information about this whole thing I guess the repair it is. I'm waiting for another week or two... We have to stay strong, guys!!

Yup, that's my feeling, exactly. I am trying to rearrange my life to be without my main machine, which is impossibly hard when you work with expensive Adobe Suite products. To move them is ****, and I use them all day, every day.

Also, there were no hints that it was going -- I just clicked on a podcast file and realized that it wasn't working, no icon, nada. I installed the newest iTunes after that, by the way. However, there has been a lot of fiddling with Tunes at their end lately, lots of updates, and a mysterious lack of response on this issue.

Here could be another clue: I have Apple TV and the remote always affects the Air as well as the big TV. Every click is read by FrontPage, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. It definitely turns the sound up and down. Basically it sends signals to the Air and the TV and they don't work together at all. Hard to explain, but it could be a clue.

The fact that it's happening to lots of people at the same time is very very interesting. Wonder how many of us there are?

In my circumstance, it is hardware problem. I had no sound of any kind and when I ran the hardware diagnostic and there is audio hardware detected. The first thing they did was test to determine it was not software related, then replaced the logic board and are waiting on speaker assembly to replace, i'll let you know what i learn when i get it back.

The remote issue is unrelated to this, if you have a remote and you haven't restricted it to use on a device, it will work all devices (for example, it will run your apple tv and your macbook unless you program it not to). See related support guidance on pairing a remote.

Exactly same problem here. A crash while waking up from sleep and no audio afterwards. This *****, my MBA has already been repaired three times and all components have been changed at least once. Hopefully Apple will pay more attention to MBA quality issues in the future.

Hmm ... sorry, but in my opinion it cannot be a hardware-problem. with my mba sound also stopped around beginning of october, when I updated iTunes to version 8.0.1 or a little after. Same symptoms as many others here: No audio-icon on the screen, no input-device and no output device in the control-panel, iTunes playing not possible, also no Youtube or other flash-movies.
Then I tried a few things, first safe boot, then run the whole Onyx procedure (repair permissions, clean up all caches, boot cache, kernel cache, Quicktime components, audio components ...) and restart. And suddenly sound is back again - at least for some hours. I did that that twice already and it worked for some time. So i doubt it is a hardware-problem - if I am wrong with this - please tell me!

I can't swear this will work for everyone or that it's really a fix, but our MacBook Air lost audio (and the sound icon) a few days ago. Based on some advice on another forum, I restarted it in "safe" mode and heard the startup sound. The Air never got to the desktop in "safe" so I powered down and restarted in normal mode and got the startup sound again. When the desktop finished loading, there was the sound icon back where it should be and the audio is back. Very strange but success at least for now.

I've got an ibook G4 and the same thing is happening to me. It is happening to a great many people, all dating from late July to now. Partner suggested installing a separate sound card. So, I can hear with headphones, but nothing through the speakers. And I also get blue screen. So, surely this must be a software problem - unless apple built all of its computers to have catastrophic sound cable failures in autumn 2008 to coincide with the collapse of capitalism.

It would be great if those of you on the forum that write for magazines, etc could lobby on this. My computer is the property of my university, but they don't know how to fix Macs. I work with video so sound is meant to be part of my everyday.

Okay, I'm at the apple store and they replaced the speaker assembly, audio board, and audio board flex cable. It was in repair for over a week (from Monday 10/6 to Thursday 10/16). See my previous posts for the symptoms I had. I think the various posts relate to various problems. In my circumstance, it was a hardware, not software, problem. Look carefully at the differing facts in the differing posts.