Macbook no sound???

I have the exact same problem you have. I noticed it this morning. I actually found a lot more responses to this under the macbook air discussion page. It sounds really common. Saw that lots of people have needed to take their macbook in the apple to get fixed. Pretty ridiculous. I don't know if there is any other solution yet. Still looking.

Spunky448 wrote:
I have the exact same problem you have. I noticed it this morning. I actually found a lot more responses to this under the macbook air discussion page. It sounds really common. Saw that lots of people have needed to take their macbook in the apple to get fixed. Pretty ridiculous. I don't know if there is any other solution yet. Still looking.

The port is designed as a combination headphone jack and mini-Toslink (optical digital out). The red light (from an LED) means that the digital audio output has been manually selected because the mechanical switch to detect mini-Toslink insertion has been tripped. Some people have tried sticking an object in there to get the switch unstuck. I can't vouch for the safety of this.

If you take it into an Apple Store, it'll be fixed for free.

freestylerwill wrote:
But I am not trying to use the digital output

I only want to use the internal speaker

Anything I can do to get it speaking again?

I understand that you want the internal speakers working. However - the audio system as a whole is designed to cut off the internal speakers if it senses that there's a headphone plug or a fiber optic plug inserted. The red light is a sign that the sensor/switch for the digital output is on.

What I'm saying is take it to an Apple Retail Store if you live near one. I've heard that they'll fix it for free.

At the very least, you might try gently inserting a headphone plug in there and remove it. I don't know for sure if that will unstick the digital output sensor, but it's worth a try.

I got working the toothpick trick:

There's is a kind of switcher in the audio port that enable the digital out:
when the digital audio is stuck, just fire up some tunes and you'll see the audio jack flashing red.

Looking carefully (and not directly) the red light inside the jack you should be able to see a little switch popping out from the jack cavity at about three o clock.

Gently use a tooth pick to move it down until at 6 o' clock
and internal speaker will start to work again.

As mentioned in other posts, there could also be an option to spray a little WD-40 to loose the swtich and allow it to function properly.

If you want to apply WD40 to something of this nature it would be a far better idea to not spray it but rather to put a small drop of it on the end of a non-absorbent stick and then touch that drop to the actual part of the inner jack where you want it to go. It will instantly 'wick' its way around until it has spread as far as it can go, which is dependent on the size of the original drop. This would require having your MacBook positioned on its side with the audio jack being on the top so gravity does not work against you.

I have not yet, but if I ever do have the audio jack switch problem I do intend to use WD40 as a treatment. I have used it successfully on a number of PDAs and various other electronic devices, but I never spray it as that it almost certain to get it where it not only does no good but could possibly do harm. Wick it instead. That gives you absolute control of the quantity that you are applying and reasonably good control of where it will be applied.

Used the toothpick trick albeit with an ink injector syringe and got it working. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for that suggestion. Works with the non-flammable end of a kitchen match, too 😉

Ok, I will have to throw my hat into this ring. I have read posts dating back as far as 2006 about the match/toothpick fix, and how the little red light and sound go nuts after using headphones, but how about if we didn't use headphones prior to this switch malfunction? I got a new macbook for christmas, been burning the midnight oil to get caught up on all my client's projects, shut the darn thing off last night, turned it on this morning and no sound, only the optical output and my USB speakers will work. Took me several restarts to get the USB speakers to work. I can understand how the headphone jack/switch getting messed up with a headphone jack (it happened three times on my old Powerbook), but why the problem when headphones are NOT used and the optical override still happens? I seem to be the only one that didn't use headphones first before having any problems. Any other way to shut off the optical feature in this case?

I know I know, take it back into the shop where I bought it. But it isn't like I live next door to the store, I live way out in the country. I want to see first if I can find a solution to fix it, if for nothing else, to save gas.

Ok, I have to say that I am, if nothing else, persistent. After I posted my frustration regarding the NON USE of headphones before the red light problem and me not wanting to drive into town, I went farther down the google list for my problem and found the solution on the second page of google search (which I find is usually the best information for any google searches I do, but I digress).

You shut your computer off, then do a restart by holding down the Command Key + Option key (Alt) + "P" + "R" and voila! End of the red light problem, all speakers both internal and external work great. And no poking things smaller than my elbow into my computer crevices.