Sound output reverting to internal speakers after restart
After upgrading to 10.6.1, each time I restart (or log out and log in) the sound output reverts back to the internal speakers even though I've set it to USB SoundSticks. I've repaired permissions, reset PRAM, repaired the disk with DiskWarrior 4.2r909 - with no luck.
Mac Pro (Early 2008) 2.8Ghz,
Mac OS X (10.6),
10 GB RAM, 23" ACD, lots of storage!
Not sure why you do not have the Audio folder but you can try a couple of things. You may not have admin account privileges that prevented the Audio folder from being created.
See if the 2 plist files exist in the /Library/Preferences folder. If they do, try executing my fix but do it at the Preferences folder level. See my modified commands below. The ls command should show you the 2 plist files and their permissions. If you don't see the 2 plist files after the ls command, then they do not exist -- do not proceed as the commands won't work.
sudo -i
cd /Library/Preferences
ls -l com.apple.audio*
chown _coreaudiod com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
chown _coreaudiod com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist
ls -l com.apple.audio*
exit
quit Terminal
change your Sound Output setting
see if the timestamp changes on: com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist (you can do this in the Finder)
the other plist will change after restart
restart your Mac and see if it works
good luck!
If this fails for some reason, I have another way of changing the setting that works but is not preferred. You can edit the plist directly to change the Sound Output but it is harder to do and does not sync with System Preference changes.
I was mistaken and did in fact have that audio folder, but the fix you listed does not work for me. In my audio folder I have 4 files instead of 2, and it's just like DJ Data listed above (with two duplicates with ~orig behind the plist). Here is what my Terminal session looks like:
=============================================
mac:~ administrator$ sudo -i
mac:~ root# cd /Library/Preferences/Audio
mac:Audio root# ls -l
total 48
-rw-r--r--@ 1 administrator admin 4815 Aug 28 18:18 com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
-rw-r--r--@ 1 administrator admin 4815 Aug 28 18:18 com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist~orig
-rw-r--r--@ 1 administrator admin 1374 Mar 26 2009 com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist
-rw-r--r--@ 1 administrator admin 1374 Mar 26 2009 com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist~orig
mac:Audio root# chown _coreaudiod com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
mac:Audio root# chown _coreaudiod com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist
mac:Audio root# ls -l
total 48
-rw-r--r--@ 1 _coreaudiod admin 4815 Aug 28 18:18 com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
-rw-r--r--@ 1 administrator admin 4815 Aug 28 18:18 com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist~orig
-rw-r--r--@ 1 _coreaudiod admin 1374 Mar 26 2009 com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist
-rw-r--r--@ 1 administrator admin 1374 Mar 26 2009 com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist~orig
mac:Audio root#
=============================================
But if I then go change my Sound Output settings as you suggest, the timestamp on my com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist file does not change, and if I restart it reverts my settings to internal speakers (although after restarting if I go back into Terminal and ask to list the files in the Audio folder it will still say "-rw-r--r--@ 1 _coreaudiod admin 4815 Aug 28 18:18 com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist" etc).
I've tried deleting the files the files out of that folder, I've tried just deleting two of the files out of that folder (as DJ Data said he did above), but nothing seems to work. What is your other solution and how bad is the downside to it? Would I be better off just waiting for the next OS X Update?
here is a manual method to make the changes. This had worked for me initially, but when I found the ownership problem, I don't need to do it manually.
=========================================
*edit the plist manually*
try the following:
save a copy of the
com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist file somewhere else in case you accidentally mess it up.
double click the
com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist file to open it with the Property List editor.
twist open section 501 and compare the
output settings to mine below. I did not show the input or secondary defaults as you can ignore them. Your list will probably be a bit different, but what you want to change is the last number in each output entry.
These are what mine look like with *Internal Speakers* settings under section 501 (Note the
2:0 in the output settings):
current default
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
2:0 current default system
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
2:0 primary default
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
2:0 primary default system
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
2:0
I changed the *2:0 to 3:1* which is the output index number.
These are what mine look like with *Line Out* settings under section 501 (Note the
3:1 in the output settings):
current default
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
3:1 current default system
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
3:1 primary default
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
3:1 primary default system
output device: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,
3:1
Save the file and restart.
Your "Line Out" index number might be different and you might need to experiment. My Sound Output preferences list 3 devices (Internal Speakers, Line Out, and Digital Out). When I switch to Digital Out, my output device number is
4:2. There is a pattern here.
After I manually changed and saved the plist file, I noticed that the ownership of the plist file switched back to me instead of _coreaudiod. Seeing that changing the ownership did not work for you, this may not be a problem for you. You can change the ownership back to _coreaudiod if you want.
*Downside to all this*: it looks complicated but is actually quite simple to do. Also, changes in the Sound preferences did not work due to the ownership switch. But once I changed the the ownership back to _coreaudiod it started working again. But that didn't help you the first time so I don't see it working for you. Hopefully, though manually changing it works.
Question: are you signing on as "administrator" to make the changes and switching to another account?
not sure if you are asking what settings you should change, so I will answer what I think you should try. I am not an expert at this but based on the pattern I see in my settings I would suggest the following.
1. ignore the input and secondary settings, just look at the current and primary output settings.
2. I am assuming when you start up your Mac, the sound comes from your Internal Speakers, same as happened to me and others here. My output settings for Internal Speakers were 2:0. My other choices (Line Out and Digital Out) each incremented both values by one from the previous setting (3:1 and 4:2 respectfully). I don't know why your Internal Speakers starts at 4:1 and mine are 2:0 but lets use the same pattern with yours.
3, double click the com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist file to open it with the Property List editor.
3. Change your current and primary output settings from *4:1 to 5:2*
4. Save and Quit
5 restart the Mac
If that doesn't work, try using my setting of
3:1 and restart. Maybe your numbers are just messed up for some unknown reason and should be like mine.
Also, let me know what Output devices you have in your Preferences / Sound / Output.
It seems the latest Mac OS update fixes the issue for me! I don't know if it accidentally fixed it or Apple have noticed the problem themselves (considering the huge amount of musicians I'll bet they've been notified by several thousand people), but my iMac now recognizes my external T.C. Electronics Konnekt8 soundcard when I restart. No longer do I have to enter the system prefs/sound to change output device every time I've re/booted the machine.
Apart from editing the plist file I tried all the solutions to no avail. Sine my problems started after I upgraded to 10.6.2 last weekend, I decided to try a different tactic. I remembered that I hadn't done a 'Repair permissions' before the last upgrade (10.6.2). So the first step I undertook was repairing permissions, re-applying 10.6.2 (combo) and another repair permissions. This still did not have the desired result (although ownership of the plists was now changed to _coreaudiod for both group and user). What I noticed was that Repair Permissions couldn't get rid of a number of ACLs, including an unwanted ACL on /Library/Preferences/Audio. After I removed the ACL manually (I think) I finally could change the audio preferences and the time stamps of the plists within the Library/Preferences/Audio would change .... pfffft
I had the same problem and after trying many of the things suggested in this discussion without success, I decided to set all 3 user accounts to use the "Line out" speakers. When I did this I was able to reboot and the sound preference retained the "Line out" setting as my default!
The ACL issue is what bit me too. I hadn't had any issues with audio output on my Mac Pro in Leopard or Snow Leopard, at least not until I updated to 10.6.2, that's when it started defaulting back to the internal speakers on restart. I deleted the preference files mentioned before, but that didn't fix it. I hadn't noticed that the two files in /Library/Preferences/Audio/ never reappeared after I deleted them. I ran a permissions repair, and sure enough that folder had an "ACL found but not expected" note. It annoys me to no end that Disk Utility says it fixed the problem, when in reality it did nothing.
Anyway, I used BatChmod (
http://www.macchampion.com/arbysoft/BatchMod/Welcome.html) to remove the ACL on that folder. Just drag the folder icon onto the open BatChmod window, (the existing permissions should then show up as Owner: root: RWX, Group: _coreaudiod: RWX, Everyone: R X) then set it as follows:
uncheck "Change ownership and privileges" since they should be correct already
check "Unlock" just in case
check "Clear Leopard's extra permissions (ACLs)"
check "Apply to enclosed folders and files"
Click "Apply" and enter your admin password.
After that, when I went into System Preferences to change the sound settings, the com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist appeared. I restarted, and my settings stuck. The com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist also showed up after restarting. This seems to have taken care of the problem.
In your post you said use BatChmod "to remove the ACL on that folder" but neglected to state what exact folder. Can you please specify what folder and where it is located?
...I read through all these posts and its becoming hard to keep track of all the different suggestions. Thanks, I am looking forward to trying you solution since none of the others have worked for me.
Hi
I tried most things listed here and none of them worked.
I then decided to copy my /Library/preferences/Audio folder from my MacBook Pro to my MacPro, repaired permissions and restarted.
Problem solved!!
Just thought id let people know as it was way easier than some of the other ways listed.
Thanks anyway guys!
