Mac Pro sound defaults to internal speakers after restart/shutdown.

tbartoncv wrote:
just delete the audio directory and create it using the proper permissions (see prior post). my volume works from my keyboard and so does the half dozen or so machines i've done it on.

tbarton, followed your instructions exactly. It corrects the problem, then after a few sleeps/wakeups the problem returns. What's curious is that if the problem occurs, if I put the computer back to sleep and wake it back up, the problem goes away again.

I even tried doing a fresh install of snow leopard -- however it did not give me the option to do an archive and install, so I'm not sure if it did.

Am I the only person experiencing this problem with my sound?

I have not experienced what you describe. You might check the files in the Audio directory to ensure they are the correct owner after it occurs.

See below for my perms on that folder.

The owner is correct for the folder but it is the files inside that are the issue. They should be owner by _coreaudiod and in the admin group.

Computer just woke up with the problem again. Here are my permissions for those files:

Same problem here. Apple needs to fix this! please Apple! Help us!

Ok, is it just me, or did this recent firmware update just quietly correct this problem?

It has not reoccured as of yet.

And it's back 😟 Ignore my previous message.

IM having the exact issue here. I posted a new thread unknowing that you have already started this one.I have tried updating, changing stuff, nothing works. It is intermittent as well. Sometimes it doesn't happen after shutdown or sleep and sometimes it does.

Weird...

I'm having the same issue now too, but it happened only after I had temp. yanked com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist out to the desktop while trying to fix a different audio output issue I posted recently about. removed it from from /Mac HD/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

Repaired permissions. Installed 10.6.2 on top itself, the rebooted and replaced that file where it was com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist and now it's 4K in size which seems very small when all the rest of the plist in here are around ~600K. And my internal speakers are my ONLY choice for playback. I can choose other output sources, but it flips right back to internal. 'Pretty sweet.'

Anyone have a solution or idea for fixing permanently. Formatting isn't an option at the moment, Or I thought of using time machine to restore the LaunchDaemons folder entirely, is that an even worse decision?

For now I'll have to use a backup drive of 10.5.8, I miss snow already.

Well, I tried time machining back the com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist from before it changes size somehow from 653k to the new and broken 4k size file. And as another poster described. My mac wouldnt boot, indefinitely hangs at gray boot screen thinking, couldnt enter safe mode, or zap pram, nor insert 10.6 DVD holding mouse or eject/12, nothing worked with apple wired keyboard.

So I booted from my restore drive, repaired permissions, it found permissions wrong on that folder I was messing with and also on a User folder, possible unrelated.

And now I'm back in action, I can boot up and my sound is working as expected.

Message was edited by: acoustics

Anyone solved this problem yet?

I still have the issue. What I've learned to do is when the sound reverts to internals, I just change the setting in system prefs and it goes back to normal.

Hi, so now I see that it's still not being fixed either. I wanted to point out that I installed a small game on my Mac Pro a couple of days ago. The BACKGROUND music in the game is coming from my internal speaker and the PRIMARY sounds of the game are coming from my external speakers. The game is called "stoneloops".

I couldn't control the volume of my external speakers, obviously this is why this thread is written, so I had to go in and manually switch from external to internal and back again like I have to do daily now. The PRIMARY game sounds could be lowered or raised now by keyboard but the games BACKGROUND music was still coming from the internal speakers. Very strange. I went to my MacBook Pro and downloaded the game just to see if I was missing something here and it all plays fine on my MBP.

This sound problem is like a thorn in your finger. It's no big deal until you use that finger---especially when you go full screen with a video or the like and have to stop it in mid frame just to fix the output sound settings.

Call me lazy...there is an Apple retail store within 7 minutes of my house ( alderwood, lynnwood WA ) but this thing is a beast. It's not like carrying in my MBP. Maybe, just maybe I will get up the courage out of sheer irritation some day......

Until then, Seattle

I've had this problem on my stock mac pro since the day I received it - I never realised it wasn't the normal (if not annoying behaviour)

trout4u, you have described my frustration perfectly. I wouldn't return the box to the Apple store. There is nothing wrong with your computer, as you can see that many of us have the same issue. I sent in a bug request to Apple. Would have thought they would have fixed it by now. Guess nobody reads those bug reports.