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M1 Macbook Pro HDMI output to TV stopped working

Yesterday, after connecting my 13" M1 Macbook Pro to my Vizio TV via HDMI, I get video but no sound. Now I am getting a "The selected device has no output controls" in Settings/Sound.


I have had this working PERFECTLY since I got my Macbook Pro a year and a half ago.


Any suggestions or resolutions would be awesome...


Thanks

K.



MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Oct 10, 2022 4:43 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 11, 2022 5:51 PM

I have a fairly high confidence in my hardware, and yes, I have restarted multiple times. what puzzles me, though, is how it was working PERFECTLY FINE for a year and a half. What's even more puzzling is that on my MBP 16" (using either USB-C OR direct HDMI connection) I am getting the exact same behavior. 4K video - perfect, Sound - GONE. Both machines do show "The selected device has no output controls".


I'll open a case with Apple once I find a moment this week. I will post the result.


Thanks again for your suggestions, I definitely learned something.

9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 11, 2022 5:51 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I have a fairly high confidence in my hardware, and yes, I have restarted multiple times. what puzzles me, though, is how it was working PERFECTLY FINE for a year and a half. What's even more puzzling is that on my MBP 16" (using either USB-C OR direct HDMI connection) I am getting the exact same behavior. 4K video - perfect, Sound - GONE. Both machines do show "The selected device has no output controls".


I'll open a case with Apple once I find a moment this week. I will post the result.


Thanks again for your suggestions, I definitely learned something.

Oct 10, 2022 5:10 PM in response to Karl954

to get a Mac display to become active, you need the Mac to query the display, and the display to answer with its name and capabilities. Otherwise, the display will not be shown as present, and no data will be sent to the display. "No signal detected" is generated by the DISPLAY, not by the Mac.

 

This query is only sent at certain times:

• at startup

• at wake from sleep — so momentarily sleeping and waking your Mac may work

• at insertion of the Mac-end of the display-cable, provided everything on that cable is ready-to-go

• on invoking Option-(Detect Display) button in Displays preferences (from another display)

 

so try doing some of those things and see if the display comes alive.


Modern Displays with multiple ports are sometimes busy scanning the other ports, looking for an input, and miss the query from the Mac. They need to pay attention to the port you are actually using, or they will miss the query.


Some displays have On-Screen Display settings that can be used to tell the display a computer is attached on a certain port, or a certain port should be highest priority. Changing those may make your display more responsive.


Some displays include their own private "sleep" settings for the display alone. This can allow the display to enter its own sleep mode, on top of the Mac's not sending it data. A display that is sleeping on its own cannot respond to the Mac's query, and will stay dark.


————

For MacOS 12 Monetary, some users got relief by deleting two preferences files, then Restarting:


Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.<UUID>.plist -OR-

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.<UUID>.plist


-- where [~] tilde is an active abbreviation for "current user"

-- and <UUID> is a string of hexadecimal numbers unique to your system, grouped as 8-4-4-4-8 hexadecimal digits


Restart REQUIRED after these deletions.


Oct 11, 2022 4:30 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant


Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I tried each suggestion, but alas, still no sound. Just to summarize what I am doing here. Basically, I am using my MBP as a video player for YouTube, Plex etc. I have been using this setup for a year and a half and I never had an issue. Last Friday it was working perfectly. On Sunday evening, no sound. Video plays fine and if I set output to MBP speakers or Bluetooth headphones, sound plays fine, just not a good solution if more than one person is watching.


I'll probably use my enterprise support agreement and see if Apple has an idea.


Thanks again for your help.

Karl

M1 Macbook Pro HDMI output to TV stopped working

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