Audio stops working on macOS Sonoma

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Level 1

9 points

Audio stops working on macOS Sonoma

I've finally noticed a pattern that occurs rather frequently on macOS Sonoma. I was blaming Bluetooth issues before, but it looks like it's more about audio in general.

What happens is that at some point, all audio freezes. The hotkeys for the audio controls show "Stop" sign, like there are no audio outputs connected, the taskbar is completely unresponsive: Control Centre shows a spinning circle, the sidebar is not opening (Spotlight works, though).

If you go to the System Settings, some menu items will be unresponsive: Sound doesn't open, Bluetooth does not open, Accessibility and Siri & Spotlights all do not open.

Then, a new bug appeared that I've just started to notice recently. The screen is flashing like there's an Accessibility feature enabled that uses warning flash instead of sound. It appears just randomly, out of nowhere. Immediately after that, sound works just normally.

When this is happening, and video/audio content in the browser and wherever does not work, Tidal shows many random errors, and Firefox just completely hangs when you try to play a video on YouTube. I've tried to stop `coreaudiod` and it did restart the daemon, but nothing else happened.

The device is a very fresh M1 Max MacBook, and nothing like that was happening on Ventura. I've had audio cracks on another M1 Pro laptop, but this one didn't even have those.

P.S. This is happened just when I was writing this post, and I've disabled Bluetooth just before. Now, the Bluetooth section in the Settings is opening, but others are still unresponsive.

For reference - I have yabai and BetterSnapTool installed, which modify system behavior, but with system protection enabled. Siri is disabled. I've tried to stop a bunch of random processes when this happened, but none helped so far.

This issue constantly haunts me since I've upgraded, and it's extremely annoying.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Oct 18, 2023 4:06 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

skoczko

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2024 1:37 AM in response to dantaeusb1

I am seeing exactly the same issue. I suspected MS Teams to be the source of the problem but I am not sure anymore. I use SONY wx1000xm4 as my bluetooth headset and I have problems every single day:

the Headset is visible in the Bluetooth widget and I can select it
the sound output shown by the Sound widget follows, but not always, sometimes it just gets stuck trying to select the headset, otherwise it completely freaks out and shows a crossed speaker icon
sound output and input in apps like Slack, Teams and Zoom gets completely messed up. Either they freeze or the headset dispears from the drop-down option
sometimes it's sufficient to restart the apps and wait a bit until the Sound widget restarts, othertime it never happens and only hard reset helps

Also, I see *many* crashed of both coreaudiod and avconferenced in the Console.

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Answer 2

Thom-as

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2023 5:09 PM in response to dantaeusb1

I am having similar issues.

If I have the chance to be able to connect any audio device, then my computer totally freezes and crashes. Then go into a loop of crash one after the other (had 7 in a row yesterday...).

I cannot make any call (Slack, Zoom, Teams). Not sure how that computer is still of any value anymore for working remotely...

I am on Sonoma 14.2, MBP 2019 16"

By the way, most of the time my sound is like that...

I am downloading Sonoma 14.2.1, hopefully that solves some/all of the issues.

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Answer 3

Oct 20, 2023 6:37 AM in response to dantaeusb1

hello,

the same issue with sound for me. In my case I tend to suspect Bluetooth - it happens when the laptop discovers and connects my air pods pro 2.

Additional side effect - Safari stops loading any pages. Not sure how this is connected to sound. I’m even writing from my phone now because of this 🤦

This started since I updated to Sonoma.

M1 Macbook Pro

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Answer 4

Dec 20, 2023 2:11 AM in response to michaldudkowski

Yes, the AirPods firmware update is silent. In my case (while using Logitech Pop Keyboard and Pop Mouse) the problem with the audio disconnecting still occurs.

As I said in my previous message, it's less noticeable but it's there. This morning during a Microsoft Teams call I lost audio for about 40 seconds (less than in the past) but as usual all audio devices disappeared, then came back, then I managed to reselect the AirPods Pro 2 and they started working again.

For those who use the Mac for work, this has become a huge problem. It works better now but it still doesn't work as expected.

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Answer 5

dantaeusb1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 15, 2024 4:20 AM in response to dantaeusb1

Apologies for the false alarm, 14.2 is still pretty horrible. Recently found out that my colleague with a fresh M3 Mac has this problem too, which is just ridiculous. It's been 5 months with constant crashes of the system driver on one of the most important features and Apple can't fix that.

4 coreaudiod crashes during a 15-minute meeting. Just next level. Also, a small detail I've noticed – in the settings, which now thankfully do not crash, the "MacBook Pro Speakers" and "External Headphones" turn into "Unknown" for a short while.

The error itself is not changed at all – same segfaults

Crashed Thread: 8 Dispatch queue: com.apple.audio.device.~:AMS2_StackedOutput:0.event

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)

Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000

Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000

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Answer 6

Apr 9, 2024 3:12 AM in response to dantaeusb1

I read this on Reddit and it worked for me:

go to Terminal, type:

sudo killall coreaudiod

Hit enter.

Then add your password.

Hit enter.

Sound was restored on my MacBook Pro M1 after installing Sonoma (worst mistake of my life).

I hope it helps.

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Answer 7

dantaeusb1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 16, 2023 3:30 PM in response to dantaeusb1

Unfortunately, updating to 14.1.1 did not help. The audio is still failing periodically, and the taskbar is still freezing. In order to do basic calls, I have to reboot daily to get at least some level of stability. I don't remember macOS in such a bad shape.

Can't have basic watch: it's 7 minutes behind:

Audio freezes on average 40 times a day:

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Answer 8

dantaeusb1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 28, 2023 12:50 PM in response to dantaeusb1

Things are getting more funny for me, though: here's Tidal casually playing music through headphones while the system thinks there are no available outputs.

I wouldn't say it is as bad as it was before, but after some uptime the show goes on, constant coreaudiod crashes, sound failing during meetings, no matter whether I use MacBook speakers, wired or wireless headphones – all work equally terrible after some uptime. Though before it was bad right after startup, now it starts in a couple of days.

Apple, how about a new year gift of fixing a basic feature on one of the most expensive laptops on the market? That would be so good. Especially considering it was good just, like, three months ago?

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Answer 9

Nov 15, 2023 12:52 AM in response to Flomaster

Hi all,

I have exactly the same issue, after detecting AirPods Pro 2 and than putting them to the charging case, sound system stops working properly, I can't switch back to built-in speakers, than I see crossed-out speaker icon. Additional problem is that I can't open some apps (discord), some apps are not working properly (MS Teams doesn't open 2FA login window)

Started yesterday, MBP M1

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Answer 10

Nov 17, 2023 1:27 AM in response to chdsl

I mean having problems with audio on my M1 macbook pro on new Mac OS after connecting and than disconnecting Airpods Pro 2 :) Only solution is to restart computer and it works until next connection and disconnection with Airpods

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Answer 11

dantaeusb1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 19, 2023 11:08 AM in response to dantaeusb1

Upgraded today (Sonoma 14.2, major version did not change), got no crashes for over 10 hours so far, which is quite impressive. Plugged/unplugged headphones, toggled the Bluetooth headphones, made a couple of calls _with changing input/output during calls_, the usual scenarios that were leading to crashes and sound lags are now gone. For anyone having troubles with Sound/Bluetooth, I recommend checking for an update.

Continuing observation!

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Answer 12

Jan 17, 2024 2:29 PM in response to dantaeusb1

I am a basic Mac user and I got this fancy Macbook Pro last year and I did notice with Sonoma that my Mute button in my Sound Settings keeps getting checked/unchecked, having the audio cut in and out constantly. It's especially awesome when I'm in an interview. Like this morning. At 6 am.

I tried calling Apple Support and they had me run through the same song and dance -- reboot, check settings, reinstall operating system, and my personal favorite, create a test user. This is HORRIBLE.

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Answer 13

dantaeusb1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 10, 2023 10:31 AM in response to dantaeusb1

Something's certainly very, very wrong with macOS Sonoma. As uptime keeps growing, the computer becomes practically unusable. `coreaudiod` and `avconferenced` segfault every minute, top bar is completely unresponsive and could stay that way for 15–30 minutes, once I found that watch was 30 minutes behind due to failing coreaudio. Now it gets completely disastrous later, as I've stopped used any audio on laptop and got about 1.5 weeks of uptime - the video memory gets corrupted seems like, I've got all apps turned into jigsaw puzzle (n.b. - I've removed personal information). I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I've connected iPad again.

I'd run memtest but I'm not sure if it works on M1. But I don't really think it's about hardware, as it really is deteriorating over time and there are a ton of software errors in logs.

Updated to Mac 14.1.1, and updated iPad too just in case. Observing.

coreaudiod segfault

avconferenced segfault

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Answer 14

Jan 4, 2024 2:20 PM in response to michaldudkowski

I'm running an M2 15" MB Air, Logic and OS up-to-date, and it's still cutting out intermittently. Even when playing back on only the computer speakers.

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Answer 15

zosis

Level 1

8 points

Jan 30, 2024 1:58 AM in response to dantaeusb1

I encountered a similar issue, but after updating to Sonoma 14.3, it appears to be resolved now!

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