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Serpento Author

Level 1

2 points

27" Cinema Display Sound Issues

My apologies for posting about an issue that has already been covered but I think it is important to highlight what seems to be a pervasive issue with this otherwise awesome display.

Like others, mine worked b-e-a-utifully out of the box. A few days into it however, the sound stopped. I have tried the "unplugging for 15 seconds" trick and it is a temporary fix. I also tried, at the suggestion of Apple Supports, restarting the computer and holding down the command, option, "r" and "p" keys simultaneously until you hear two beeps. That is also a temporary fix.

I want to echo the advise to call Apple Support every time this happens to ensure this issue gets the attention it deserves.

Apart from this very annoying issue, this is one sweet display. I watched Avatar on it the first night just to test it out. I only intended to watch a few minutes but ended up watching the whole thing. Terrific! Of course that was when the sound worked.

Mac Pro Intel, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 11, 2010 12:10 PM

386 replies

Dec 16, 2010 6:58 AM in response to allen.wilson

I spoke to soon. I am suffering sound loss again. I also love the monitor but am very frustrated 😟

Camicus

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 8:31 AM in response to C Barclay

I know that it says that it installs automatically, but not from the software update itself. You actually have to go to Applications/Utilities----> LED firmware update. Then click install. Interested to know if the people who have said it came back actually did this.

Dec 16, 2010 9:07 AM in response to Camicus

yes.

dlo

Level 2

304 points

Dec 16, 2010 10:01 AM in response to sgginc

Be sure you have the USB cable from the 27" display connected to your computer. If you don't it will tell you it doesn't need the update. If you had the USB disconnected you may need to connect it and then restart the computer before trying the update again.

adwolf11

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 11:39 AM in response to Serpento

I've had my 27" for a couple of weeks now, I haven't had any sound issues at all.

I don't know if this is because mine is from a new lot (ie, they silently swapped in a new part), or for some other reason.

If this is a problem with a USB driver, one thing you may try (and this is speculative) is reboot your mac in 64-bit kernel mode (AFAIK, no MBP or MB boots 64-bit by default.)

I run exclusively in 64-bit mode, and as I mentioned, i've never run into the sound issue before.
Just a thought...

gcaprio

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 11:55 AM in response to adwolf11

Everyone,

I have some scary news. I've been back and forth with Apple for almost two months with this issue. I sent back the first monitor I received after being told that Apple Engineering wanted to capture units. Then the same sound issue happened with the second one I got. After downloading the firmware release yesterday, I still get the issue, but it's not as bad. Yesterday, I finally talked to the engineering contact I've been conversing with. He told me that the firmware fix was meant to fix the keyboard response & power recycling issue and that's it.

You read that right: The apple engineer I spoke to said he wasn't aware of any sound issues with the monitor. He'd take my info & log a bug, but didn't know if anything would come up it. The firmware release, he said, would close the issue.

So much for a $1000 monitor. Now what?

erikmh

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 11:58 AM in response to Serpento

@adwolf11: Interesting thought, but I run in 64-bit mode and have hit the problem several times.

@allen.wilson: I haven't seen any other reports of distortion, only of audio cutting out altogether; certainly that's all I've experienced. Perhaps your problem is unrelated....

I applied the firmware update yesterday afternoon, and so far all is well here. I've usually gone several days between problems, though, so the jury's still out....

adwolf11

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 12:00 PM in response to gcaprio

The update itself says
"This Firmware Update addresses intermittent audio issues some users have experienced while using the 27-inch LED Cinema Display."

maybe the engineer was misinformed?

gcaprio

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 3:51 PM in response to adwolf11

@adwolf11:

He mentioned that the sound issues fixed had to do with receiving NO sound from the monitor and having to power cycle. From what I read in this forum, I'm having the same 'garbled sound' issue others are having. He said that's the first he's heard of that sound issue.

yfdt

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 4:02 PM in response to gcaprio

Unfortunately this firmware update does not seem to completely resolve the problem for me. After applying firmware update had distorted audio yesterday and again today. In both cases was restored by quick switch to built-in speakers and back in the sound preferences.

When audio is distorted following messages appear in the log:

12/16/10 3:07:06 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[24] MuxSendToClient send failed for 0x7-ee8eca8bec57aa5f03e41535a591980901d5e3d8@0x24120000:52506->0x100313e10-iTun es/com.apple.iTunes:37381: 32 - Broken pipe

Looks like we need better solution from Apple.

Dec 16, 2010 4:38 PM in response to yfdt

what other usb stuff do you guys have plugged in that have the garbled sound? anything into the monitor itself?

stevizzy

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 5:41 PM in response to avidwriter

Nothing else plugged in for me. I don't usually listen to iTunes on my Cinema Display, mostly internet radio for now with few issues. I'll wait to get decent speakers until they figure this thing out.

Dec 17, 2010 2:52 PM in response to Serpento

Is the lack of recent activity an indication that the fix works??

Dec 17, 2010 3:48 PM in response to Bob Ferrara

No problems here since the fix, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. The Apple Store swapped my original for another one, and it seemed to go out more often. So I'm cautiously optimistic. FYI, my problem was the no sound/lagging on-screen controls, not the distorted sound that others are reporting.

Marsipan

Level 1

15 points

Dec 17, 2010 3:56 PM in response to Marsipan

It's been days since loading the firmware update, & I can no longer reproduce the no sound/iSight problem that was temporarily solved by unplugging the Cinema Display power for 10-sec.

The firmware update 1.0 fixed it for me.

27" Cinema Display Sound Issues