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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

sw33t

Level 1

0 points

Nov 8, 2010 1:29 PM in response to Serpento

Mine sound just cut out too.

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,630 points

Nov 9, 2010 3:01 AM in response to sw33t

do you think the software update caused the problem, if so, is there anyway to revert to previous ?

Nov 9, 2010 11:38 AM in response to Mitch 751

It's not the update. I had the issue before the update.

Nov 9, 2010 1:19 PM in response to Serpento

I've had my new 27" display (temporarily) connected to a Mac mini server, for three days. I just noticed the sound problem this evening... and found this topic.

I can always reproduce the problem by muting the sound, then either put the server to sleep or turn the monitor "off" by pressing ctrl-shift-eject (I guess the monitor is not really off, since if the sound is not muted, I still hear sound... without image).
When I wake up the computer or monitor, there is no way to get the sound back, except by restarting.

Maybe that's not the only way to trigger the problem, but I know I'll now avoid muting the sound on my computer.

roo2b2

Level 1

0 points

Nov 9, 2010 10:01 PM in response to pyramidal

Add another dissatisfied customer in Sydney!

Spent about 1 hour in total on the phone with Apple Support and they initially told me they'd send someone out to do an onsite service if I signed up for AppleCare. So I signed up with AppleCare and then they told me they got it wrong. So $129 later I have to bring my display down to the Apple Store to meet a genius. That's just great.

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,630 points

Nov 9, 2010 10:47 PM in response to roo2b2

See if this helps, I tried that and have been working for more than 24 hours

Open the Audio Midi Setup -> Go to Display Audio (or LED in some case), change the Output settings:-

Format : 48 Hz 2ch-24bit

No sure it solves but still under testing, so far so good

Nov 10, 2010 9:01 AM in response to roo2b2

I am now waiting for third display! The first one had a different fault, in that the brightness could not be adjusted. The second one was great - for two days - until sound issues appeared.

What chances of third time lucky?

Nov 10, 2010 3:36 PM in response to Mitch 751

Interesting -

After the LED display update I "lost" the ability to drive audio to the display over displayport - now with 10.6.5, I have that option back - and I noticed the USB audio is set to 44 16bit, while the Displayport is set to 48 24 bit.

YAY again, I can actually hear more warmth in the low end when running 24bit/48.

Branfire

Level 1

0 points

Nov 10, 2010 8:26 PM in response to Mitch 751

Glad I found this thread. Audio problem for me was just really low volume, even with everything maxed out.

It definitely seems to be resolvable with Audio MIDI Setup. Not only was the bit rate mismatched, but my left channel value was at ~.6 with a gain of -12 dB. Didn't really perceive the imbalance, but once set to 1.0 with gain of 0.0 dB everything is normal. None of this was done by me, so some sort of glitch here.

Message was edited by: Branfire

ShayH

Level 1

0 points

Nov 11, 2010 1:18 AM in response to Serpento

You can add me to the list of 27" Display users who have the same audio issue - no sound, volume keys slow to respond causing beach ball etc.

Strangely mine only seemed to occur after I installed the 1.0 LED Cinema Display update. I only have the monitor 1 week 😟

I'll be calling Apple Support today to make sure this issue is recorded.

Shay

Nov 11, 2010 2:23 AM in response to Serpento

I have the same sound issues with my 24" display - it seems to be triggered by viewing YouTube videos more than anything else!!

We need a solution!

Nov 11, 2010 9:05 AM in response to Branfire

I have the same issues - 27" LED Cinema Display - gorgeous and one month old - bought it the first day it was available at the local Apple Store - and yesterday the sound disappeared for around an hour. Apple Help was no use and oddly after I emptied the Trash of some Recovered Files it came back. Fine again this morning but this afternoon gone again. I have experienced the lag in the volume keyboard buttons too. How does one alter the Audio MIDI settings ?
Before this issue the sound was fine - loud and clear and apparently well balanced.

sw33t

Level 1

0 points

Nov 11, 2010 9:21 AM in response to Serpento

This tip from another thread seems to have fixed my problem. It's been a few days now and everything is working fine.

Delete the com.apple.soundpref.plist from the MAIN LIBRARY>PREFERENCES - (not the users library).

Again, in the same MAIN LIBRARY>PREFERENCES folder, go into the AUDIO folder and delete com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist and com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist (I am on 10.5 so I don't have this, if you don't, just omit)

Restart (logging out doesn't work)

Nov 11, 2010 10:21 AM in response to sw33t

I have just trashed the plists as suggested and all working fine so far...thank you.

Nov 11, 2010 11:51 AM in response to sw33t

I deleted the files as well. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

I do still have lag with the volume keys which shows that it doesn't fix everything. I still feel something needs to be done as a 1K monitor should work completely correctly.

27" Cinema Display Sound Issues