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Jan Nechyba Author

Level 1

5 points

Update to 10.6.8 broke my optical audio - any help?

Hi everyone,

i have just upgrade my system to 10.6.8 and everything work fine except my audio thru optical output. I have pluged Logitech Z-5500 Digital to my MacBook Pro's optical sound output and my problem now is that, when i play some HD movie vith DolbyDigital AC3 ore DTS, it plays fine but when i stop watching movie and close VLC, no other sounds play.. no itunes, no standard stereo movies ect.. it plays only AC3 od DTS sound track.. so when i want to listen some music, i must restart MBP and it plays again everything until i open again movie with 5.1 track....

any solution to fix it?

thanks in advance

Jan

MacBook Pro 15, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 4 GB RAM

Posted on Jun 24, 2011 2:42 PM

341 replies

Vickobr

Level 1

7 points

Jun 30, 2011 9:07 AM in response to Linc Davis

How come they will consider abuse an issue everybody is having?

How would I know if someone else had reported the same error if I were not following this thread?

Just wondering...

Jun 30, 2011 9:22 AM in response to Jan Nechyba

Same with me, My iMac 20" (2009) is not playing Firewire audio well at all. Has audio silent gaps and crackling through my HarmonyAudio interface. It happened right upon update. I am tired of these problems!

Jun 30, 2011 10:53 AM in response to Jan Nechyba

I have the same problem on my Mac mini with Mac OS 10.6.8:

After i have played any Dolby Digital sound, no more stereo sound comes out of the speakers.

The only way to get it back is restarting the Mac.

Hope to see a fix for that problem soon!

Jul 1, 2011 2:48 AM in response to Jan Nechyba

A friend has the same MBP - but the new version (with Tunderbold). On his one I can use my earphones without any problems!

Jul 1, 2011 3:22 AM in response to Jan Nechyba

Well, would also like to add my name to the list. Updated

my 2010 MacMini to 10.6.8 and have the same issue. Play a

Dolby track and stereo playback goes away. However, my system

is playing back to a Yamaha receiver via HDMI.

Will try reinstalling combo update, then try kext reinstall.

Jul 1, 2011 5:34 AM in response to Jan Nechyba

Well, tried reverting to old AppleHDA.kext and it did not

work. Anytime HD audio content is accessed, it kills all

stereo track access in all applications (iTunes, PLEX, etc.).

Reboot, and stereo tracks play but as soon as you play

any Dolby or DTS stuff, stereo tracks go silent.

Will go back to 10.6.7. It works!!!

Perhaps only a privileged few will be allowed to

update to Lion since 10.6.8 is required and breaks

a lot of systems.

Jul 1, 2011 6:43 AM in response to woodmeister50

Submitted bug report. We'll see what happens.

Seems every OSX update breaks something related to audio lately.

Then takes two updates later to fix.

ArnoutF

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2011 12:56 PM in response to Jan Nechyba

Same here, 17" MacBook Pro 5,2. Also hooked up via optical out to a Z-5500. DTS and Dolby tracks play just fine (passthrough) but analog sources like iTunes and VLC playing MP3's and Youtube won't even tick. Hooked up an analog cable for now.

Would've been nice if they'd checked this first before releasing it as now there is no way for me to go back?

We'll all just have to wait and sit tight.

Jul 1, 2011 1:27 PM in response to ArnoutF

Well here's yet another twist. When I hook up my

2011 13" MBP i7 to my receiver with a Mini Display Port

to HDMI adapter, I can go from iTunes Dolby TV shows

or movies to playing just basic stereo music (AAC or Apple

Lossless) without any issue what so ever.

What's interesting, I have not seen any issues with my MBP

that anyone else has seen updating to 10.6.8. And it is

primarily a work machine with Parallels on it!

Yet, my Mini, with the same connections, needs a reboot

to play stereo after a Dolby or DTS playback.

It is starting to seem that some audio driver interface is

so convoluted that you can't change one thing without

breaking something else.

Then again, why are they changing something that wasn't

broke?

Jul 1, 2011 1:53 PM in response to woodmeister50

i was looking forward to updateing to Lion , but if they cant even do a simple 10.6.7 to 10.6.8 without breaking things i,m sure not taking any chance with my macs

Jul 1, 2011 3:28 PM in response to Jan Nechyba

I have exactly the same problem on my MBP 2010 connected to my home cinema via a mini display port to HDMI adapter. After playing 5.1 media, any stereo sound stop working. I have to reboot the Mac to get sound again, this is very annoying.

The issue appeared after the 10.6.8 update. I really hope that Lion will fix the issue.

Jul 1, 2011 3:48 PM in response to Que Nenni

I have restore the appleHDA kext from 10.6.7 using Time Machine (going back from version 2.0.5 to 1.9.9) and this does not sort the problem.

plb_oz

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2011 7:23 PM in response to yomamma_de

Many thanks,

Would love to know how you tracked the problem down to this AppleHDA.kext move from version 1.9.9f12 to 2.0.5 in the 10.6.8 update.

Fixed my issues which were moving from dolby digital stream in eyetv to a stereo stream, sound disappears from all non-dolby digital streams from that point on.

My hardware is Mac Mini 3,1 Dual Core 2.5Ghz , Digital Out via fibre to a Yamaha amp.

The restore of AppleHDA.kext version 1.9.9f12 from 10.6.7 works a treat.

Message was edited by: plb_oz