Update to 10.6.8 broke my optical audio - any help?

I just received the same message from Apple yesterday

Randy in response to the bug request I filed last week.

We'll see if and when a fix for 10.6.8 happens. Or whether

we will have to buy Lion to get the fix.

I was having this issue with optical audio also. I did not have a Time Machine backup from before 10.6.8. Nor did I have the 10.6.7 combo updater. I did have the 10.6.6 combo updater. I replaced the .kext file from that 10.6.6 combo updater with Pacifist. It fixed the problem immediately without needing to restart or do a "touch". Thanks for the tip.

I don't have time machine, and I downloaded the 10.6.7 combo updater from apple's officiel website. I replaced the AppleHDA.kext file from that 10.6.7 combo updater with Pacifist. But no luck, still have the problem. Hope Apple will come up with a fix very SOOOOON, the Mac Mini costs me a lot, so it MUST be working properly.

the problem is there in lion gm. :/

I have a late 2010 27' Imac Quadcore running into my Denon 4308CI AVR via HDMI. The Denon pushes video out to my Panasonic Flat Screen TV. Mac OS 10.6.8 update caused my digital audio to go in and out (I could see the 8 channel input signal cutting in and out on my Denon display). Strangely this problem occurred only when my TV display was turned on -- if the TV was off I could still push audio from iMac through my Denon with no problems.

In any event, after checking/replacing all adaptors and connectors on my 50 foot HDMI run and resetting my Denon firmware I determined it had to be the Mac OS update. Called AppleCare and they told me that Denon needed to update their firmware for 10.6.8 and Lion and that would likely take a few weeks. We use the Imac with the Denon quite a bit for Netflix, Itunes Visulizer on dual displays, and HBO GoNot so this explanation was not really working for us so I searched for some other fixes and came across this thread. I tried the 10.6.7. HDA.kext fix from a time machine back-up but that did not work so I just reinstalled my 10.6.4 OS from my retail purchase box and immediately downloaded the 10.6.7 combo pack update from Apple's support website. In all it was about an hour but the audio works great again (no need to install any apps). It also appears to have fixed some driver problems with my HP 8500A network printer after the 10.6.8 update.

Definitely going to wait on Lion until the audio fix can be confirmed by Apple or Denon.

This better not be Apples response?! Update the firmware on all audio receivers?! That is shocking. It was working fine before, its not upto other people to fix their errors! Many people can not do this, and it was working fine before they didnt check it in the last update.

Why has this not been fixed yet? Apple is a premium product, if they have made a mistake all efforts should be made to rectify them.

They are aware of it, and they say they are working on it.

Bug ID# 9680241

Yea I got kinda the same message Randy, though I didnt get the kind thank you that you got 😢 haha, guess there tired of seeing the same bug report from alote of ppl..

06-Jul-2011 02:20 AM Darin Marshall :

This bug has been closed as Duplicate. We are tracking this known issue under the Bug ID listed above in the bug State (Duplicate/XXXX).

Anyway, glad to see they are working on this, but really, how hard could it be? Seems like a small bug to me, not that im a software dev or anything 😝

Wow I just noticed this issue last night playing a DVD that was 5.1 and only digital stereo was detected at the receiver. I hope for the bug fix soon and I hope it will fix the audio over HDMI that has existed since there has been a mini with HDMI.

Interesting I switched to HDMI audio instead of optical and that works fine. It's actually what was fixed in 10.6.8 over past releases where HDMI AC3 output didn't work.

Did you play something with AC3 content then try to

play a stereo track, Dan? That is where my problem is.

I'm using HDMI and whenever I play AC3 or DTS, i can't

play any stereo afterward. This is only on my Mac Mini

though.

Nepse123: You would think putting things back the

way they were before the update would

be easy? They should know what they did

to break it? However, with the other issues,

they probably won't issue an update until they

solve those as well.

Same issue, with a mini 2009

In my own case, although it properly installed v1.9.9f12, this did not solve my optical sound problem.

I'm considering to re-install 10.6.4 :-(

welcome back to windows98 :-(

Loaded Lion, lost all sound thru EyeTV but seemed ok in iTunes and also "system sound". EyeTV generates an error stating digital sound cannot be found & to switch to "system sounds".....don't bother, does not work.

Is this then an Elgato issue and not Apple?

I just tried playing AC3 content and can't get that to work again over HDMI. Now I'm wondering if yesterday when I thought I was getting 5.1 the stereo was still in Dolby Pro Logic II mode but just indicating "PCM". Today it stays on Dolby Pro Logic II regardless of what audio mode from a DVD or mp4 play back I do. I've got no idea woodmeister50 how you got DTS out at this point with standard 10.6.8. This issue and Apple Remote Desktop not connecting to the mini at the moment are really hacking me off.

Any body try this: http://www.cod3r.com/2008/02/the-correct-way-to-enable-ac3-passthrough-with-quic ktime/

This is from the perian instructions and look pretty old. I was wondering if this is the same as going back to the 10.6.7 settings.

Just restored audio functions.

First I moved the original file AppleHDA.kext and removed it from extension folder

Then from the 10.6.7 combo update file, downloaded from apple site, and with the Pacifist software tool I installed the AppleHDA.kext from

MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.7.pkg > Contents of Manual > Contents of MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.7.pkg > System > Library > Extensions

finally in a command shell I sent the command: sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

hope it helps