Sound volume problem after upgraded to Lion Mac OS X 10.7? Any help?

I've found a number of threads from people speaking to the same problem with different Mac models. The audio was working perfectly after the initial install then, after a reboot... no sound output from the internal speakers, volume set itself to "0" and the controls were greyed out. If you inserted a headphone jack it would reset the sound to work until you rebooted, then... rinse and repeat.

One of the proposed solutions was to change the Audio Midi setup to 32bit and it fixed the problem. Im sure (hope) it will be adressed in an inevitible update.

Thanks for the perspective.

Another thread suggested this fix see screens

Removal of the following files

~/Library/Preferences/Audio/*.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist

This is a possibility for a fix.

Christopher Reynolds, ASQ CRE, PMP, BS IS

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Contents of PRAM

Some Macintosh computers may not have all the settings described below. For Mac OS X information, refer to Mac

OS X: What's Stored in PRAM?

Status of AppleTalk

Serial Port Configuration and Port definition

Alarm clock setting

Application font

Serial printer location

Autokey rate

Autokey delay

Speaker volume

Attention (beep) sound

Double-click time

Caret blink time (insertion point rate)

Mouse scaling (mouse speed)

Startup disk

Menu blink count

Monitor depth

32-bit addressing

Virtual memory

RAM disk

Disk cache

Same sound issue here with a MBP 13". Have seen a number of threads on this. All controls greyed out for internal sound settings. Plugging and un-plugging headset restores the sound until a reboot, then gone again. Of course seeing so many reports on this after day one Im suprised Apple missed this bug. Hopfully they will address it in the inevitible release of 10.7.1.

Sounds like you have a different problem, Jack. What does system preferences list as your output device when the audio isn't properly working? If it tells you that you're using digital out with nothing plugged into the headphone jack, and if audio works consistently with headphones connected, I think this may actually be a hardware issue, though it's difficult to tell through the internets.

After another reboot the problem came back for me. Plugging and un-plugging a headset works to temporarily remedy the problem until a reboot. That is the fix I will use until they post an update. Perhaps it will work for you as well maprx.

Thanks for the file removal suggestion. First, I dont appear to have the file "~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist". Not sure why. Second, removing the "~/Library/Preferences/Audio/*.plist" files alone didnt fix the problem (for me anyway).

I have an issue wich is after startup in os x 10.7 on my imac. It seems there can be audio dropout in itunes as it is loading other processes. This does not happen in snow lepard. It continues for about 5 mins after startup. I have 4GB ram in the computer and should cope with audio playback.

I just got off the phone with apple support. I had the same issue and now I'm fine. Some have suggested PRAM. He also had me to one other thing.

Shut down

After shut down, hold dont shitt, control and option at the same time while pushing the on/off button. The computer SHOULD NOT turn on.

Then do another shut down.

Hold down alt, command, and the P and R at the same time and hit the power on/off button. Hold them all until you hear the chime TWICE.

I hope that helps.

Hey Hotel Joe...

I had been mistaken that I was performing an SMC reset (****-Control-Option-Power) when in fact that is the key combo (Control-Option-Power) that I DID perform. No the system did not start, but it did strobe the front panel LED. Is that what happened on yours?

Im all ears if this is the case, BECAUSE, if so, this is also fixing other items as well and I would like to understand WHAT in fact is being reset.

Best Regards,

Christopher Reynolds, ASQ CRE,PMP,BS IS

Christopher--

All I remember is that he told me the process would reset all my hardward. The second set of key strokes is called a PARM (or something close to that) as I have seen posts about doing that. I know he told me that I had to hold the keys until I heard the SECOND set of tones.

Whatever he had me do, it works now.

That's more information right there

First

The set (Control-Option-Power) Reset for the hardware.

Second

The set (P-R-Alt-Command) PRAM or Parameter RAM. This holds information on the various systems, such as Audio Volume and Type.

So, A general reset and then a PRAM to get things going... very well indeed. I hope Apple is working toward that update fast since this is rather simple in nature to solve.

Far Well Hotel Joe!

Christopher Reynolds, ASQ CRE,PMP,BS IS

Tried the SMC reset and resetting the PRAM but the sound to my external speakers is still kaput. Tried deleting the sound preferences files as well.

This is a very ragged problem, I think. Let me explain: when I installed Lion my external speakers worked OK, except, for some reason, the left tweeter. I played around in Audio Midi Setup to see if I could get the left speaker to work, and then all speakers (tweeters, sub-woofer) went mute. The internal speakers remain operative. And one more thing: the general volume slider at the top of the screen sometimes has a little blue aura around the button (as it did in Snow Leopard) and sometimes it doesn't. And it works for my internal speakers, but obviously not for my 'dead' external speakers.

So this seems to me not like a single sound problem that can be tweaked immediately with some new code from Apple. It suggests to me something has unravelled in the sound department with Lion, but not on every computer. So finding what's causing it may take time.

Hopefully there are enough of us with this problem to actually prompt a quick response from Apple. I would hate to have no music for the next three months.

I have taken a look on this issue, and this is what I think :-

1. It is not a hardware issue otherwise rolling back to 10.6.8. Will no work.

2. I saw a little metal “click” on the top of the entrance hole of audio in/out jack, a short term solution is either to insert an earphone or an optical cable and uplug it afterward, which would drive to run the audio driver.

3. Hence, I believe there is a problem only with certain model of MBP, after upgrading to Lion the software fails to “click on” the audio driver of the volume control.

Before, Apple to release the new update to fix this issue, I always insert an Tousling to mini optical adapter (without cable), which helps.

http://www.amazon.com/Toslink-To-Optical-Mini-Adapter/dp/B004T67EZK