iMac has sporadic sound problems

Question

iMac has sporadic sound problems

I'm writing on behalf of my parents who own an iMac and frequently call me for tech support. This problem has me boggled.

They have no sound, except when we go into System Preferences and test the sound there. Then we can hear the alert sound. But, when in any application, there is no sound. We streamed YouTube videos - no sound. We checked email (preferences are set to use sound when an email arrives), but still no sound.

I have no idea what to try next.

Thanks.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jul 24, 2012 3:36 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,418 points

Jul 24, 2012 3:38 PM in response to Emily Kessler

Google iMac Reset PRAM and then send your folks the instructions.

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Answer 2

Jul 25, 2012 8:10 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks - I'll give it a try the next time I'm in front of their computer. This is way beyond they're capabilities.

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,418 points

Jul 25, 2012 11:54 AM in response to Emily Kessler

OK please let know the results, if that does not do it there are other things to try.

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Answer 4

Dec 10, 2013 5:25 PM in response to Emily Kessler

I too, have sound problems. I have a 27" iMac late 2012 3.4Ghz OSX 10.9 with partial flash memory. It doesn't matter what the source of the sound is, the sound comes out in waves or pulses of volume, like you had a volume dial and were turning it partially up and down 10% every second. I use a Bose system, but the same thing happends with the computer's own speakers. The computer is only a few months old so it's a bit frustrating. There is no fan and no cd on this machine and this occurs even while listening to internet radio, so the hard drive isn't suspect. I also use an APC with AVR boost and trim on voltage.

Any thoughts...

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