Audio output problem in Mountain Lion

Question

Level 1

1 points

Audio output problem in Mountain Lion

I just downloaded and installed Mountain Lion on my late 2008 MacBook Pro 15 inch. And I ran into a problem with the audio output of my computer. The first thing I noticed when I logged in after I installed OS X Mountain Lion was that the speaker icon in my menubar was gray, I didn't give it much though since that just means that the audio is turned to the lowest level which is mute. However later I decided to watch a video and plugged in my headphoens, when I attempted to adjust the volume using the volume keys on my keyboard the volume indicator showed up however everything was grayed out, at the bottom was a circle with a slash meaning that the output device is missing or non operational.

I had encountered similar problem before, and last time I solve the problem by repeatingly plugging in and pulling out my heaphone from the headphone jack to reset the actuator. However this time the computer clearly recognises which audio output device is present since the option in the Output panel in Sound in System Preferences switches between built in speaker and headphoen when I plug in and pull out my headphone.

I have consulted a friend of mine and he suggested me to restart my computer. I am about to attempt this however I am still open to all definitive solutions to th

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 25, 2012 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 25, 2012 10:48 AM in response to Dayday95

I had a USB headset and headphone jack speakers attached. I removed them and rebooted and the problem went away. It was the only Mountain Lion install issue I had.

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Answer 2

Jul 25, 2012 12:02 PM in response to Dayday95

Dayday95 wrote:

I have consulted a friend of mine and he suggested me to restart my computer.

Your first step in any such situation should be to reboot the computer or device. If that doesn't work then it's time to seek other options.

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Answer 3

Wrenkin

Level 1

5 points

Jul 25, 2012 12:32 PM in response to Dayday95

Same issue, late 2008 MBP. It recognizes when headphones are plugged in as the output device will change, but the sound is muted in both.

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Answer 4

Jul 25, 2012 12:43 PM in response to Dayday95

I also had an audio problem with my firewire audio interface (HarmonyAudio) upon installing Mountain Lion on my iMac (March 2009) today. It seems that, so far, no firewire audio is coming out. Tried to restart, plug cable off and then on again... Not working. I wonder if I should keep buying updates upon launch date. Mayby I should have waited until 10.8.4 or so to lose the $20 on this update.

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Answer 5

Wrenkin

Level 1

5 points

Jul 25, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Wrenkin

Ok, rebooting fixed it. Who knows why.

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Answer 6

Jul 25, 2012 3:09 PM in response to Dayday95

Same problem. 2008 MBPro 15". Just updated to Mountain Lion and the sound is muted.

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Answer 7

vad751

Level 1

0 points

Jul 25, 2012 3:16 PM in response to Dayday95

I also had an audio problem. After opening the panel, sound settings with universal access, the problem was solved.

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Answer 8

Box18

Level 1

0 points

Jul 25, 2012 3:58 PM in response to Dayday95

Same problem on Mackoob Later 2009. Macbook 6.1

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Answer 9

uwais

Level 1

0 points

Jul 25, 2012 4:49 PM in response to Dayday95

Hey, So I just Installed Mountain Lion and I had the same problem 😢

I decided to reboot my Macbook Pro 15" 2010 and it worked 😀

So just reboot after hope it works 🙂 Good Luck

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Answer 10

Jul 25, 2012 10:29 PM in response to Dayday95

Same problem, same solution as the other previous posts had indicated. Audio icon on the taskbar was grey. All it took was a simple reboot and then it was back to working normally as it should have been before. No clue as to what the problem was.

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Answer 11

Jul 30, 2012 1:26 AM in response to Dayday95

I had the same problem tonight. Did something similar to @vad751 and went into "Sound" settings under System Preferences. Just moving the volume setting back and forth in there seemed to bring back audio output... kind of a weird fix...

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Answer 12

Dayday95 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 30, 2012 1:31 AM in response to NucleophilicRxn

Forgot to post earlier. But I solved the issue simply by rebooting my computer. If you haven't reboot your computer yet that should be the first thing you do when something like this occurs. If afterward it doesn't work then it's probably issue with the sound output port actuator. For then just try to plug in and pull out the headphone jack repeatedly that should clear things up. I had this problem twice once this time which was solved simply by rebooting my computer and last time it was the actuator issue and I used the above solution to fix it.

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Answer 13

Jul 31, 2012 4:43 AM in response to FiddleMonster

I also have exactly the same problem as FiddleMonster.

I get no audio from my firewire audio interface (Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP) upon installing Mountain Lion on my iMac (Summer 2009) today. As FiddleMonster said, so far, no firewire audio is coming out. Tried to restart, plug cable off and then on again... Not working.

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Answer 14

UESAS

Level 1

0 points

Jul 31, 2012 5:20 AM in response to Dayday95

So we occured the same problem with the internal speakers, the red light was lighted.

in order to resolve this, we spray air with a dust destroyer (high pressure container) in the headphones slot, it works properly. No need to use the toothstick which could damage the MBP

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Answer 15

Aug 3, 2012 5:24 AM in response to Dayday95

After installing Mountain Lion on my iMac, the audio icon was greyed out. Also under System Prefs --> Audio --> Output the mute button was selected and greyed (ie: couldn't be changed).

A reboot of the system restored everything for me.

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