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

48 replies

but2ene

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2013 11:42 PM in response to MattGarland-Brighton

The kill of coreaudiod, reset PRAM,etc., solve a software bug in mounatain lion.

If the microswitch is faulty, I don't known any solution for that. It work on linux with check box for that and windows with a potentiometer in volume control or new peripheral (depend of version).

In mac OS there is nothing in interface and I don't find anything in terminal and in manual.

A solution could be write to apple to put a override check box in preferences or audio midi configuration.

May 29, 2013 1:16 AM in response to but2ene

Agreed - the only real solution here is for Apple to provide some way to override the automatic output switching. I don't hold out much hope for this though, as there are discussions from back to 2009 asking for exactly this!

All the same, I am going to contact Apple support and see if they will consider it or provide some other solution.

May 29, 2013 4:46 AM in response to Dayday95

My problem seems to have randomly fixed itself .... for now.

I found a lot of encouragement on this forum - a lot of people have encountered this issue and mostly seemed to have fixed it by getting the switch to trigger mechanically, usually using Qtips, toothpics or just the headphone jack

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=237405&page=1

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Audio output problem in Mountain Lion