Sound stuttering after Mountain Lion install

I saw in your profile that you're using a Macbook Pro...and I think most ofmus have sound stuttering on a iMac 2011 27"

So I am not sure if you can use the results of our tests for solving your problem...maybe yours is a hardware fault? I don't know...

For those of you that got sound stuttering with ML and tried to check its HDD with the OS X disk utility verification (which really never helped me, acting as if the disk could be repaired and not warning about bad blocks), there's an OS X app for HDD S.M.A.R.T diagnostics on App Store:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smartreporter/id509148961

It helps not only with diagnostics but also with prevention routines.

While some of you may be having issues with the HDD, this issue generally is indicative of it not being related to a hardware failure. It is known that ML makes the system run hotter, and perhaps this has caused some hardware to not fare so well as a result. But in testing mutliple systems and a friend who has about 18 of these iMac machines that are approximately a year old, they are all experiencing this issue and it started immediately following the upgrade to ML.

I've emailed my contacts again at Apple once more to try and gain any kind of new perspective or insight on this matter. This has for me until the first of December before I escalate this. They have been good in the past with updates, so why is it that this is so trying. I'd like to know something perhaps if 10.8.3 is going to address this matter. But at this point it seems like a longshot at best.

I think you can directly escalate this but I'm not sure you will get anything from it.

There is two options: either apple doesn't care about this issue because they consider it to be a minor issue (which is not acceptable considering the price of a 27 iMac), or their engineers haven't any clue of what's going on with this bug.

In both case, that's very bad for apple image. I was hopping some good news when upgrading to 10.8.2 but nothing has changed.

If Apple considers this a minor issue they are making a huge mistake. I am one of what I am sure is a considerable number of people who rely on high quality audio in order to do my work (in my case, creating instructional video). So this "minor issue" is directly affecting my ability to do my job. My entire workflow is based in Macintosh, my investment in applications, etc. To switch to Windows would be a huge expense which I honestly don't have the time or money to do... except if Apple refuses to fix this "minor issue" in which case, I'd have no choice. And that would be really awful.

Same problem here.

iMac 27 2011, 2 TB, 16 GB Ram, 2 Gb graphic.

Upgrade from Lion to ML -> Problems
After 2 Month reinstalled ML -> Problems

Than downgraded to Lion -> No Problems...

Sorry Apple ... but you should fix this. I don't think it's a hardware problem... The best thing is in one month there is no iMessage on Lion anymore and I've paid 16 Euro for a OS which doesn't work.

Did someone tested to reset PRAM and SMC?

Long term, doesn't help. No difference is made by that up to a clean re-install.

Supplemental Update 2.0 was released today for a keychain thing. Anyone confirm if this did anything unannounced in fixing the audio bug? Longshot, I know.

yap, i see.

Maybe the new new update?

More intermittent stuttering crap today. I am getting bloody sick of this.

Wish I'd have stayed on Snow Leopard.

Yeah this is really annoying. This issue is known since months and still no solution or statement from Apple.

I have a 15" MBP with Retina Display. It was shipped with Lion back then, and I don't remember having these issues. Since the fresh install of ML, I experience this issue.

In my case, everything works fine after starting the machine until the first graphic switch happens.

When the machine is restarted with the HD 4000, there is no shuttering. Switching to the GT650m works fine too, no shuttering. But if it switches back to the HD 4000 it shutters every few seconds.

It seems to me, that there is a problem with the switching in my case.

The only thing I can do to fix this, is disabling the auto switch.

Apple should finally take that issue more serious...

More issues today, and more iTunes log errors.

I just want to know if this is related to a potential hardware problem or if it is in fact a Mountain Lion software issue.

I am incredibly busy, so taking the iMac in to an Apple store (100mile round trip) will effect my work schedule.

If anyone has any idea of clues in these logs, please let me know.

23/11/2012 13:17:35.286 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:17:35.287 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:17:55.968 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:17:55.969 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:18:16.320 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:18:16.321 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:18:36.836 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:18:36.837 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:18:57.112 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:18:57.112 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:19:17.580 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:19:17.581 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:19:38.082 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:19:38.082 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:19:58.860 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:19:58.861 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:20:20.000 kernel[0]: ALF: ifnet_get_address_list_family error 12

23/11/2012 13:21:04.000 kernel[0]: smb_smb_negotiate: Support for the server O2 has been deprecated (PreXP), disconnecting

23/11/2012 13:21:13.000 kernel[0]: ALF: ifnet_get_address_list_family error 12

23/11/2012 13:27:55.000 kernel[0]: IOAudioStream[0xffffff802206fa00]::clipIfNecessary() - Error: attempting to clip to a position more than one buffer ahead of last clip position (2b3b,28d4)->(2b3d,14c8).

23/11/2012 13:27:55.000 kernel[0]: IOAudioStream[0xffffff802206fa00]::clipIfNecessary() - adjusting clipped position to (2b3c,28d4)

23/11/2012 13:28:12.855 WindowServer[89]: CGXSetWindowBackgroundBlurRadius: Invalid window 0xffffffff

23/11/2012 13:28:13.180 com.apple.XType.FontHelper[2454]: FontHelper: message received. (<dictionary: 0x7ffd82200bd0> { count = 2, contents =

"query" => <string: 0x7ffd82200d30> { length = 102, contents = "com_apple_ats_name_postscript == "Calibri" && kMDItemContentTypeTree != com.adobe.postscript-lwfn-font" }

"restricted" => <bool: 0x1047c4320>: true

})

23/11/2012 13:28:17.436 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:28:17.436 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:28:38.017 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:28:38.017 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:28:58.261 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:28:58.262 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:32:19.166 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:32:19.167 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:33:29.518 iTunes[859]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x1132ac180): Unexpected connection closure...

23/11/2012 13:33:29.519 ath[862]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x101b20180): Unexpected connection closure...

Have you tried to check your disk just to eliminate this possibility?

Don't try to use the Apple Disk Utility tool for repairing, it won't help.

Try to use Disk Utility from an Ubuntu disk or install this OS X tool:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smartreporter/id509148961

Major stuttering causes mentioned here are:

HDD with some bad block: Can be verified with good disk utility tools. It's solved by changing HDD or using an OS that deals better with dying HDD.

Graphics Switching: Can be verified by disabling automatic graphics switching from Intel HD to dedicated graphics. It can be fixed by disabling automatic switching and using only the dedicated graphics card.

Overheating: Can be verified tactile. Fixed using Fan Control, smcFanControl and others.

SSD Usage: May be verified by changing to HDD. Any Fix, Unknown.

It seems in the majority of cases, problems may arise from OS X upgrades. So I think it's recommended when trying to change HDD or SDD, to test a fresh install of Mountain Lion first, to check whether stuttering had gone for good.