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Sound stuttering after Mountain Lion install

Dear community,


after having installed OSX Mountain Lion my sound startet stuttering whenever there is rapid movement on my screen.

This includes e.g. window movement, scrolling through image loaded websites or video playback (flash player, quicktime).

A restart didn't help. I'm using stereo output, not digital.


I have connected a second monitor but the problem persists after disconnecting it. Movement on the second monitor also causes the sound to stutter.

My GPU Diode temperature is at 85°C (there is some bug that keeps the GPU under load while a second monitor is connected AFAIK), but I guess it was the same under Snow Leopard.


In Snow Leopard the sound output was always perfect even under heavy load or heavy HDD I/O.


Any ideas?

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 28, 2012 5:48 AM

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Posted on Jul 28, 2012 3:22 PM

I am also having this issue as well.


I opened Activity Monitor and noticed that during the stuttering, coreaudiod jumps in CPU usage, often past 5%. I have also noticed graphics lag when this occurs if I'm doing something like watching full-screen video or gaming.


I'm currently experiencing this on mid 2011 iMac 27" as well as a 24" iMac 2009 model I use at work.

1,223 replies

Feb 21, 2013 7:11 AM in response to tttxx

I just reinstalled Mountain Lion from scratch, and I still have the same audio/mouse-stuttering. This is extremely annoying, and even more so considering this problem has been there since day 1 of mountain lion, and apple has been aware of the problem. I am really close to just downgrading to Lion and forget about ML. Apple should refund money to anyone having bought ML and having these issues since the Mac is useless with this bug.


OR they could fix it with an update, but it has been a LONG time already.

Feb 21, 2013 7:36 AM in response to dokt

Absolutely, it is extremely disappointing and I share your sentiment. Apple "support" has been virtually non existing. Efforts are seemingly put into different platforms, iOS or now a better maps experience. But it feels like the OSX platform with iMac and Mountain Lion has been pretty much abandoned. The user experience just is not where it should be. Features from iOS are ported, but fundamental problems of OSX remain and are not addressed, i.e. how to efficiently use high resolution screens. A nicely designed hardware isn't worth anything if the software isn't up to par. And if we have regressions and have a very unstable OS and can't even play music or videos properly, it is maybe time to switch. I can't imagine a customer service that is much worse than what Apple puts on display here.

Feb 21, 2013 8:00 AM in response to tttxx

I feel sorry for people with the sound stuttering problems I have an iMac and experienced a minor stutering on video playback for about two weeks before 10.8.2 came out my machine has run without stuttering either with iTunes or VLC or Quick Time since this current version has been out I run my sound through Bose digital Cinemate speakers without a problem so in spite of all the noice by those effected it must be a minority problem and from what I have heard 10.8.3 cures it I see that this has been available on torrent sites for some time although I would imagine the official release must be soon .

Lets hope that the next big cat does not have issues . I am sure that although the effected feel badly treated I would imagine that the numbers effected are very low. I have two iMacs, two macbooks. one mac mini and a macbook pro none of which are effected by this sound issue.

User uploaded file

Feb 22, 2013 8:33 PM in response to tttxx

I've also been experiencing this since day one, with a clean install. I even submitted it at feedback. Apple's not rushing to fix this, i guess we're left to wait for 10.9 sea lion or something. >:-/

Feb 23, 2013 11:05 PM in response to tttxx

Finally, found a solution: i switched to PC (this is not a troll, see my previous messages). All my softs/hardware were compatible, so, after 6 months without any answer and a lot of money spent in the renting of a mac with Snow Leopard to be able to work, i decided not to wait again. I feel really betrayed by Apple, so much hope, so much despairs, Apple is not mac anymore, it's only iOS. And when i read all the troubles met with ML on that forum (cpu overloaded by spoltlight, mouse free to move where it wants, sandbox's frozen situation, safari lost in the stars... + the fact that it's not secure anymore) i had no choice: after more than 20 years supporting Mac, a PC make my days. I'm so sad, deeply sad, to write this. Me, on a PC. Ugly, but true, and the fact is that it works very well, no stuttering sounds anymore. So, hope you'll find a solution, thanx for those messages with help and take care...

Feb 24, 2013 12:43 AM in response to Banakos

Hi Banakos and thanx for your message but i was waiting since august!!!, and, i still don't undersatnd how Apple can produce systems with such a bug. I know my PC won't be a good fellow, but my mac wasn't neither ;-). I have the impression that, nowadays, when Apple fix a bug somewhere, another one go on elsewhere ;-). It wasn't the case before, a long time ago. I hadn't any trouble with my old systems (from 6 to Snow, even if i think Snow was a bit slow). So, thanx again for your advice, i'm not happy to leave the boat, but i have to work, that's my job to produce sounds and music, Apple didn't let me do that job proplerly, what a shame.

Feb 24, 2013 12:53 AM in response to bricolosapristi

I understand your frustration.

But if i look back, there where always problems with every OSX release.

These problems got fixed over time and in the end every major was very usable (since 10.4).

And that's why every admin says "never change a running system" we dont have to update to the latest releases.

Old Hardware works fine, there isn't always the need to buy a new machine.

We can work around that (render effects etc.).


I know a lot of people in the "audio business", some of them still work with 10.4 and it's fine.

Great Audio was produced at the time of 10.4, so why should it not be possible today?

Just to share a facebook or twitter status?


To be fair, i love updates too, i got the problem too, i was frustrated as **** by that problem.

But at the end of the day, all i've learned about it was not to upgrade my system as soon as possible and to be happy with what i've got.

Feb 24, 2013 8:13 PM in response to bricolosapristi

I don't think you're trolling. It's what happens when Apple screws with the recipe for success. They are the equivalent of fine dining and you wouldn't keep going to a restaurant if the food was lousy or the order kept getting messed up. They will end up being a mobile device company and their Mac line will simply be absorbed into iOS in the long run. They don't care if we leave anyways. When was the last time you saw them advertise on TV for a Mac?

Feb 24, 2013 9:51 PM in response to Leslie Bell

Funny. That's the ultimate proof that i was right when i switched to PC: if it's impossible to upgrade your Mac system without a risk, if the best way to use your computer is to keep it without any update, what's the point? What about the alpha, beta and RC's tests? Does it mean that, in fact, everyone is a perpetual beta tester without knowing it? Really expensive for so much risks, isn't it?

It's exactly the same politic as Microsoft though: you can upgade, but if it doesn't work, you can't go back to stability ;-). I'm still confused and sad by what i read here, deeply disapointed to have to buy a PC for my professionnal stuffs because my so old fellow Apple hasn't grown in the good way.

Sound stuttering after Mountain Lion install

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