After upgrade to 10.8.2, my built-in audio system doesn't work

I have the same problem, but with both audio output and input. As soon as I plug in headphones, the volume icon in the top of the screen turns grey. Even attempts to use the manual keys on the keyboard failed. The same goes for audio output (e.g. external speakers). After a while (perhaps 4-5 full minutes), the issue resolves itself. It is almost like the computer is confused, or in pseudo-technical terms, the designated command functions programmed for audio control seem to be bumping heads. It is also the case that this problem only persisted after upgrading to Mountain Lion 10.8.2 .

General Public: Any one else experiencing this issue?

Apple: Any solutions?

Responses appreciated.

P.S. My username is simply a reference to Steve Jobs: Reed_College_Dropout. In fact, I am not a graduate, but a continuing student at Reed.

I am having the exact same issues. I have mid-2011 iMac with max everything. Audio worked fine in all OS X versions (10.6.x - 10.7.x) and Windows 7 using Parallels 7 & 8. After upgrading from 10.7.4 to 10.8.1 I get constant audio stuttering, fading and overall poor audio quality in both OS X and Windows. I rebooted back into 10.7.4 from my internally cloned SSD and all audio was back to normal. I did not try 10.8 - I went straight to 10.8.1. I also upgraded to 10.8.2 and have the same issues.

10.8.2 made the audio a little better, but I still have stuttering issues and occasional sound cut out. 😠

C'mon Apple! Don't desert your Mac customers while you fix Maps for iOS6!

I am having same problem after upgrading to 10.8.2.

I have some bad news for you about going back to 10.8.1. I bought my Mac Pro at the end of June and everything worked great (I have MOTU Digital Performer and a MOTU 828 firewire audio interface). I upgraded to 10.8.2 and all of a sudden the MOTU 828 would stop, start, or not even be recognized by the Mac Pro. And to make it even weirder, it was intermittant.

Long story short I contacted Apple support because I narrowed the problem down to some kind of conflict with the 10.8.2 upgrade.

Apple tech support told me that they cannot supply a previous version of an OS once their main server has been upgraded. They said that in the old days you could get a copy of previous OS from the website, but that is no longer the case. Basically Apple is completely unable to provide a copy of 10.8.1.

Before you ask, yes I know I should have backed up my system, but after spending a few grand on a Mac Pro, and then all of the software upgrades etc I didn't have the money to buy an external hard drive. And I had never had a problem downloading previous versions of Apple software from the website before.

I now have a very large and expensive paperweight with new software that I can't run.

Odd that Apple can't simply put previous operating systems on their website anymore. I guess customers don't matter like they used to.

I'm having exact same problem.

Speaker drivers don't seem to be installed!!!

One of the strange things I am finding out is that the firewire bus has some odd behaviors. If I plug in my audio interface and use it then I get all kinds of error messages from my external hard drive. But if I unmount my external hard drive, and then unplug the firewire cable from the audio interface everything works fine. I mount the external hard drive and it just hums along.

There is something weird about the firewire bus on a Mac Pro. If I turn off one firewire device then everything else on the bus suddenly disappears.

Have you tried unplugging everything on your firewire bus except the speakers? As strange as it sounds, this is the only way to make my system work. If everything is powered up then it all runs fine, turn one thing off or close it's driver and there is pandamonium.

Hope that helps.

I had nothing plugged into firewire; but I do use it for my time machine backup drive. I plug that in, allow it to backup, then "eject" it when it is happy.

So, on a lark, I plugged in the LaCie drive, and boom-box, my speakers work agian.

I will now power down, with the drive connected. I'll let you know if comes back. Thanks for the tip!

Apple: this should not be happening!

same exact problem here.

mid-2010 iMac, with what were excellent (vingtage?) altec lansing sound system. I had them

with 3 Macs always great sound in my studio....now only 'internal speakers'/'built ins' are avail in sys pref

on-board sound is pretty good, but not for my music.....

Apple this *****!

This is the kind of crap windows users were subjected to for years - did you hire some of them?

and to BBHughes, did you 'fix' work? i have 2tb g-tech back up that i'll fire up and see if that makes all things

work if you have had positive results. Meanwhile, Apple - you get a VERY ROTTEN APPLE for this THANKGIVING

bah humbug

This problem seems to vary with individual configurations. Some of the following have been reported to fix:

Reset PRAM and SMC

Repair permissions

Clear caches

Create new user account

Be sure all apps are fully updated, and that any third-party apps are fully ML-compatible and updated.

Hope this helps.

thanks for trying, but did that, twice actually, no change - only INTERNAL SPEAKERS are available in sys prefs.

my altec's have been abandoned by whatever Apple has done with his last update - and now with holiday season

here I'm pretty ****** off - gonna send this to APPLE TALK and let CNET spread the word on this

stupid error of theirs..... and two months to fix it so far with no word from apple/

ludicrous

Based on a search of these forums and a Google search, your'e not alone.

Have you checked with Altec? There may be updated drivers in the works.

Found this.

Also this.

In regard to my speakers not showing as installed and not working after upgrade to 10.8.2:

The problem was with the FireWire port! In a post above it was suggested that change that configuration and try again. I have a Hardrive I use for backup on the FireWire port. I disconnected that drive, and the speakers came back with no further action on my part.

Thanks to "Breakfast with Amy" as seen in this post.

breakfast with Amy

Re: After upgrade to 10.8.2, my built-in audio system doesn't work

Nov 17, 2012 12:30 PM ( in response to BBHughes)

One of the strange things I am finding out is that the firewire bus has some odd behaviors. If I plug in my audio interface and use it then I get all kinds of error messages from my external hard drive. But if I unmount my external hard drive, and then unplug the firewire cable from the audio interface everything works fine. I mount the external hard drive and it just hums along.

There is something weird about the firewire bus on a Mac Pro. If I turn off one firewire device then everything else on the bus suddenly disappears.

I tried putting the drive back on-line, and found that this SOMETIMES causes the speakers to fail.

So, if your having trouble with speakers on your MacBook Pro, try changing the equipment configuration on the firewire ports.

This may be related to a problem I have with the Thunderbolt jack for extending my desktop display onto an external monitor. Sometimes, the monitor does not detect (even if I force the 'detect'). When this happens, I have to reboot the computer and everything works fine after that.

I'm having the same problem after I upgraded to 10.8.2 this morning on a white MacBook (2010 I think). The thing is, I have no external drive plugged in. I'm using very normal iPhone 4 earbuds (with remote/mic), although it doesn't really make a difference whether they're plugged in or not: the sound icon in the menu bar is grayed out, the function keys don't work (OSD shows a "no-go" sign and the speaker symbol is gray). In the System preferences, I see my headphones as the only device when they're connected (type is "Headphone port", looks very normal), and that changes to "Internal speakers" when I unplug them. In both cases though, the volume bar is grayed out (the volume is set to max), as is the "Mute" checkbox (the checkbox is checked).

It may or may not be related but when I try to play something in iTunes it doesn't work at all: of course I get no sound but also the head doesn't move at all although the "pause" icon shows it's supposedly playing.

I tried to plug in some USB headphones and suddenly everything worked fine -- as soon as they are connected, the volume bar turns back to normal even for the iPhone earbuds (or internal speakers when the earbuds are not connected). If again I take away the USB headphones, I get back to the same problems as before. Interestingly, iTunes resumes playing automatically when the sound starts to work again.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!