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Optical Audio Not Working

Hi my dear Apple Community,


First of all, I apologize if there are already discussions on this topic but I have tried to search for a current discussion without any success.


So here is my problem, I updated my 2010 Macbook Pro to Mountain Lion this summer and it had been working perfectly fine until the 10.8.2 update about a week ago. My optical audio will not work anymore. The port still detects an optical cable and switches to optical audio (the end of my cable is red and lit up) but when I plug it into my amplifier it does not work.

I can confirm that the amplifier does work as it works with a 2011 Macbook Pro that is still running OS X Snow Leopard, using the same cable.

Therefore I can say with absolute certainity that this is software based.

I have tried to switch to encoded audio in the Audio MIDI setup application without luck, my Mac will not even output any sound in encoded audio, iTunes won't even start playing a song. I have tried to swicth from 24 bit to 16 bit audio integer as well as lowering my sample rate to 44.1KHz and 38KHz.


I would like to know if there is anybody else in my situation and if there is a workaround to this problem. I'll do whatever it takes to make the sound work because right now I cannot watch HD Movies with 5.1 sound, nor can I listen to music in my living room anymore.


Thanks a lot for your help and support !


Cheers.


Scott Gauthreaux.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 29, 2012 11:04 PM

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Posted on Feb 18, 2013 9:39 AM

Same problem here, late 2010 MBP 15". I think this is actually a pretty common problem but I have yet to find an active thread on this.


Its detecting the optical audio cable and switching over to digital signal (I can see the red light coming out of the cable as well) but no audio is being picked up by the receiver (and I know for sure its not the receiver – works fine with my iMac optical out).


I do notice that the light coming out of the cable is a bit brighter when connected to my iMac than from my MBP – not sure if this was always the case. Makes me wonder if there is simply too much dust and lint inside my MBP jack from lugging it around my backpack all the time??


Any solutions?

6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Feb 18, 2013 9:39 AM in response to Scott38660

Same problem here, late 2010 MBP 15". I think this is actually a pretty common problem but I have yet to find an active thread on this.


Its detecting the optical audio cable and switching over to digital signal (I can see the red light coming out of the cable as well) but no audio is being picked up by the receiver (and I know for sure its not the receiver – works fine with my iMac optical out).


I do notice that the light coming out of the cable is a bit brighter when connected to my iMac than from my MBP – not sure if this was always the case. Makes me wonder if there is simply too much dust and lint inside my MBP jack from lugging it around my backpack all the time??


Any solutions?

Feb 18, 2013 11:45 AM in response to Scott38660

Hi to all,

I have managed to fix this issue with a rather simple fix. I ended up sucking the air as hard as I could out of the audio port and apparently cleaned it from some dust. I would recommend using a vacuum cleaner instead of sucking with your mouth though. As soon as I did that I noticed that the light was quite a bit brighter and my audio worked instantly.

So propertyofparkdale, it does seem that the issue might be coming from a deposit of dust inside the port.


I hope this will be helpful to you all. If you have more struggles feel free to post your observations here.


Cheers.

Scott

May 1, 2017 8:56 PM in response to Scott38660

I had this problem too and fixed it with a Q-tip.


My system was working with a 10 meter optical cable and then one day it just stopped. The computer recognized the TOSlink audio cable was inserted and was using it as the output device. But I could not see any red light at the end of my 10 meter optical cable. I tested the cable on another and it was fine.


I fixed the problem by cleaning the optical port on the mac. To do this I took a cotton Q-tip and peeled off about 80% of the cotton making sure a whisp of it extended from the front and the rest of it was well glued to the stick. This fits perfectly into the 3.5mm jack and it came out with a very small about of black flakey dirt on it. It hardly seemed like enough to block the light but apparently it was. After that the red light shown brightly at the end of the cable.


notes: Q-tip brand q-tips with a paper (not plastic) stalk seem to have the cotton glued on more tightly. I'd suggest those to avoid the potential disaster of leaving some cotton behind in the hole.

Optical Audio Not Working

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