sound volume too low on macbook pro

Hello brnstdy,

If you are noticing issues with the speaker volume on your MacBook Pro, you may need to reset the NVRAM:

Your Mac stores certain settings in a special memory area even if it is turned off. On Intel-based Macs, this is stored in memory known as NVRAM; on PowerPC-based Macs, this is stored in memory known as PRAM.

Information stored in NVRAM / PRAM includes:

• Speaker volume
• Screen resolution
• Startup disk selection
• Recent kernel panic information, if any

If you experience issues related to these functions, you may need to reset the NVRAM or PRAM. For example, if your Mac starts up from a startup disk other than the one you've specified in Startup Disk preferences, or if a "question mark" icon appears briefly when your Mac starts up, resetting NVRAM / PRAM may help.

You can use these steps to reset your NVRAM:

Resetting NVRAM / PRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

After resetting NVRAM or PRAM, you may need to reconfigure your settings for speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and time zone information. If issues persist, your Mac's logic board battery (not a portable Mac's rechargeable battery) may need to be replaced. The logic board battery helps retain NVRAM/PRAM settings when your computer is shut down. You can take your Mac to a Mac Genius or Apple Authorized Service Provider to replace the battery on the logic board.

You can find the full article here:

About NVRAM and PRAM

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Sheila M.

OMG was driving me nuts.

Quit Teamviewer 10 and Boom sound is back to normal

Just as an additional note.

If you have Firmware Password protection enabled, you will need to turn this off to reset your NVRAM / PRAM.

This can be done by first going into recovery tools (Command-R during startup), choosing the Utilities menu, and selecting Firmware Password Utility.

You can now reset your NVRAM / PRAM by restarting and holding Command - Option - P - R

Don't forget to re-enable your Firmware Password afterwards, using the same process as above.

More info here: How to set a firmware password on your Mac - Apple Support

Thank you for this. I did not have to quite, simply unchecking the "Computer sound" option in Team Viewer fixed the low volume issue. 🙂

I don't use Teamviewer so I knew that that was not my issue. I did, however, reset my NVRAM which fixed the issue. Would anyone know why one would have this issue of lower volume output? Just trying to prevent this issue again since having to restart MBP every time would be a nuisance (mind you, I do actually restart my MBP at least once in a three day period).

If resetting NVRAM doesn't solve your issue then maybe a speaker has failed.

Hi brnstdy,

Thank you for the update and sharing what worked for you. I'm glad it's working now!

All the best,

Sheila M.

thanks solved my problem

my mac disk utility also repaired

I was having this problem and it was resolved by Force Quitting TeamViewer 10.

Thanks for that! It was also my issue. So, whoever have TeamViewer running and problems with low sound volume... try quitting TeamViewer first 🙂

This fixed for me. Turn off teamviewer

+1, I have similar sound issues in case when my Mac wakes up after long sleep.

Quitting TeamViewer resolves the problem!

In my case, it's about BOOM as well, but it's after I uninstalled BOOM2 that the volume became half of what it was before BOOM2, and resetting NVRAM can not fix it.

Did the uninstallation by removing it from Application then:

sudo kextunload -b com.globaldelight.driver.BoomDevice
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/BoomDevice.kext
sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/BoomDevice.kext

Boom is really a great app. Thank you so much for the information.

My Macbook pro sounded muffled and distorted vs my Macbook Air. The Boom app really improved the sound strength and accuracy of my Macbook Pro.