No Sound Output on MacBook Pro

You may have already tried some of the suggestions in the following:

There are no viruses for OSX.

If you are still under warranty and/or have AppleCare, call them. Let them deal w/it.

OOW: Take your Mac to your local Apple Store or an AASP. Diagnostic testing is FREE!

There are no viruses for OSX.

Not entirely true. See:

“There are no Mac viruses”

That said, this problem definitely isn't a virus.

What happened with me was that the speakers were still set to "Apple TV Airplay" in the System Prefs>Sound>Output. It's possible this isn't the problem for you as you've already looked at the sound settings but just in case others come here (as I did) looking for an answer.

Hi all,

Sorry to resurrect an old post, but I searched for a whole week for a solution and spoke with 3 separate Apple consultants who just repeated the same 'solution' (reinstall OS X which didn't work for me). I'm hoping my post might help some desperate people out there who want their sound back! Huuuge thanks to this YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSz82ars29g

1. First of all backup your Mac to an external drive using Time Machine. This may take some time but stick with it. Note that my sound issue did exist at the time of backup, don't worry about that.

2. Once completed, shut down your computer.

3. Locate the 'Command' button and the 'R' button. Hold these down and power on your machine. Keep these held down until the Apple logo and spinning loading logo appear.

4. You will restart in recovery mode and 'OS X Utilities' will show on your screen with the option to restore from Time Machine, reinstall OSX, get help on the internet or check your disk using Disk Utility. Note that I tried to reinstall the OSX 3 separate times and after waiting for over an hour for it to download, each time it gave me an error 'An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.'

5. You need to select the first option - restore from Time Machine. Ensure your external device containing the backup is plugged in.

6. On the next screen, select the external hard drive containing the back up and click continue, the next screen will ask you to select the system you are restoring - select your mac HD.

7. Let the backup run it's course, mine took 3 hours so make yourself a cup of tea!

8. Once it's complete, your mac will automatically restart.

9. When your computer restarts your sound will no longer be greyed out and when using your volume buttons you will no longer see the 'no entry' type sign. Problem fixed!

For info, I have a 15 inch Retina Mac Book Pro (early 2013). I know from endlessly reading forums that the solution seems to be different for everyone, so just in case this solution doesn't work, here are a few other solutions I tried, including those suggested to me by Apple support:

- reboot the computer (of course this is always the first thing to try)

- reset the PRAM/NVRAM (search on Apple's site for the relevant process for your Mac)

- open system preferences > sound and check 'output' to see if your internal speakers are listed - check they aren't muted! (mine didn't appear appear at all, no output did so I'm afraid I can't guide you further)

- look in the headphone jack input, if there's a red light, you might want to gently poke some headphones in there to switch it back to internal output rather than headphones, also try apple branded headphones too

- some people have reported sticking toothpicks or blowing into the jack or even using compressed (canned) air - please be careful doing this as you can cause damage

- open Audio MIDI from applications to see if your internal speakers are listed (mine weren't so can't help further here)

- there are some com.apple.audio files in library that you can try deleting (see other posts on apple forum) - I wouldn't recommend messing around too much in Library unless you really know what you're doing. This file is deliberately hidden so we don't screw around with things we don't understand. Again, the files specified in other posts weren't listed on my computer so I can't advise further here and would recommend deleting system files as a last resort!

- there are some commands you can enter into Terminal to check any external devices (such as antivirus or printers) that may have interfered with the sound, I did try this and it just brought up the antivirus I use - uninstalling that didn't bring my sound back and you have to play around with commands that can risk your data so please be careful with this method. Again, recommended as a last resort if you really know what you're doing

- try repairing permissions in Disk Utility > Mac HD

- when rebooting holding 'command' and 'r' you can also go into disk utility again and 'verify disk' or 'repair disk' I did both and nothing changed but it could highlight an issue for you

- try rebooting holding 'command' + 'r' and reinstall OS X (note that command + r reinstalls from local HD - what you already have on your HD so if there are issues on your HD then you may want to try the next option)

- you can also try rebooting and holding 'command' + 'option' + 'r' to reboot from the internet - hold down until you see the loading symbol (mine was a spinning globe), connect to your wifi and try reloading your OS X this way. Mine didn't work so you might want to research this further if you want to try this option.

Good Luck - I hope it works for you!

S

I have a similar problem where I cannot find the internal sound output, I do see the Apple Airplay output. How do I disable the Apple Airplay output? I am hoping that will also solve my problem.

I have the exact same problem.

I'm going to just give up on my headphone jack, as I think its broken. There's a red light on in there, and for the life of me, I can't get the internal speakers to work, after combing through hundreds of troubleshooting posts.

The thing that is SO frustrating about this particular problem, is that every time I start up my Mac, I hear the Apple "chime". In other words, my internal speakers work, they just don't work once OS X is loaded. I was hoping that with my recent update to Yosemite, this would be fixed, but alas, it is not.

The start-up chime is the only time I can hear my precious internal speakers working. Otherwise it's external speakers or headphones only for me. ::sadface::

The following finally fixed the problem for me: delete the "com.apple.BezelServices.plist" file in Library>Preferences, and reboot.

I have a late 2011 Macbook Pro.

If all else fails
Check this forum http://www.macworld.com/article/2031146/repairing-the-mysteriously-muted-mac.htm l

Explans that the headphone port sensor can get gunk inside of it which stops the mac from correctly detecting that headphones have been disconnected.

Use a small toothpick and gently wiggle it around into the inside of the audio port, mainly toward the inside wall.

This worked for me!

Good Luck!

After repairing disk permissions, repairing the disk, taking headphones in and out of my audio jack an endless number of times, and even deleting a few renegade Library path files (which probably had nothing to do with the problem), that little toothpick did the trick!!

I nudged around with a toothpick like you suggested and it did the trick. Nice suggestion.

This post is 10 months old. But let me say - Your post fixed my problem today! Much thanks to you!

I went through it all and I found at the end that giving it a few pokes for a few seconds with a toothpick worked!!! YAY - THANKS TO YOU!