MBP audio no longer plays from my speakers...Optical light stays on

Holy Smokes! This problem came out of nowhere today. After reading all the suggestions, I tried a bobby pin but that didn't work. I tried the PRAM reset and that didn't work. Finally I tried a very thick tapestry needle (not the sharp end) and gently moved it around the speaker/headset jack and it worked. Hope I don't have to do that again in the near future.

What is this red light everyone is talking about?

Hi folks,

A (slightly) alternative fix for a very persistent Red Light Of Doom...

I inherited an MBP with this problem and tried plugging/unplugging a headphone jack loads of times, over a period of a few weeks, but this didn't work permanently. I also tried the cocktail stick / paperclip trick, again this didn't work for more than 5 minutes. Also did the PRAM, etc etc.....

So, I'm not sure if you can get WD40 spray in the US, but for anyone in the UK this stuff is magical! It's a lubricant for metal parts (i.e the assumed stuck optical out switch) and is also good for electrical circuitry because it removes moisture.

I didn't want to spray it directly into the port (as a previous poster suggested), so instead I dipped the headphone jack into an eggcup of WD40, and carefully inserted it into the port. I twisted the jack around, and gave it a very gentle wiggle up and down once or twice (which made a slight clicking sound, good or bad I don't know!

I have been doing this about 6 times a day for 3 days, and since the end of day 2 Red Light of Doom has not troubled me for 24 hours and counting. I am continuing the 'treatment' when convenient.

Regards, Jimmy

I just got the red light, then used it to look inside the tiny hole. I found a small pad on the bottom(6 o'clock) that a pressed on for a few seconds then the audio came back to the speakers!

LISTEN UP EVERYONE!!!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!!!!

I sent my mac book in after experiencing a complete collapse of the sound output interface.
After receiving my black mac book back after only 1 day by the way (VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!!)
;It was switching between the digital output (red light off and on (never before happening));to headphone output; and when my headphones were plugged in;
the external speakers were on!
SO!!!! I Tried the probing thing, moving the headphones into the headphone jack rapidly; off and on and off and on; in and out and in and out!!!
It has worked so far. I agree with the dust and dirt theory!!!! It is natural!!!
SO!!!! I will see what happens withing the next 20 DAYS!! Because I will send my precious Mac book Black in for repair if the sound issue keeps coming up. I have until the Middle of February or so!!
Bless you all and good luck!!! 🙂

WOW, thank you all so much. i was freaking out. You truly have to poke deep.

Bump!
This one is the truth. I read a few dozen descriptions of poking around in the port with a toothpick, but there's (as you said) a switch to rotate in a clockwise manner, at the back of the port by the light. In at 3 o'clock, turn round to about 6 o'clock.

Thank you.

Of all the suggestions, this is the one that worked. It's not like pressing down on a contact; it's like moving the hands on a clock. I used a clockwise motion and after a couple of attempts it worked.

Wish I'd never bought this thousand dollar piece of worthless plastic. Don't even use OSX anymore, prefer linux. It at least knows how to use the airport correctly because 10.5 is a failure and apple is the microsoft.

After about 30 minutes of playing around with a toothpick I think I've figured it out! If you look closely into the jack you can see two sensors fairly close to the outer edge, one on each side of the headphone jack. So, if you, instead of poking around, swirl the toothpick so that it touches both sensors (and you don't even have to push hard) then the problem was fixed.
Hope this helps!

Thank you for starting this post, and everybody for figuring this problem out without apples help. The red led light from the headphone jack on my MacBook started glowing, out of the blue, even though I hadn't used the jack for about 2 days. I then read up, and realized my internal sound was not working....and I was screwed...and sad.

After finding many forums talking about the light, and more questions and answers... I am happy to say the toothpick method is a winner, and fixed my problem. Gently poking around, the sound turned on when the toothpick was around the 5 o'clock mark, despite what many people say is around 6 or 7 o'clock. The best thing to do is have i Tunes playing while you are fiddling around, so the music comes on immediately after your toothpick finds the g-spot.

Hope this helps anyone who is super upset about their lack of sound. I know I sure was.

Apple SHOULD be reading these forums, and trying to fix this problem. Because it really is a ridiculous matter that shouldn't be happening to so many people in the first place.

hey guys...
thanks a ton 🙂

i used toothpick, and wasnt able to solve it for few attempts...

but then...i stayed patient..and tried for few more times...and moved the switch in the clock wise direction..and the red light turned off and the music started playing 😉

thanks one and all 🙂

i just came across the problem on my computer and i came across this thread but i was a little unsure about sticking a toothpick into my computer. So I called apple. The reason for the red light is that the computer still thinks that there is a headphone/speaker plug in the headphone jack. So they had me put the headphones in and out of the jack until the light turned off and the speakers began working again. its not a big deal.

Hi,

I just wanted to say that I've experienced the same problem today...

Just yesterday, I plugged a pair of Logitech Desktop speakers into the Audio-Out port of my MacBook Pro...well, today I discovered this red light coming from the Audio-Out port and was kinda dismayed by the fact that Audio was no longer working.

The fix was simple: I simply plugged a pair of generic headphones into the port, unplugged them, and the sound was working again!

I actually thought it was just me, but apparently not..thanks for making me more aware of this..It happened to me today as well as yesterday. To fix it temporarily I:

Plugged in headphones into the port, unplugged them, and then got the sound to work!