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

Dear All Mac users, this seems to be a very frequent problem to MBP users for a long time. Traced the first posts about it back to 2007, then for MBP 17", the first once with combined audio-out socket. I fixed mine through a kind poke with the back of the inner part of a ball-pen. Et voila...

However there must be a soft-ware solution - or? Have really scanned all Mac sites without finding an update - take it as s challenge. Cold beer waiting in Stockholm for whoever solves this.

TRY THIS

I first opened System Preferences, Sound. I tried the paperclip with no result. Then I tried my iPhone headset with no result. Then I went back to my old iPod headset (note that the iPod headset has no microphone).

After I inserted the old iPod headset and removed it - the name 'Internal Speakers' replaced the name 'Optical Output' on screen.

Then I used the volume up, down & mute successfully with the Internal Speakers.

Thank you to all for your posts that led to this discovery....

(For those of you with a technical bend carefully compare the iPhone headset jack vs. the iPod headset jack)

Loaded MBP17

Yes, after a 4 year period and at least 2 generations of MBP ahead, we still get the same problem of this ****** sensors inside our plugs. Besides this problem with the headphones jack and the internal speakers, just solved with the paperclip, our old friend, i had some months ago the problem with the SD card socket and know i can't make changes on my SD cards with my MBP anymore. Besides all of it, i have a problem with random If you think it's outrageous cause you paid for the most expensive laptop in the market, consider you were a video professional from Brazil, were we pay about four thousand dollars for this peace of **** and have an even poor assistence service.

My late 2007 macbook developed this problem recently: no sound through internal speakers, only external speakers. I read the comments in this forum and stuck a toothpick in gently several times but the red light kept flickering without going out completely. I got violent with it, but still no difference. Then I tried a very thin screwdriver because I had no toothpicks, but it made no difference. I got violent with that too, not just at 6-7 o'clock but all the hours on the clock, still it made no difference. Previous posts had referred to dirt getting stuck in the jack socket and eventually being removed by whatever you choose to poke it with. So I inserted a q-tip, used for cleaning earholes, moistened with a surface cleaner, into the socket and gently pushed it in while turning as though screwing it in. I pulled it out to find a lot of dirt on the cotton wool. I repeated this three times and noticed the internal speakers were activated. Problem solved.

I have actualy found a simple solution by mistake. For me, the solution is to Zapp my PRAM. Don't get scared by how this sounds. It's very simple: Restart your MacBook, wait until you hear the mechanical startup sound, and straight after that, before the grey screen goes on, press and hold Option + Command + P + R until you hear the mechanical sound again. This should fix the problem. I have actualy found out about this while experiencing connection problems with my macbook. Now, whenever something goes wrong on my macbook, I just do this...and it fixes itself. I hope this works for you.

If you are scared that your computor will blow up or something like that, do some research on it in Google. I've done this a million times and the system doesent seem to mind.

I have a Mac Book Pro that I bought from a friend of mine...have had no trouble with it for almost two years. I'm a musician, so I'm constantly listening to music on it -- plugging my headphones in and out. Well, I called Apple Support when my speakers stopped working (although the Apple "ping" was heard when I would restart the system), and the woman was very kind to help me for free for a bit. We tried a whole bunch of things until we finally decided to schedule me an appt at a repair center. I ran into crazy traffic (I live in NY, surprise surprise) and I was a half hour late after sitting through an hour and a half on the road. I get there and the "Mac guy" is like, when was your appt? I told him 1:30 pm. He said, well we cancel our appts after 10 mins in you're late. I said, no one informed me of this (it doesn't even say it in the confirmation email). He looked at me like he couldn't care less, there were no more appts today (it was labor day after all), and I had to reschedule...and make the long trek home.

So I called my bro who's pretty well-versed in Macs -- he said to take my headphones, put them into the jack, and pull the cable out slowly instead of ripping them out real quick. Swear to goodness, it worked like a charm. I have no idea what will happen if I put them in again, but...I'm more upset at losing my appt. Is it my fault I was late? Probably -- I could have left for the appt earlier. But to not even call me or email me that my appt has been cancelled? Two miles from home I would have turned around!! So I had a bummy afternoon.

But if my brother's advice helps anyone, cheers!

xoxo

The very first idea worked well for me. I inserted a paper clip to the 7 o'clock position, gave a little push..... and thats it!! at first you'll see a red light, then it disappears. Hope it works for all.

Thanks!

Awesome!!! That just happened to my mac and with the help of all of you I fixed it!!

I paper clip didn't work, however I inserted the headphone jack and then very slowly removed the headphone jack and that worked.

Believe it or not, just blew into the headphone jack, reinserted headphones then removed them; sound output went back to "Internal Speakers". Sensor must get covered with dirt particles over time and needs a clean every now and then...

WOW! The paperclip thing worked! You don't need to dig too deep (work the side of the port not too deep). If you poke gently untill you make the red light go off , you found the stuck switch. Just gently mess with it until the red light go off (you're basically unsticking a switch)...Then Bam... You have sound. Thanks message board!

I just had the same issue with a brand new MBP - 2 months old. I simply reinserted the pair of headphones that seemed to trigger this problem, jiggled them very gently. Nothing. Then I tried plugging them in and out with a little bit of force and ... BAM... worked.

Go figure... but, if this is the worst thing that happens to us, we are all pretty lucky, don't you think?

Jeez Louise. Am mac die hard since 8mb ram was WOW! great. This problem is terrible in its pervasiveness and longevity. Mine just started happening couple of months ago. Black MacBook 13 inch early 2008. 10.6.8. Thought it was related to the virtual machine running XP as when I went there sometimes it would seem to fix itself only to come back after I would use an external speaker and then unplug it.

Tried the random toothpick jabs, the toothpick with different o'clocks recommended. The headphone jack wiggle. The headphone jack pull-it-out-slowly. Tried the bic pen prodding. All to no avail. Was afraid to put anything metal in there, like a paperclip. But hey, wait a second! The headphone jack is metal.

So, while playing music so the red light would come on, and shining a flashlight in there, there is indeed a switch easy to get to at the 9 o'clock position not too far in. When you put the paper clip on that spot, you can see something move. That didn't fix my problem.

So looking JUST A LITTLE further in, at the 3 o'clock position, the forward side of the hole if you will, there is another switch. I couldn't get to it with a straight paperclip so I bent the end to a 90 degree angle with a needle nose small enought to fit in the hole and was gentle about it, but as soon as I touched the right spot, music started playing from internal speakers.

Wish it didn't have to be this way, but will keep that paperclip handy since AppleCare has expired. Thanks forum! My first post. Hope somebody gets some help from it...

Just touch the jack with toothstick few times. If it doesn't work insert the headphones and pull out really quickly few times. It definitely works. It only took 3-4 minutes.

Using a 10x power loupe a switch is visible in the 6 o'clock position of the headphone/digital out jack, along with a few years worth of embedded lint which was promptly vacuumed. I poked around with a toothpick, bent straight pin and spudger w/o results. Turning the pin with the head inserted into the jack and pulling up/out on the switch brought the internal speakers back immediately. The constant inward motion of the mini plug must have a greater effect on the switch than it's removal.