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El Capitan and missing volume control for speakers

I have just updated to OS 10.11 El Capitan. Upon successful completion of installation, my desktop speakers no longer have ANY volume control. I can not control the volume by the keyboard shortcuts on the keyboard nor by the volume control (which is now greyed out) in the menu bar. Note that I can select and use the USB speakers under the Sound portion of System Preferences, but I can not change the volume at all. Everything worked just fine BEFORE this update (which was a couple of hours ago). With the exception of the new OS, nothing else has changed on this computer.


Any thoughts on how I can correct this issue?


Mac Pro; 2 x 2.4 Quad Core; 14 GB RAM; OS 10.11 El Capitan

Speakers: Microsoft (yea, I know...) Digital Sound System 80

Posted on Sep 30, 2015 5:03 PM

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92 replies

Oct 20, 2015 3:42 AM in response to foundryfire

Upon upgrading to El Capitan, Built-in Output in Sound System Preference on my Macbook Pro is not showing up. However it does show up under Devices (About this mac). My specs are: MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7, RAM 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB. Needless to say Built-in Output was working under Yosemite. See screen grabs below..


User uploaded file

User uploaded file

Oct 21, 2015 1:31 PM in response to Shadester

The upgrade didn't help me either. I found a suggestion elsewhere that the audio problems can be solved by turning off System Integrity Protection, but that appears to require using Terminal commands, which falls outside of my skill-set. I'm also unclear what the broader effects of turning off SIP would be.


If anyone has the skills to check this out, I'd be interested in knowing if it works (and if it's advisable to turn off SIP).

Oct 25, 2015 6:01 AM in response to Mr Z

Jesus, I can't believe this is happening.


I would not have upgraded to El Capitan if I had known beforehand.


My device is a Pro-Ject USB Box with a Burr-Brown Japan PCM2702 chip and I just made these observations:


- disabling system integrity protection does not help

- 10.11.1 does not help

- I can still control audio volume with the keyboard hotkeys when using Logitech G35 USB headset


I’m very close to reverting the upgrade via time machine…

Nov 1, 2015 1:47 AM in response to foundryfire

Me too. Or should that be me 4,637??


Creative X-Fi XMod shows "The selected device has no output controls" under System Preferences -> Sound. I also have a Caldigit Thunderbolt Docking Station (v1, not v2) which comes up as "USB audio CODEC", and DOES have output controls so I can use the keyboard volume keys. That tells me the issue is not isolated to USB. Based on that I dug out an old Creative X-Fi Go! which I happen to have and have plugged it in, and that DOES have audio controls. Looks like I'll be using that from now on instead of the Xmod :-(


The objective here is to be able to dock my MacBook Pro into a clean and neat looking environment (Bretford MobilePro Desk Mount Combo) with as few cables as possible (power and Thunderbolt), and be able to use my external 2.1 speakers. If the Thunderbolt Cinema Display had a line out connector to connect external speakers, then no additional USB sound devices would be necessary! Apple will loose another sale if the next display does not have audio line out; pretty basic these days.

Nov 1, 2015 6:37 AM in response to mekanik_sg

I had the same issue - lost of volume control from my keyboard and an Xmod connected to a USB port - but I reset both NVRAM and the SMC. The former did not work but the latter did. I've attached instructions below but don't know if they'll hyperlink. If not, I would think a simple search will yield results.



How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac
Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac

El Capitan and missing volume control for speakers

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