Mac mini (mid 2010), Sierra upgrade, sound not working

PROBLEM AREA FOUND - thanks to lukefrombrno on another Apple support thread.

He found that the problem lies in the MIDI default settings.

Since I've never launched or touched this App I gave it a go and it fixed the issue in minutes.

Sound returned every time after numerous reboots as well.

1) Spotlight search for the App - Audio MIDI Setup - Launch the App

2) Change the default Format settings to 2 ch / 16 bit / 44.1Mhz for all your devices on the Left

3) Once all are set the same, close the App. Tap your volume ctrl and the click click click should be

music to your ears ( It certainly was to mine after months of silence )

OK APPLE - GET TO WORK PATCHING IN 10.12.4 !!!!

I know how annoying this one is and am sorry to hear this simply fix didn't work for you. As a sanity check... You did see Safe Mode 'written on top right of screen' when you restarted the first time in Safe right? It was something I overlooked when first trying it....2nd, after you've restarted normally after restarting from safe and are trying to play some music, open preferences and sound and output.....and check it's not selected to play through HDMI or built in speakers.....Will be something like Headphone out or line out. Good luck!

Apple are you listening?? Since my upgrade to 10.12.2 I too have lost analog audio. Zapping NVRam and Safe Mode restarts offer only a one boot fix, then the analog audio just goes away. Sometimes in minutes, hours, or days. HELP PLEASE !! We Mini owners desperately need a patch for this.

APPLE !!! Please fix this issue. Since 10.12.3 I have a Mute computer. I can only occasionally get the audio back after trying all the methods listed above and if it comes back it just goes away again.

Yes, this is ridiculous .... obviously Apple must know about this and choses not to act.

After every reboot the sound is gone again, yet, it RELIABLY comes back for me every time I do a safe reboot (**** Key) AND log into the account, followed by a regular reboot.

I just read how you get into SAFE MODE with a MAC. Does it work using a wireless KB?? Mine is a USB wireless, Logitech KB (And mouse). Or do you need to use a corded KB to do that.

Some things like if you have to do an OS Recovery, you do need a corded KB, which is why I got a cheapo one at WalMart for under $10, as a JUST IN CASE tool :-)

Only way I resolved the issue was to use an HDMI adapter to display port and use that output to display video. The OEM HDMI output when connected ALWAYS defeats the audio output coming from my headphone jack. APPLE PLEASE FIX YOUR SOFTEWARE. Sierra is very buggy on many macs that i work with even ver 10.12.4

Thanks your Audio MIDI Setup which is in your Utilities Folder in Applications worked nicely. Interesting my workaround using an HDMI adapter to display port worked without the Audio MIDI Adjustments.

MVMike's solution worked like a charm for me on 10.12.6 (clean install). Note that, as he mentions, all channels need to be set to "2 ch 16-bit Integer 44.1 kHz" – no idea why, but my music reappeared when I "downgraded" the format for the HDMI channel, although the sound was being output on optical. Weird, but works so far (it's been five minutes of pure bliss ;-) ).

Seems to me this should be marked as the accepted answer (tried rebooting in safe mode before, didn't have an effect, and for those for whom it worked the fix seems to be transitory anyway).

MVMike ... Thanks for this! I'm happy to say this worked for me but I still want to see it remedied by Apple. After upgrading to Sierra, my digital out stopped porting sound. This is the only solution other than resorting to HDMI which does not work for all audio configurations. Apple please give your customers a solution!

Your post with the solution is appreciated. Normally such problems are solved via an SMC reset...

Simon

You are a Rock Star! Thanks

I too have this problem. Tried rebooting in safe mode, and restart but did not solve my problem.

I tried unpluging the HDMI cable, and the sound goes thru.

Very disappointing, as I use the macmini as my music player for my 2 channel sound system