Keyboard volume key problem?

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Level 1

32 points

Keyboard volume key problem?

i'm really hoping someone can help me. i've had my mac pro for about 7 months now and i'm starting to have some audio problems. the volume buttons on my keyboard now only control the internal speaker. the volume adjustment on the menu bar on the desktop still controls the external speakers, but the volume buttons on the keyboard only control the internal speaker. and some of my videos only play out my internal speaker, while others will play fine out my external line out. sometimes a restart will fix the problem, but only for about a day. when i come back to my computer after work, it'll be the same way again. i've seen several other people are having this problem, but i haven't heard of any fix, or even if apple is aware of this.
i've gone into the audio preferences and the midi control to no avail. sometimes opening up garage band and messing around with the midi audio drivers will fix it, but only for a short time.
i've gotten on a couple of forums where a person says that's the way it's supposed to be, but that's crap. usually the keyboard volume buttons control my external speakers.
Any help would be much appreciated, or at least i hope apple knows of this and will come out with a fix soon. thanks!

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Jun 8, 2007 10:38 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 9, 2007 2:14 AM in response to Eric George

I'm afraid I can't solve the problem. But I can empathise: exactly the same has happened to me.

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Answer 2

Jun 9, 2007 6:06 AM in response to Eric George

The keyboard sound volume controls will raise and lower (or mute) the master output volume setting so will ultimately control the volume of the currently active output device. So, if it's changing the volume if the internal speaker then that is your currently active output device (even if something else happens to be selected in the Sound System Preference).

Personally I found that correctly setting the output device to somewhat flakey. What I had to do to set mine to the Line Out port correctly was to changing it to Line Out, change the volume up and down a bit (via the keyboard), toggle it back to the Internal Speakers, change the volume up and down again, toggle it back to Line Out… and so in until the change worked correctly and stuck. Once it does the right thing the first time it does it right thereafter.

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Answer 3

Eric George Author

Level 1

32 points

Jun 10, 2007 4:09 PM in response to Eric George

thanks for the suggestion, but it unfortunately hasn't helped. i still hope someone from apple sees this post, but until then i guess i'll just hope for a fix when the new os comes out. 😟

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Answer 4

rcmcminn

Level 1

10 points

Jun 10, 2007 4:41 PM in response to Eric George

There were similar posts in this forum concerning internal versus external audio playback. I had this problem in which sound from certain applications would be played over the internal speakers and sound from other applications would be played over the external speakers.

The fix ended up in setting/re-setting the parameters in the Audio MIDI Setup found in Applications=>Utilities.

Hope this helps.

R. McMinn

Mac Pro 2.66 GZ 3Gb Mac OS X (10.4.9) iBook 1.42 Gz, MacMini G4 1.42 Gz

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Answer 5

Eric George Author

Level 1

32 points

Jun 14, 2007 5:21 PM in response to Eric George

hmm, well, today when i got on my computer after work the audio didn't work at all from my external speakers. my internal speaker still works but the external didn't. i found out that if i just turned the speakers off and back on they worked fine. the volume control on the keyboard still only affects the internal speakers. i don't know if the 2 problems are related, but all i know is that the 4 years that i had my G4, not once did i have a sound problem.

must be the computer gnomes.

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Answer 6

Eric George Author

Level 1

32 points

Jun 15, 2007 9:28 PM in response to Eric George

I found a temporary fix! When i went through all the crap of switching back and forth the audio drivers in system prefs, audio midi setup and garage band to no avail, i just logged out and logged back in. now my volume keys on my keyboard adjust my external speaker volume like God intended.
i'm still not sure which thing i tried did it, but i'm sure it'll happen again soon, and i'll try to narrow it down. i can't believe apple hasn't fixed this yet.

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Answer 7

Jun 16, 2007 9:14 AM in response to Eric George

I'd look at what is running at startup of your Mac Pro, I don't know this to be true, but my guess is that something doesn't run when logging out and then back in again. Also, since it is on the USB chain or what ever your keyboard is ( BT, USB, etc. ) I would look at related startup and hardware items.

Michael

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Answer 8

NickU

Level 1

30 points

Jun 17, 2007 4:43 AM in response to Michaelworks

Check the system logs to see if you have something hanging on a timeout when you start your Mac. I had a similar problem a few weeks ago and discovered, like you, that logging out/back in again cured the issue.

When I checked the system log, I found that something on the USB/Firewire bus was hanging. I resolved the issue by making sure that all the usb/firewire devices where turned on and plugged in and then rebooting the system. If you have any external memory card readers (eg for a camera card), then you might need to try this a few times plugging each memory card you have into the reader in turn during a reboot.

Hopefully that might help clear the problem.

Good luck!

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Answer 9

Jun 17, 2007 6:31 AM in response to NickU

This is what you need to do. You need to go into preferences and make sure that all is set to line-out. Than you need to go into applications>utilities>Disk untility and repair permissions. Than when that is complete you need to select verify disk and let that complete. Than reboot your system and the sound should be working perfectly. Please let me know if this helps.

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Answer 10

Eric George Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 26, 2007 5:30 PM in response to Eric George

well, it looks like i installed an update a little while back, and i haven't had the problem again. apple must have fixed it, yay! now they only have to fix imovie '08!

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