I have to unplug and plug in my external speakers when I turn on my iMac

[Howard Brazee]

I recently moved my powered speakers to my iMac. I haven't done that since my previous iMac. When I turn on my computer, I don't get any audio until I unplug the plug. I plug it in again and the audio works fine through my speakers.

How do I trace down what's wrong here?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

-What brand/model are the speakers?
-Do they use a USB or a 3.5 mm or 1/8" audio phone jack connector?
-If 3.5 mm jack, have you tried a set of headphones in the same jack and does the issue occur?

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I never had the problem before, with the same Acoustic Research Powered Partner 570 speakers. They use RCA jacks, but I just realized that I use a cable with RCA on one side and 3.5 mm jack on the other. This was plugged into my airport or into my iMac. But I'd like to plug it into cheap mixer that uses RCA, so I can just use straight RCA plugs. So I will experiment with plugging directly into my iMAC or using RCA plugs into my mixer, seeing what happens when my computer starts in the morning. (I don't have this problem with warm restarts).

 

[Howard Brazee]

I just plugged it directly into my Mac, then turned off everything, restarted, and I had no sound until I unplugged and plugged in the 3.5mm jack into my Mac.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Yeah, that is a strange one.

I am familiar with those speakers.

I would try some headphones and see if the issue persists. If it does, then it may be an issue with the Mac's audio output port. If it doesn't, then it may be the speakers.

Also, I wonder if it may be the RCA to 3.5 mm cable? Happen to have another one of those to try?

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I just tried this using a pair of Bose headphones. I turned off my iMac, plugged in the headphones, and turned on the iMac. No sound came out until I unplugged the headphones. When I plugged the headphones into the iMac again, sound came through the headphones. (When I unplugged them first, sound came out of the iMac). I bet I know the problem now though. I tried to get the karaoke program kJams to use my airport and installed Soundflower. I thought I had deleted it, but I see it's still in my settings. I can't find any file anywhere that I need to delete.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Ahhh..that may have something to do with it...especially the Aggregate device it created.

As always, we recommend that you have a Time Machine or other backup before messing with the files I will outline.

Navigate to Macintosh HD > System > Library > Extensions and delete any kext files with Soundflower in the name:

Soundflower.kext
SoundflowerSigned.kext

Only delete those with Soundflower in the name, and it will prompt you to authenticate to remove them. Once they are in the Trash, restart the Mac and see if Soundflower is still a choice in the Sound > Output preference pane.

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I did not find any kext files with Soundflower in the name, so I used a filefind utility:

 

[Cory Cooper]

If the Aggregate device is still there, you can remove it:

Combine multiple audio interfaces by creating an Aggregate Device

Click to highlight it, then click the minus (-) button in the lower left.

C

 

[Cory Cooper]

There are actually two Soundflower.kext files in your screenshot, just below the highlighted com.Cycling74.Soundflowerbed folder. Maybe it installed in your hidden user Library folder instead. Click on them to highlight to see where they are located and remove them. The other files are OK to be left as is, unless you want to remove them too. Just make sure they have Soundflower in the name.

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

Deleting the aggregate device appeared to solve the problem. It took two restarts (I unplug in between restarts). The first time had iTunes not making any sound. But now it's working.

I will delete the two .kext files.

Thanks!

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries.

Let me know if you have additional issues with this.

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

Will do, but I don't expect any.

Thank-you.