No audio...volume icon greyed out...imac Intel Core 2 Duo 10.6.8

[kevinrontel]

My iMac Core 2 Duo 10.6.8 has no audio.

The speaker icon is blacked out.

In System Preferences/Audio, no input/output audio devices are found.

If I try to open Garage Band, I get a message "Core Audio: Selected Driver Not Found (-10202)

I've tried:

1) Resetting PRAM. I get the chime when the computer starts up and when I reset PRAM, but once the computer boots up, nothing.

2) Repair permissions. Nothing.

3) Unplug computer from power, wait, plug it back in, restart. Nothing.

4) Poking around in the audio output jack. Nothing.

....

Here's the audio info from About This Mac:

Intel High Definition Audio: Audio ID: 885

Headphone: Connection: Combination Output

Internal Microphone: Connection: Internal

Speaker: Connection: Internal

Line Input: Connection: Combination Input

S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio Output: Connection: Combination Output

S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio Input: Connection: Combination Input

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

Your issue could be a hardware or software issue. Since you get the startup chime, I would lean towards a software issue.

-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup?
-Do you get sound if you connect headphones?
-Do you have access to an external hard drive with OS X installed that you can startup from to see if the issue persists?
-Have you tried using the grey install discs to startup from to see if the issue is present?
-You could try downloading and applying the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update v1.1 over your current installation to see if that corrects it.

C

 

[kevinrontel]

Cory C.,

I've posted answers to your questions below.

-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup? - NO, but I certainly could do so. (I use this computer primarily for media stuff, so I'm not too concerned with back ups)
-Do you get sound if you connect headphones? - NO
-Do you have access to an external hard drive with OS X installed that you can startup from to see if the issue persists? - NOT at the moment, but if it seems worthwhile, I'll make it happen.
-Have you tried using the grey install discs to startup from to see if the issue is present? - YES, no luck
-You could try downloading and applying the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update v1.1 over your current installation to see if that corrects it. - I just tried it...no luck.

Thanks for your help.

K.R.

 

[Cory Cooper]

It sounds to me like the audio port has failed, since there is no sound when using headphones.

-It is always a good idea to have a backup, if you an't lose any of your files/data.
-I wouldn't go out and buy an external hard just to install OS X on it and troubleshoot this. Although, you could always use it for Time Machine.

I think at this point, it may be best to bring it to an Apple Store to have full hardware diagnostics run on it. They will be able to easily identify what the issue is. Unfortunately, all of the Core 2 Duo iMacs are now Vintage, so they cannot be repaired, unless you live in CA. You could always go with an inexpensive USB audio interface.

C

 

[kevinrontel]

It sounds to me like the audio port has failed, since there is no sound when using headphones.

-It is always a good idea to have a backup, if you an't lose any of your files/data.
-I wouldn't go out and buy an external hard just to install OS X on it and troubleshoot this. Although, you could always use it for Time Machine.

I think at this point, it may be best to bring it to an Apple Store to have full hardware diagnostics run on it. They will be able to easily identify what the issue is. Unfortunately, all of the Core 2 Duo iMacs are now Vintage, so they cannot be repaired, unless you live in CA. You could always go with an inexpensive USB audio interface.

C

Okie dokie. Thanks for the advice. I'll try a usb audio interface.