Sound Issues

[SamuTheFrog]

Before I get to explaining... Take a look at these screenshots.

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.52.48 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.53.33 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.54.14 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.54.22 PM.png

As you can see, everything SEEMS normal... Except, "Source: Headphones", I don't have any headphones plugged in. If you'll also notice, the Master Volume is grayed out, I can't adjust volume what so ever.

Now onto the volume keys... There is an immense delay between when I hit the volume keys up/down/mute, no sound pop sound or anything comes out either.

From what I've read online so far, reset pram/nvram, wiggle the headphone jack, all these other solutions I need not mention, none of which work. I have no viruses, I have checked with AVG and Norton, then immediately removed them afterwards because I hate anti-virus softwares. I've checked to see that the sound card is on, and is working, as you can see in the screenshots, there's the answer. I've also posted a screenshot of my system's specifications, so no need to ask nor read them anywhere besides that screenshot.

Now, going through the list of things I've tried...
I've *tried* resetting the PRAM/NVRAM, both of which I believe actually did it, but to be sure I also attempted an Open Firmware PRAM/NVRAM reset, but it simply tells me, "Read-only File System". I've tried, "sudo killall coreaudiod" which didn't change anything, just restarted coreaudiod. No, I do not think it is due to Maverick OS X. Why? Because I've been running Maverick OS X for maybe a month now with no issues what so ever.

For **** sake, this is why I prefer windows, when something goes wrong, I know exactly how to fix it.

Anyways, any help or solutions would be great! Thanks.

- SamuTheFrog

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

You've done pretty much all of the troubleshooting we would have suggested. It looks like a hardware issue.

Have a look at the audio output jack on the back of the iMac. If there is a red light emitting constantly from the jack, then something mechanical is wrong with the jack or the sound board itself and will require a hardware repair. That would be why it would show headphones connected.

Let us know what you find.

C

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Didn't think I'd get much help, haha. Seems to be a rather complicated issue... See, I'm kind of hesitant to go have it repaired, the warranty hasn't been extended, and this is a 2010 machine, so I wouldn't be covered, and I'm quite worried I won't be able to afford taking it to the shop... or I probably would've just done that in the first place. Which kind of makes me wonder if it would be possible to do these repairs or replace parts on my own, if this is possible with iMacs, to be honest I'm not entirely sure.

Anyways, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Oh, by any chance, would you have any ideas as to what would have caused said hardware issue? It was very sudden... One day it was working, I woke up to go check on how my band's page was doing... then I noticed no sound was coming out, which caused me to go into investigation.

 

[Cory Cooper]

That model iMac isn't really a user-repairable machine. To replace the logic board board, you basically have to disassemble the entire unit - glass, bezel, LCD, logic board, numerous screws and cables, etc. The audio board is a little simpler, yet I believe the audio jacks are actually on the back of the logic board. I wouldn't recommend it, as you can seriously damage the rest of the unit if you don;t have the experience.

As far as a cause, it could have been many things - power surge, connector loosening over time, and many others. No way of really knowing.

You could try resetting the SMC - unplug everything from the iMac including the power cable, wait 15 secs, then plug everything in, wait another 5 seconds, then power up.

Depending on what audio connection you need, you should be able to get by with some form of USB audio device. It would probably run you a lot less than the repair of your iMac.

C

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Hmmm... I appreciate the help man.

About the user repairing, I wasn't even aware that you had to go through that much just to do that... Thanks Apple, haha.

I'm going to try the SMC reset, haven't heard anything of that, so we'll see how this goes.

Again, thanks for the help.

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Okay, tried the SMC reset, no changes...

I can see where the USB Speakers would work, however I'm thinking that if it is a sound card issue... Will that even work, or are USB's not linked to the sound card in any way and go through the board?

11$ for Logitech USB speakers, pretty cheap. Pretty small price to pay should it not work so I'm not too worried about that so I will in fact give that a try as soon as I get the time to head down to Wally World.

One last time, really appreciate the help, Cory.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Anytime, that's why we're here.

If you output audio via USB, it doesn't run through the iMac's sound board. The USB device itself is the sound board, and it is seen by the system as a totally separate audio device/chain.

Since the iMac's audio output jack is stuck thinking there are headphones plugged in, you should be just fine with any USB external sound device or speaker system. Other than speakers, there are also USB audio devices that replicate the audio jacks on the back of the iMac - an audio input and an audio output, including a headphone jack. The Griffin iMic is a popular USB solution for this exact issue. You simply have to go into the Sound preference pane and change it to the USB device and you are up and running.

Griffin Technology iMic USB Audio Interface GC16035 B&H Photo

Let us know how that works out for you.

C

 

[Paul Kettlewell]

Hi not sure if this is answered -

I've had this before - occasionally you get the jack components stuck with non apple headphones (there made a slightly different length- no surprise there) - is the light glowing inside the headphone socket? with no headphones in the socket

the fix ... highly technical ... is a paper clip

To push into the jack to flick the connection back into place - I have seen this many times (and twice before experienced it myself)so try that before you start taking your mac in for logic board replacements

having said that it might be and it might not - but thought i'd throw my two cents/pence in to the mix - I might save you a hefty $£ tech fee to just look at it and pull out a paper clip

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Haha thanks Paul, I tried that first off man :/
But hey, it's all good now. Mac updated yesterday for me and that seems to have fixed the issue. I'm assuming the previous updates were just bad.
Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Haha thanks Paul, I tried that first off man :/
But hey, it's all good now. Mac updated yesterday for me and that seems to have fixed the issue. I'm assuming the previous updates were just bad.
Thanks for all the help guys!

Do you mean a software update? And that fixed the issue? If so, we were way off!

Glad it's sorted.

C

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Yes, software updates. Funny though, updated again yesterday, issue is back. I don't know what is causing it nor why, but I'm just going to wait for the next software update and see if it does anything to fix it again.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hmmm...now this is even more strange.

What updates did you do yesterday that caused the issue to return?

C

 

[SamuTheFrog]

Just the standard updates, didn't look at them. The uh, apple>Software Update.