Volume Keys not working

I was looking for a fix in MacForums, also. I just happened to see an entry, from a year ago:

"I had the same problem but just went to the Trash, saw i had only a recovered file in there, binned it, restarted and all was fixed. Hope this works for you ...or anyone else"

I don't even know what "binned it" means. But I looked in the Trash, which was full of all kinds of stuff, including files I do not recognize. I did see a recovered file icon, opened it, and saw one file, "FlashTmp0." I dragged it to the desktop (is that as good as "binning" it?), restarted, and voila, I then had sound, as well could now expand iPhoto pictures, which also had quit working.

It is quite conceivable that just the restarting of the computer made the difference. I will put that file back into the trash and see what happens.
By the way, my problem of no sound occurred after a safe boot.

Yep, it must have been the restart, because putting that file back into the trash didn't make any difference, as I still have sound.

I spoke with Applecare to fix my Macbook volume. Apparently there are pins inside the speaker/headphone jack that can get jammed. We fixed mine by doing some sort of reboot:
Turn off laptop.
Hold down the Option, Command, P, and R keys (all four at once, it's tricky!) and while holding down the four keys, turn on the computer. When you hear the second chime, release the four keys.

This re-set the sound toggle to internal speakers. Now I'm afraid to insert headphones again, but I assume this reboot will work over and over.

Hi all,

Look at your headphone jack. Is it glowing red? If so that means that your computer thinks there are headphones in the jack still. Try plugging in head phones and pulling them out. Once that light goes off, your audio will come out of your speakers again. The problem is the audio was coming out your headphone jack but since you don't have headphones in there, the audio is going nowhere and you get a "circle with a cross through it" symbol.

Older macbooks may not have a light there, so your computer may think there is headphones in there even without a red light.

Good luck!

none of the above quite worked for me, and the red light stayed on no matter what i tried. so for me i put the earphones in the socket and then went to system preferences/sound. i noticed that the volume slider bar was not grey'd out when the earphones were in. i just pulled the earphones out and the system went to internal speakers and the volume now works...strange but thought i would mention as none of the above really worked for me.

[markfein]

Hello, to any of you folks out there. I too am having this problem. Screen brightness, volume and number lock stopped working as did f7, f8. However, F9, 10 and 11 still work fine.

I can plug in headphones and hear things perfectly, and the built-in speakers are working also, although I cannot use the "sound keys" for adjusting volume.

I went through all 5 steps of Applejack and that did not help. I also did the 4-key reboot mentioned above which didn't help either.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
MF

[NaOH]

Use the Apple menu to open System Preferences. Select Keyboard, then make certain you're in the Keyboard section, not the Keyboard Shortcuts section. Confirm that the option for Use All F1, F2 Keys As Standard Function Keys is unchecked.

[markfein]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH Use the Apple menu to open System Preferences. Select Keyboard, then make certain you're in the Keyboard section, not the Keyboard Shortcuts section. Confirm that the option for Use All F1, F2 Keys As Standard Function Keys is unchecked.

You are absolutely correct, and I owe you thanks. Everything is back to normal. Question: could I have "checked" the box through inadvertent key strokes that I made? Before noticing this problem I was searching for a special character by holding down "option" and then striking various keys on the keyboard.

Again, thank you very much.

MF

I was actually having the same issue - I was finally able to fix it by going to System Preferences then Sound then Output, choosing Internal Speakers and unclicking the box by "Mute." I am still clueless as to how it got checked in the first place, but I am glad that I have sound back...

Quote: Originally Posted by Peege151 Hi all, Look at your headphone jack. Is it glowing red? If so that means that your computer thinks there are headphones in the jack still. Try plugging in head phones and pulling them out. Once that light goes off, your audio will come out of your speakers again. The problem is the audio was coming out your headphone jack but since you don't have headphones in there, the audio is going nowhere and you get a "circle with a cross through it" symbol. Older macbooks may not have a light there, so your computer may think there is headphones in there even without a red light. Good luck!

Plugging the headphones in and pulling them out did it for me. Thank You so much !

I followed someone's earlier advice to plug in headphones to headphone jack and then pull them out again and that did it after 2 tries. Yaay !

Quote: Originally Posted by algavin I followed someone's earlier advice to plug in headphones to headphone jack and then pull them out again and that did it after 2 tries. Yaay !

Yep, same here! just thinks headphones are still plugged in. 2 tries and no problem. Even tested it out by putting headphones back in, used them, unplugged and volume works! HOORAY!

I had left my headphones in overnight and noticed that the cord has a slight tension on it (headphones hanging off of the table). When I unplugged my headphones, my internal speakers would not work, the volume light on the menu bar was grayed out and the red light inside my headphone jack was still lit.

I followed these steps before my problem was solved:

1) Removed the plist file from my preferences folder and restarted my computer (to no avail).
Finder>Library>Preferences>com.apple.systempreferences.plist>Dragged to desktop>Restart

2) Performed a key-sequence reboot (again to no avail):
Shut down>Hold command+alt+p+r>Turn on computer (while still holding keys)>Wait for second startup chime>Release keys

3) Plugged in my headphones and unplugged them again (once again, to no avail), the red light was still on.

4) Took a plastic q-tip, removed ALL of the cotton from one end and while the red light was on, inserted the q-tip, moved it around a bit and removed it from the jack.

Presto! My internal speakers work again!

I hope this helps and that my speakers stay functional...

[MarkP999]

I did the "Atari cartridge blow" on my headphone jack, and it seemed to return the volume control. You may have something (a crumb/dust/whatever) in there that makes your audio card see a short, disabling the audio.

[wendell]

Generally speaking, these headphone output jacks have a NC (normally closed) set of contacts. If there is no headphone plug inserted, the contacts 'normal through' the audio to the internal speakers. When a headphone plug is inserted, the plug mechanically opens the contacts to the internal speakers. It's possible sometimes the contacts, while closed, don't actually make an electrical connection due to a lint, dust or just surface corrosion. As cited above, just 'exercising' the jack a couple of times will usually clear it up. I can't speak for the construction of the Mac, but these jacks are usually soldered to a PC board. Even normal plugging/unplugging can sometimes fatigue the solder connections and cause intermittent operation. Extreme care should be taken to gently plug/unplug the headphones and not EVER let the headset dangle from the phone plug.

Suddenly I had the same problem, the sound volume keys stopped working.
Well, what did I do lately? I installed a clever little program: USB Overdrive.
Uninstall, and what do you know? The volume buttons work

Quote: Originally Posted by P6SMSKC Try running "Audio MIDI Setup" (it's in your /Applications/Utilities/ folder) and make sure "Built-in Output" is selected there for your default and system outputs. If some other device is selected there you'll get the described symptoms.

Thanks, this fixed it for me.

I was using Adobe Soundbooth CS4 and it crashed, after which the volume icon in the top toolbar of MacOSX was grayed out. The Audio MIDI setup check fixed it for me, all I had to do was remove the Soundbooth settings and fixed!

P.S. thanks to this forum in general, have benefited a few times from hints on here, only now have I become a member!

Quote: Originally Posted by funivers Hi.. Might this help Preferences-->Keyboard&mouse-->Check box use all F1,F2....this will activate the volume, the brightness... regards

So weird!
I usually run an external keyboard which has extra function keys, so I had thought it would be clever to customize these buttons thinking that it would only alter the external keyboard. It altered both keyboards and those key functions that match the symbols on my macbook pro now had these new functions. But key functions such as keyboard light and music controls weren't listed in the keyboard shortcuts list!

I found the 'Use all F1, F2,etc...' check box but it was already selected. I DESELECTED it and Wah Lah! Now the functions were back to normal. Go figure??!! Would expect it to go the opposite way. But it worked! SO THANKS MUCH!!!!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jpmcgster I did a fresh install of Leopard on a brand new hard drive and the volume keys including the whole row of F1, F2, etc. did not work. After messing around a bit I found a fix. If you go into "System Preferences" then "Keyboard and Mouse" settings, under the "Keyboard" settings uncheck the "Use all F1, F2, etc keys as standard function keys". I'm sort of new to the Mac world so I apologize if was a no brainer for some of you.

This is the solution that worked for me. I use Reason for music production and did not have a MIDI controller plugged in. Instead, I was using the computer keyboard in place of the MIDI and it must have switched the top row to "special features mode" during this.

I have a macbook & was having same problems: volume keys only worked with headset. Had a red light in headset jack. I just inserted & removed headset jack repeatedly, about 5 or 6 times & all is working fine now.