A strange red light from my MacBook Pro
By marcus • Apr 5th, 2007 • Category: geek •A very strange thing just occurred with my MacBook Pro. The audio output stopped completely, it was working earlier today. I tried to change the volume, and it showed as muted but with full volume, a bit weird. Plus it started emitting a strange red light out of the headphone jack.
A little searching and supposedly the headphone jack does optical audio out, which some how must of got turned on. Considering all I use the headphone jack for is headphones, I’m not sure how that happened.
After a little more searching, configuration changes and attempts to restore audio output, I just ended up plugging in my headphones hoping it will some how reverse it’s current state. And it worked. Go figure.
I am having this problem, and i cannot fix it. I tried pluggin in the headphones and they audio will work through the headphones but when i unplug the headphones it goes back to its redlight/no audio state.
I am wondering if you found anything online about this?
thanks
nope, the only thing I found was it saying it was the optical audio. Once mine got reset I stopped trying.
Im having the exact same problem that marcus has. I was just using headphones and when i took then out, it turned on the lil’ red light. Now it only works with headphones. (W/o headphone, it’s turned on to the digital out)
-Whappo
Guys, just use a toothpick to reset the port! It worked great for me.
-Whappo
how do you reset the port? its so annoying to have to use headphones all the time.
Here is a link to their forum http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3255575.
I also got mine working with the toothpick. Inserted it gently a few time in the 6-7 o’clock position. There is a very small sensor or ?? in the back of the port. Once you touch it lightly, all is back to normal. I hope that works for you.
I just hit the same problem and touched the bottom of the port with my headphone jack for a while and it went away. Too weird.
hey..yea..this is very annoying.. i just got my mac book for school and it was working great for a while until this red light….i think it started when i was inited to a video chat…anyways.. i cant seem to hit the right spot with the toothpick…i do not know what to do..
hey… this is a very frustrating thing to happen but thank goodness for postings such as this because I was able to fix it by wiggling a paperclip in the port until I found the reset button – D; this isn’t easy but don’t give up. I admit I might think twice before plugging in my headphones again… but for now I’m just happy to hear sound again. For such an expensive machine this is a problem they should have worked out before it went to market… Good luck and thanks for the sound advice.
wheres the dam sensor..i cant hit it
Wow — thanks for posting about this! Same thing happened to me, and it was kinda freaky. 2nd odd thing that’s happened to my MBP in the last week. But I plugged my headphones in and out a couple times, and it turned off and everything works fine now.
lol ‘D’ sensor is at 7,Oclock in the port lightly go over it. That is great but WTF is the point of it, haha. but speakers are better now is the main thing
I can’t get the red light to go away…..
I have had this happen b4, and inserted the headphones and voila….
Tonight after being connected to a set of external speakers 4 several hours, the lovely light is back.
Tried….
1) headphones
2) paperclip
3) reset the PRAM
4) WHAT IS NEXT….HELP
when this happened
my headphones got stuck in the headphones jack thing and then i had to pull it out really hard then the red light came on and now i can only listen to things with my headphones but when i do only one side of the headphones work and its not my headphones its the laptop because my headphones work on my ipod perfectly fine.
plug in a optical lead into the audio port then take it out again. The mac the resets to its speakers. Sorted
Tom, are you certain that’s all that has to be done? I’ve got an optical cord that I use in some recording transfer situations, so I’ll try that this afternoon.
ok, i didnt have a toothpick handy but i just inserted the quarter inch pin in and out two three times really fast and its fixed.
etbis…Your solution was the best. It worked beautifully. My understanding was that the EFI update to 1.4 was supposed to have fixed this. Looks like the fix only took half way. (i.e. until I used my head phones again..)
I just inserted the headphone jack back in and pulled it out really quickly a few times. Fixed it no problem.
I can admit though, I panicked when I saw that little red light.
I just had exactly the same thing happen, and this page came up first on Google. Plugging my speakers into the headphone jack fixed it just like you said it did for you. Thanx for the tip! I’m sure it saved me at least an hour of frustration.
etbis: your solution was godly..thankyou
Worked for me too. Dunno if this is relevant but I sort of pushed the headphone jack to the right (So it rubbed the inside left of the port) and it worked. So glad to know it’s not a big problem
i also had this problem, plugged a headphone jack into it, and voila it worked like a charm! thanks for the fix :D red lights usually mean “you’re screwed”
Sweet mercy. I just had the same problem. Spent a few minutes inserting and removing my headphones, and all is well again.
“Hi, I’m a PC. All I have is a plain-vanilla headphone jack.”
“And I’m a Mac. My headphone jack is also some sort of optical digital audio out thingie. And if you look at me wrong, I’ll permanently turn on that little red light and kill your speakers.”
I used a precision jeweler’s screw driver and rotated it.
Worked like a charm.
But, honestly, it might just have been serendipitous.
Good luck!
Wow…thanks for all the tips. I’m over in Germany and had this problem on my wife’s MBP. I tried inserting, removing and wiggling the port with the headphone jack. It didn’t work. I tried with a toothpick in several positions and finally just “flicked” it several times across the base of the port. It’s back to normal. My guess is that there’s some kind of sensor in the base of the port that get’s stuck and needs to be reset. Whatever the case we’re back to listening to Bob Marley.
I tried what everyone said and I got the red light to go away, but my external speakers still don’t work!
It seems to be different for everyone else, but the port seems to be activated by touch or movement.
I jiggled my headphones in and pushed them as far in as I could and now my speakers emit sound. I guess as long as you someone re-activate whatever you moved or changed before either by poking at it or moving something around in there, it should work.
Maybe some good ol’ fashion banging might work too. :D
Hi guys,
Thanks so much for the advice. I’ve had this problem for about a week now and was dreading a costly repair. I tried stick the headphones in and out a few times and using a pin – didn’t work. Finally I got a toothpick from my stanley knife and pressed down inside the port. Back to normal!
btw does anyone know how to fix it for good? Because now everytime I put the headphones in I have the reset the bloody thing!
I had same problem as everyone has, Redlight from audio out, (Digital signal) and of course no sounds from built in speaker!, i read some of comments about insert toothpick and IT WORKED!
everyone should try it, I was going to bring mine to tech support today, and I’m sure thye will charge me crazy money to repair, Anyway It’s Free to try and IT WORKED!
Grab a Nice and Clean Sharp Toothpick, and find a LIttle dent on 7′oclock position. and push that little dent for a several times, At first it will blink a few times, and keep trying until the red light go off, It took about only 2 minute! also make sure you won’t damage any other port or parts, you have to push the toothpick very gently! Hopefuly everyone try it and works!
I thought it’s a setting problem in Sound Pref or Audio /MIDI PORT, but it’s not! You just need to reset the actual Audio Port, Thanx to whoever found out this TOOTHPICK MAGIC!
i did the toothpick thing for 10mins and it finally started working! this is some bullshit! so i can’t hook my cpu to my surround any more because if i unhook it the red light comes on….they need to fix that instead of coming out with paperthin computers with the same problems
I used a hair pin at the 7:00 position…thanks a lot it worked just fine :) Though I still think apple sucks, I shouldn’t be having this problem in the first place and having to find things to stick into my computer.
I had the same problem with the little red light in the headphones jack outlet with my macbook, I got really annoyed and I decided to plug in my speakers so I could actually hear people iming me but when I plugged it in, the red light went away. I guess my advice is to plug in some other kind of device for sound and see if it resets itself because mine worked that way.
Oh my after an hour of screwing with it….it works………….sooooooo i used my headphones and rubbed the bottom of it…..then it started to come through my speakers…..it stopped for a second but gave me enough hope to fix it!!!
Wish I could say that my headphone jack is emitting a red light like you say, but it isn’t. The headphones work, but the internal speakers do not, go figure.
I found a toothpick and am jimmying it in the 7 o’clock position and nothing’s happening. I have a macbook pro 17″ 2.33 duo, fyi.
When I jimmy it around I can feel a place/area that makes little clicks / movement but still no progress. I wonder if I’m doing it right. :-( Again, there is no red light, just no sound.
I had this same exact “Red Light” problem, I was without sound for three day!!!! I called the technical support number and even made an appointment with the Mac Store. I missed my appointment so I decided to take matters into my own hands and do a little searching for myself…. I didn’t have a toothpick so i used a hairpin…..It definitely got the Job done!!!
Bobby pins work too!! Such a weird problem to have with a computer…
omg thanks a ton i was so confused …toothpick ha
Thanks so much… this problem has been with me for a long time. a simple paper clip. OMG! thanks!
OMG AFTER LIK AN HOUR OF SCREWING AROUND WITH IT ND READING EVERYONES COMMENT PULLING MY HEADFONES IN ND OUT FINALY WORKED!!! THNX GOODNESSSS!!!!1
Thanks folks!! The 7 o’clock toothpick remedy worked; any other brushing or flossing tips for my overheating, tempermental MacBook “Pro”? ;)
Ken you are a rock star! The toothpick works. Thank you so much.
So while this solution worked for me (it’s been driving me crazy, so I’m glad i found this page), does anyone else find this to be absolutely unacceptable for how much we all paid for these machines?
you guys are amazin. was sendin me mental. and yes Jason, extortionate, especially on hp for a poor student. lol. but hten again i dont see me ever buyin a windows based laptop ever again!!!
If you go to 7o’clockish in there you can kind of see a little switch thing… i flicked it, sort of scooping the edge into the center of the opening, one time, and it worked perfectly. dear apple, wtf. love, me.
What a annoying problem to have, I too was dreading having to go down the Apple Store yet again and get seriously wallet raped to fix this problem. I managed to sort it by rubbing the base of the port in and out with my headphones jack for a few seconds and on it came, job done.
Luke, I have the same exact problem. After I once plugged in my MacBook Pro into a stereo, it stopped working when i disconnected it. When I try to press one of the “volume up” or “volume down” buttons, it comes up with the speaker icon as usual, but with a crossed out circle, symbolizing that the speakers don’t work. The sound works if headphones or stereos are plugged in, but once I remove them it goes back to normal, with no sound and the red light in the headphone jack.
I was also able to fix this problem by plugging my earphones in and then pulling out while pushing it gently to the right (so it pressed the left side of the jack while coming out). Plugging in and pulling out did not work for until I pressed to one side. Nor did putting a paperclip into the hole.
SO… I DID GO TO THE “GENIUS BAR” TODAY AND THEY TOLD ME I HAD A BAD I/O BOARD. SINCE I ONLY PURCHASE MY MBPRO UNDER 2MONTHS AGO I WAS A LITTLE MIFFED. SINCE I USE MY MACH HEAVILY 4 WORK I DECIDED TO GIVE YOUR TOOTHPICK TRICKS A TRY. WOW!!! IT WORKED.. I HAVE SOUND.. WTF. I ONLY HOPE THIS DOESNT HAPPEN EVERY TIME I PLUG IN MY HDPHONES.. THAT WOULD BE ANNOYING.. THANKS FOR POSTING THIS.. YOU SAVED ME 3-5 DAYS WITHOUT MY MACHINE. U ROCK! -B
I am working on a MacBook Pro 15″ 1.83GHz. The problem is not software related as I formatted the hard drive and installed a clean OS. On this model at the rear of the headphone jack at the 10-11 o’clock position there is a clip. I am not sure the what the exact procedure is but holding/jiggling around that switch with a paper clip did the trick. System Preferences now shows internal speakers as opposed to digital out. The light is out too.
I just had the same problem on a Macbook. I inserted the headphone jack in and out a few times quickly… and though the red light did not turn off, i can now listen to things without speakers/headphones. weird.
I had the same “red light, audio stuck on digital out” problem. I tried toothpick jiggling, headphone jack plunging, straight pin probing…nothing worked. However, since lots of people seem to have fixed the problem by poking around in the dark, I knew there must be a way to mechanically solve this issue (unless it was the logic board that went bad, which I bet causes only a tiny minority of these cases).
First, think about how this dual-purpose port can both sense a plug and determine which type of signal to send. Basically, when a plug is inserted these two metal tabs, or lever-type springs (shaped like _/\_ ), depress until they touch the metal walls of the port. This completes two circuits (one for each channel), and tells the computer to send audio to the port.
These very same _/\_-shaped contacts also carry the stereo audio signal intended for a male TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) plug. The right-channel contact is centered on the bottom (6 o’clock position) closer to the mouth of the port, and the left-channel contact resides on port’s left side (centered at 9 o’clock) closer to the back. The right-channel _/\_ touches the “ring” of the TRS plug, and the left-channel _/\_ touches the plug’s tip. This left-channel contact position further back makes it more vulnerable to damage if anything presses laterally against the side of the plug while it is inserted (or worse yet, while it is mostly but not all the way inserted — like when it’s being plugged in or removed). The sideways force turns the tip of your TRS plug into a lever. Most of us find out at some point the fine line between “lever” and “lover”. When shafts are forced into tight places at the wrong angle they can cause discomfort and damage and lead to temporarily denied access. Bet your macbook isn’t nearly as forgiving (or hopefully as mysterious, “Honey, why is there a red light coming out of you?”) as the walking, breathing, loving variety of laptop! xD I kid, I kid. Sorry, hope I didn’t lose you with that one.
But what causes the port to switch from an electrical signal to an optical one? In a word, conductivity. Optical plugs compatible with these dual-audio ports are the same shape and size as a TRS plug, but are sheathed in plastic — a material with low conductivity — and headphone/speaker plugs are of course metal — and highly conductive. The computer first deduces that a plug must be present when one _/\_ contact is depressed enough to touch the metal wall behind it. If no electricity is being conducted (i.e. no current being drawn) it guesses the plug must be plastic (i.e. digital audio)! That’s why the red light turns on. The computer is trying to send an optical signal to the ghost plug. And though I too was put off by it at first, I must thank the LED for shedding its ghostly red light on the inner workings of my MBP headphone jack!
Simple enough, but why have I said all this, you ask? Basically, I want to prove to you that a deformed _/\_ contact at 9 o’clock is most likely your problem. It has been ever so slighly smooshed and even without a plug being present touches the metal wall behind it (or is just close enough for electricity to jump the tiny gap!) I suppose either _/\_ could cause this problem but for me (and by the sound of it most people here) it was the one on the left. I am quite certain all those who fix their audio problem by poking around at 7 o’clock looking for a mysterious “reset button” are actually tweaking the lower edge of this metal _/\_ tab. I personally had to make a small hook out of a plier-modified safety pin in order to have enough mechanical advantage to ever so gently unbend the _/\_. A little love tap didn’t work and neither did shaking up the poor girl. Healing my permanently depressed friend required a delicate yet precise behavioral modification.
Again, the “switch at 7 o’clock” that so many people talk about here, is not a switch in the sense of a rocker, a slider, or even a “button”. It is the very same metal _/\_ contact that both carries the analog audio *and* senses the presence of a plug. Peer in there (it helps to have music silently playing in iTunes — this will keep the freaky red light on) and see the small gap on the left near the back. That’s right, the bottom of it is close to the “7 o’clock” position. Get your tool in there slowly try to pry it back away from the hidden wall behind it. You might hear music start playing right away. Good! If it stops again after removing your tool(and the light turns back on), try the same thing but bend it a little more. Remember, these are very sensitive and delicate parts. And you can always take the safe and slow route — consult with a certified medical professional…I mean certified Apple dealer!
Hey Guys,
I had this problem with my MacBook today! I was watching Lost on headphones last night and then this morning I boot up my Mac and no sound and a red light coming from the headphone jack?!
I tried pushing the sensor or whatever it is with a paperclip but that didn’t fix it.
I plugged my headphones into the socket next to the headphone socket and my sound came back!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So happy was worried I would have to take it into an Apple store to get it fixed!
Try it though just plug headphones into the sock next the headphone one (I don’t know what it’s called) and hopefully your sound should come back! Good Luck!
It is annoying and it shouldn’t happen that often. But Look at it this way, it’s nice that Mac actually provides this feature especially if you hook you computer to your LCD to watch movies. Makes for great sound if you use the Optical Mini to Toslink cable. Most other companies don’t offer any standard digital optical audio output solutions.
Great idea, screwy implementation.
Well, let me tell you what worked…a plastic toothpick gently rotate inside of the headphone jack. Yes, I too had the red light and NO SOUND. Turn on an audio file and gently rotate the toothpick and before you know it you will be hearing sound again!
all makes sense to me. i just had the same issue no external sound except for headphones, but i just plugged the headphone jack in and pulled it out repeatedly like 10 times and it came back on. fuckin macs
same thing here… post saved my life! hahaha
THANKS
I’m using linux on my macbook pro and i too niticed th red light.
Using the gnome alsa mixer, I enabled all of the options using preferences, Then went to the switches tab and unchecked “IEC958″ and the red light went off. It seems that in linux you can switch this feature on and off from software quite easily. I’m still setting up my Linux Gentoo install and there are many things i havn’t got working such as sound. I have no sound at all, But i can switch the red light off.
Hey guys
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! For your comments.. man i thought i was going crazy.
For those of you who ahd the same problem i did in that you were reading all these comments and trying the toothpick or the pin or the hair clip etc.. and it still wasn’t work don’t stress.. It Does Work!
it took me too long but I got there in the end. There’s a small sort of bump in the back on the bottom left hand side. If you press it it goes in a little bit. you need to try and get under that keep just flicking upwards and pushing a little back.. it flashed on and off at the start for me for a while but eventually it worked.
thank everyone who posted.. saved me throwing this out the window, hahah. just kidding. :D
Logic Board, easy as.
In a MacBook nonpro, I found the kill switch near the back at about 3 o’clock, best accessed with a safety pin so far. but it still comes back on when i unplug headphones again.
I also used a jewelery screw driver. When you insert it you see you can change the volume of your “headphone”. That means you found the right spot. Gently move it around and suddenly. You’ve got sound!
spent about 20 minutes last night trying these various poking tricks and gave up. I tried again today just repeatedly pushing in and out my headphones and playing with the volume and FINALLY got it to work!
Wow, it’s like a freaking G spot. Fortunately it took less time to find on my Mac than it did in my first year of marriage.
I think mine’s more broken than most of yours. I found the spot, but the red light only stays off if I hold contact there. Now, the sound is working when my headphones are plugged most of the way in – but it’s coming out of the laptop speakers, not the head phone.
Can’t get the switch to permanently flip. So f*ing annoyed.
Help?
i used a toothpick (the round pointy one) to turn off the red optical light on my MacBook. I pressed on a button-like thing inside the jack. I held the computer’s keyboard horizontally while the screen open and inserted the toothpick…i then slightly tapped on a button on the right side…it’s the deepest button you’ll see on the right side. it took me about 15 seconds or so to fix.
Had the same problem. Williaum wrote “I personally had to make a small hook out of a plier-modified safety pin in order to have enough mechanical advantage to ever so gently unbend the _/\_. A little love tap didn’t work and neither did shaking up the poor girl. Healing my permanently depressed friend required a delicate yet precise behavioral modification.” and “Get your tool in there slowly try to pry it back away from the hidden wall behind it. You might hear music start playing right away. Good! If it stops again after removing your tool(and the light turns back on), try the same thing but bend it a little more.”
THIS WORKED PERFECT FOR ME!!! I tried all the other tricks but this did the trick. I can even plug and unplug headphones and it doesn’t stay on now! Thanks buddy!
Same problem here, and this solution works, but I have to keep a toothpick handy. Something else to carry around in my laptop bag…
well thanks for all the posts!!! for me i tried the paperclip/toothpick theory, but in the end, going in and out and in and out and in and out (lol!!!!) turned out to be but really fixed it. dont give up it will work!
Hi all, thanks for all the posts. I tried every trick and at the end they worked!! But, I used something new. To find the right spot, I left the System Preferences -> Audio open and began to force the inner of the connector over 360 degrees. Carefully… Suddenly I found a point, at right, where I could change between Digital and Headphone. Trying harder I could found something new, very fast, like “default internal (hpng)”. Hey!!!!. Trying more at that point finally I found Internal Speakers.
So, at right, with System Preferences Audio open, to gauge the progress. Thanks all and good luck!
Williaum seems to have it dead on – you can see the thing he’s talking about and it’s dead easy to fix.
However – I had to poke around the 10 o’clock area, I guess the top of mine had deformed.
This might work. Open activity monitor and you’ll see an application called coreaudiot or something like that. Regardless, it should be red and not responding. Force quit it and don’t worry, it’ll restart. It should set your volume somewhere to about 4 or 5 points and it should work again.
Woooooottttt Thanks folks!! The 7 o’clock toothpick remedy worked
Like pretty much everyone else that has visited this page, I too had the red light problem. I really appreciate your help with the toothpick remedy. I got really nervous when I saw the red light of doom, but now it is fixed and I’m happy. Weird problem, but I’m glad that my macbook is now fixed =)
I HAVE ONE MESSAGE TO EVERYONE, DON’T GIVE UP WITH THE TOOTHPICK, IT WORKS AFTER AN HOUR!!1
where is the port? i’m so rubbish at stuff like this
thank you thank you thank you.
ebtis, you are the headphone jack BOSS.
Thank you Williaum on my macbook it was at 3 o’clock but your explanation help me the understand the problem. I did jam the headphone jack when all this started. If you have the same problem read what Williaum posted (comment 53).
Thanks!
Thank you to williaum for setting me on the right track. Macbook (non pro) users may find the offending contact at 3 o’clock. there are 2 contacts at 3 o’clock, the first is near the opening and the 2nd is deeper in. For me it was the 2nd contact that needed prodding. I used an auriscope to be able to see where i was prodding, a good light and an eyepiece would do just as well. I found a small safety pin to be the best implement since it was easily gripped and directed. For the record, williaum has the correct explanation for the error, there is no mystery separate sensor. I speak only for macbook owners. Good luck, stick at it. This is solvable if you have patience and use the correct tools.
Hi !
I read all the comments about toothpick, but give a try to that one : just tried to plug-in and out my headphone while turning it.
After couples of seconds, my speakers finally get working again and the red light is gone !
Hope this will help,
neodas
We, as mac users, don’t have “bsod” (blueScreenOfDoom)
instead we apparently all have the “red light of hell” problem. :D
anyways; tri3d teh toothpick,…..
It worked. :) thxAlot!
I poked around with the toothpick on my girlfriend’s laptop, and I got the red light off, but it still wont play music. I wonder if there is somehow which I could disable to optical port all together to force it into regular output only.
You can add rolled up tube of construction paper to the list of items that can be placed in the earphone jack to reset the speaker sensors.
Ugh! I have this problem on my BRAND NEW (not even a week yet) MacBook (non-pro). I’m having so much trouble trying to find this switch. What’s funny is, I searched the web before I went down to the Mac specialist near where I work. The tech guy told me I could send it back to Mac, and they’re probably replace my motherboard, OR I could try poking around with a pin.
I see something like what William described, but I’m not sure whether what I’m looking at is in it’s original position, or it it’s bent.
On the left side (9 o clock), I see a contact that looks more exposed than the others. Should I be flattening the contact or pulling it away from the wall?
Now that’ I’ve mad a hook from a safety pin, I notice when I hit something at 12 o clock, the light goes off, but comes back on. ARGH!
I am having a problem with my MacBook Pro lighting, I just got it and the second time I opened it the screen appears to have the dark vertical streaks starting from the bottom of the screen. Goin’ from dark to ligh. I can’t remember if they were there from the start. Is this normal?
Thanks so much! I was freaking out because of that red light, and the toothpick solved it.
I had the same problem with my audio control. It was showing a “null” sign on the volume control. I use external speakers when I’m teaching. When I unplugged the jack it must have interferred with the infrared signal. I used the toothpick, and “yes” it did work! Thank goodness for these postings. I’ve solved more MacBook Pro issues by googling my problem than bothering our tech department. Thanks everyone!
Williaum,
I can not thank you enough. Doubt you’ll ever actually come across this again, but I’m listening to sound from my macbook speakers for the first time in close to a year. I could never get a paperclip, nor a toothpick, nor anything else to work. I hadn’t thought about using a modified clothespin to do the job, but on your recommendation, I gave it a shot. My spring must’ve been pushed way back because it took some decent force, but I finally pried it back into place and my sound now works.
In any case, I’m grateful, and for those who might not have had success in other ways, this worked for me. One thing I would not recommend though is looking into the port while the red light is on. I’m not sure if it’s LED, infared, or laser, but it seems like that could be bad on the eyes.
anyway, thanks again!
-Lloyd
safety pin worked the best for me… toothpick kept breaking…..
THERE IS NO BUTTON…. the best advise was the little lever at the very end…. its on the left wall… in the 9 o’clock position….
u need wiggle the tip of the safety pin in under the lever and lodge it away from the left wall (so try to push it toward the right)….
as stated above, make sure to have itunes up and running with an audio file so you can maintain the redlight and see what your doing….
it took me forever to figure out what people were doing but once i could actually see the lever and started pushing the pin under it i started hearing the audio coming back in and out again….
took me 3 tries and now i’m back to 100% audio from internal speakers…
good bless all…this took me 4 days to figure out…
This was Just great!! I tried it with a tootpick and it did work!!
I hink that we have an option to have optical cable in our mac
Great!!
just stuck my headphone jack in a couple or three times and it sorted the problem. sweet as a nut!
I took my headphones, plugged em in and rotated the plug about 3 times and it worked. I noticed I got the red light after I yanked the headphones out pretty roughly. Be gentle with your machine and it’ll treat you right, is the moral of the story.
what I did is take a cd-r or dvd-r to reflect the red light back into the device
that seemed to clear it up fine
Thanks gang – Williaum had the best explanation for me, and his solution worked too. My lever was located at 3 o’clock, not 9 – that on an Intel generation Macbook. Fixed with a safety pin and some gentle tweaking.
Good luck!
Toothpick works wonders
just do a circulat motion realy fast for a few miniuts, that is what I did with my macbook, and then the red light went off!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
I just got the red light off, with a little poking with a toothpick, and it works perfectly now!
Hey everyone, I had this same issue with my MBP and took it to the apple store (against my will). They tried zapping the P-RAM and “restoring settings” and neither of those worked. Plugging in a set of headphones in and out a few times didn’t work either. Eventually, since I am still under warranty, they replaced the entire left I/O board and now it seems to be working fine.
Fixed with a bobby pin just now after multiple times of prodding with the headphones. I used the advice about touching the very back at the 6 or 7 o’clock position. What a strange issue, I don’t see how replacing the entire logic board is the only solution…
My macbook has been doing this for months now. Unfortunately I’m nolonger under warranty and I’ve wiggled toothpicks, unplugged headphones etc. I refuse to spend the money at an apple repair store on something that is essentially a design flaw and alarmingly common by the amount of threads I’m finding on it. I’m a Mac lover of the highest order but as everyone points out, we’ve paid a hell of a lot of money for these machines for something so fundamentally basic to go so wrong. Bad Apple!!
THANKS ! I SEARCHED THE APPLE WEB SITE AND I FOUND NOTHING. I GOOGLED THE DISCRIPTION OF MY ISSUE AND THIS FOURM CAME UP. AWSOME !
Thanks a lot, guys!
I was panic’n already, but google lead me the way to this post.
Oh, and I just pressed my headphone jack down at the tip inside the port, by pulling it up (carefully, of course!). that also worked!
Thanks, Thanks Thanks
Just spent over an hour on my HS daughter’s suddenly silent Macbook, mostly wasted trying to read various Apple tech support, until I found this site/post.
After 15 minutes of fiddling with headphones the sound suddenly was back! The tip about leaving iTunes playing was key.
It was a nearly religious experience, and my faith in all of you was duly rewarded.
Many Thanks.
guys, i am trying this for an hour now, with q-tip, toothpic and headphone jack in an out…nothing works!!!!
fuck…what else can i do?
i have a MBP intel
I have had the red light headphone problem for a while actually. Most likely from it getting wedged into position because of pressure or tension placed on the headphones while they were plugged in. I used a paperclip and if you get really close and look inside (although it is hard to see because of the red light) you can see a little switch. Mine seemed to be at about 3 oclock and just kinda push on it and it will turn the red light off, the light came back on but I figured it was the right spot and tried it again…to my surprise music began to play out of my speakers again!
Well judging from the length and age of this post this is no small isolated problem. But thanks for the advice guys; I used the classic toothpick at 6 o’clock technique and am just relieved to have my speakers back again. Think I may avoid plugging in my headphones for a while…
Ahhhhh I was getting so frustrated because no advice was working to fix the Little Red Light issue, and then I pressed down with a little wooden stick thing and it fixed it! Wooohooo!!! Relieved. Thanks guys!
this is pissing me off so bad. ive been without sound on my macbook for a couple of months now. ok ive been lazy and not bothered taking it to an apple store, but ive been sat here for the last hour, toothpicks, headphones, tiny alum keys, the works, NO GOD DAMN SOUND. and when i do fix this problem, if i ever fix this problem, im scrapping my macbook and getting a windows laptop! what a stupid, stupid annoyance this is! £1000 and im sticking toothpicks into my computer to get the speakers to work? pardon my french but, WHAT THE FUCK.
ive just broken the fucking toothpick! lol does anybody want a spare macbook without sound before i throw mine out the window?
Hey gang, i also have the red light problem, and when i stick a paperclip in, the audio works. I keep very still and after about 30 seconds some times, the sound leaves again. I don’t want to have to keep the paperclip in there and hold it all the time… all i want is some sound!
THANK YOU! My MBP has been doing this for the last 3 days and it has been driving me crazy. I spent the last 30 minutes trying to find an answer on either the Apple Support or a forum. Finally! I just flicked the toothpick around a few times and it is working. I must have done when unplugging my speakers that I use at work every day.
They really need to have some info on this problem on the Apple Support page. This post has been going on for almost 2 years! That’s a lot of people with the same problem!
I tapped the bottom of my MBP right below the speaker port and the light went out! Hooray!
Thanks for all the help provided here, helped me solve the problem in no time :) Just went over the reset-sensor with a toothpick.
why does it still not work for me :(
Same right light story. Maybe we should all get together and call ourselves a district! Plugging in the headphones jack quickly did not help but the paperclip at 7 o’clock did. You have to apply a gentle but firm downward pressure as you go. Had to try it several times quickly. You can see the light go off and come back on as you make your attempts. Mine finally stayed off and the music is back. Apple, we have a problem here…
Ok everybody, I have a solution that fixed mine in 5-10 seconds. Take a large toothpick or other soft material and stick it about a third of the way in. Drag it along the bottom of the port towards the opening until it turns on. Mine turned back on after I heard a little “click” inside the port. I don’t know if this will work for you, but it worked for me.
i had the same problem, and just kept re-inserting my headphones, and eventually it worked.
Still here. God Damned piece of… I don’t believe this worked for any of you. You must be making this up to cover for your SHAME at buying an expensive piece of yuppie crap. I’m trying to yank the tooth pick out with my teeth. F off Willaum and your god damned _ _/\_ _ !
I don’t see any magical thing to flick with the goddamn toothpick. I have a macbook…in the headphone jack, there is a ‘button’ that I can push in on the immediate right and left. Pushing those in doesn’t do anything. There is also when on the top middle of the jack, which doesnt help. And one in the back right. ANyone know which I should push, or if i need to do something else???
I agree with William. Those are not buttons. I bent the tip of a safety pin at a 90 degree about 1/32 inch from the end. I then hooked under the metal _/\_ at the 9:00 position and applied pressure outwards. It seems the _/\_ gets stuck in the in position and crosses circuits. Probably by dirt or mechanical pressure.
It is interesting that Apple doesn’t want to deal with this problem.
But, using a headphone plug, and moving it around this worked for me.
I appreciate Apple giving us a digital output, but maybe they should do a software update that allows you to turn off the jack, and turn it on again. If those little clips bend too much or break, this could be a big problem, which could be the problem for those who say this solution doesn’t work.
Sweet Lord, I’m glad this thread is around!
I too experienced the haunting red light and began to freak out. I took others’ advice and moved my headphone jack around and removed in quickly a few times and it reset.
Same problem here, but no mentioned solution works for me. To stupid designfailure to mention!
i plugged in speakers, which worked fine, but once i pulled the jack out (out of the headphones jack) I got the red light and my sound wouldn’t work on my internal speakers even after adjusting the sound. I found this thread and thank you because i used a dull smallish knitting needle at the 6/7 o’clock position as aformentioned and it worked. I’m kind of scared to plug in the speakers again… is there a special way you are supposed to plug/unplug them so this doesn’t happen? Is red light bad or does it just mean the headphone jack is active?
I had the same issue. I just used a tip from my Wacom pen. Worked perfectly.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOU…….I was going ma and I ended up trying the toothpick – actually it was a wooden skewer – but it worked. I thought I was going to go mad.
So thank you
CHEERS
totally worked. i balked first at williaum’s long post but if you read the whole thing and think about what he’s saying, you’ll have better luck than just blind toothpick poking or headphone jack plunging. after reading his post and making a little hook from a paper clip, i fixed it in about two minutes, after about thirty infuriating minutes of blindly wriggling a toothpick. read williaum’s post (Post 53) and think about what he’s saying then make a little hook out of something.
oh yeah — THANK YOU WILLIAUM! godbless.
It just happened to my 17″ MacBook Pro, and the 6 o’clock trick worked!
However, it also happened to my 15″ MacBook Pro a few months ago, nothing worked. I took it to the AppleStore and ended up having a new motherboard. Good that it was under warranty….
Thanks for these postings guys. The same thing happened to me and because of your postings I have been able to fix it. I used a lil metal piece which I carefully inserted to get the sound to work.You dont want to press to hard but basically as the instructions were given above.
Thanks
God bless all of you
The toothpick idea worked perfectly.
Great idea. Thanks a bunch.
If you have a white MacBook (not Pro):
I tried fiddling at 7 o’clock and 9 o’clock, but nothing. Then I read comment #80, and realized that I had to poke and prod deeper back at the 3 o’clock position, for what appears to be a 3rd mechanical sensor in the hole. After just 10 seconds or so, the music came back through the speakers, and the red light was banished!
hahaha mine was really easy to fix, i just plugged the headphone cable in hard and angled upwards and went straight away :P
I just did what Ladyarmstrong suggested back in Nov ‘07 (thread #19): pulling back real quick the jack a few times and it worked fine.
Phew… Had had it on for almost a week now!
Well, i’ve had this problem. And now I seem to of fixed it.
I wasn’t a real worrying problem, but I did it with a toothpick.
Someone said to pop it in a like, 7 o’clock.
Mine seemed to work forcing it in fairly fast at like, 3 o’clock! – Lodged it in there a little. And eventually it stayed off. – Works a treat!
This red light has just come on today on my advent laptop model qt5500.
I have tried a hair grip at every position and tried forcing it fast and I also did the same again with the jack of the speakers, still no luck.
But the internal speakers work still but also the speakers work when they are plugged in.
So everything is still working its just the red light is very annoying.
Please help
yeah it totaly works
Thank You Williaum
That very elaborate explanation helped so much. It was in fact the front connection that was the problem. I ended up using a small clothes pin that i hooked the tip on. As soon as I found the right spot and lifted the connection slightly I got instant sound. After a few more small twists the light stayed off and I have sound once more.
I’ve the same problem. I also have no sound on my headphones. What can i do?
Would an external USB sound card give me sound again?
Thanks..
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i’ve had this problem for over 5 months, and nothing seems to work. i don’t know what to do
The real problem is ‘junk’ in the audio port. It could be collected dust, dirt, or whatever, but only an air gun will perminently resolve the problem. Go to your local apple store and they’ll use their air guns to get it out, rather than ruining your hardware with a toothpick.
hope this helped
Seems to be a pretty common problem. Kinda freaked me out but after reading through this thread I tried a paperclip (didn’t work) then wiggled my headset jack from left to right and shazam! problem solved.
Thank you! Love it!
A hairpin solved all. Worrying popping noise when it’s fixed but yay!
I also got mine working with the toothpick. Inserted it gently a few time. There is a very small sensor in the back of the port. Once you touch it lightly, all is back to normal. I hope that works for you.
****IMPORTANT****
What people dont realize is that you have to get under the metal “hump” and bend it away from the jack wall. The more you press it in the more you will flatten the ‘hump’ and it will still make a connection (thats a bad thing). Was sick of having my jack red and reading everyone posting the same “I touched it and it WORKED !!!!!1!!” If you have touched it a billion times read comment 53 and 68, made a small hook (really small) on the end of a paper clip with needle nose pliers, got the hook on the edge of metal hump (paper clip itself is too thick) pulled it to the center of the jack away from the wall. worked, but dont pull it too much it the hump may break off.
Hey everyone
I seem to have the same problem, only, it only happends when i am in windows 7. Just bought a brand new macbook pro, and the sec i installed windows, it started happening, any advice?
Also the light will sometimes go out by itself, but when i start playing music (or any kind of sound) it will go on again, and i will have no sound. (except if i use my headphones obv)
hey i tried everything , read so many forums
toothpicks
q tips
whatever paperclips
NOTHING!
so i started to panick, and whats worse is that i recieved this last year from my school, all year 9s at that time, im in year 10 now got one form the government and its worse becasue its school property still
i jsut put th earpones in and pulled them out like REALLY quickly, first time didnt work
second time youll see the light takes longer to come on again
third time worked like a charm
jsut remember really quickly.
stupid fucking macs
the main thing is the rub whatever you use on the bottom!
this is a really really annoying problem. it has happened to me EVERY time i put in the headphones. i will never again put headphones in my mac. but anyways, i’ve heard that wiggling either a different pair of headphones in works, or a toothpick cut in half (that worked for me), some people have also soaked a toothpick in rubbing alcohol and wiggled it around in the headphone jack. i think apple needs to get on this problem right away. its annoying to never be able to put headphones in without going through all this.
wiggling a match in the headphone jack worked for me.
Wow are you kidding me? I haven’t even had my MBP 13″ for 3 days. I was talking to my girlfriend on skype and putting an SD card in the side when I noticed the light… My speakers work fine… Plugged in my earphones… worked fine… tried rubbing a paperclip gently inside to turn off the light…. Now headphones won’t work…. It’s stuck on the speakers!?!?
Forgot to mention the light did not turn off….
after trying for an hour with a toothpick, turning in and out headphones gently pressing sides in the dark worked.
i have one thing to say, after this, and after my macbook pro heating up like mad , apple will never fool me again.
when you plug the headphones back in, push in and wiggle it around… especially to the right… that should reset the audio, and get your speakers working again.
just plug headphones in and out a couple times, and it works again
This has been a constant problem for me for 2 years. In jams I have used all sorts of things to fix the sound. If you unscrew a pen from the shell and use the cartridge, that usually works. I think a q-tip with the fuzz removed if the safest, but anything skinny enough will work. Sometimes it takes a while. Be patient!
Thank you guys!!!!! I had the same problem but it’s gone now. What would I do without you?
The toothpick did it!
just trying by toothpick beetween 5-6-7 o clock anf slowly pushed it. and its work!! thanx a lot guys
Half an hour with jeweler’s screwdriver, paperclip, and toothpick……no result. I can make the red light go out for about half a second, it comes right back.
All this stuff about Macs being well-designed….whatever.
you might have debris stuck in ur hole.
(the audio jack, tho ur colon may need cleansing as well)
blow and suck it. then try the toothpick again.
yo i was freaking out. thx for the t-pick fix.
i been using mac for 20 years and up until the intel switch, i had zero problems. i would boast to pc users how i never had a crash or bluescreen etc etc.
this is my 1st intel mac and have had to get repairs 2wice and the effing pwer cord is iffy now.
20 effing years…smh
upgrade FAIL.
i read all this and thought it was a terrible idea at first, the thought of sticking tooth picks into my computer was not appealing…but i stuck a bobby pin in at 7 o clock you can see a senser thing and wiggle it until the light turns off!! im only posting this because of how happy i am mm
OMG!! I was playing with this FOREVER. I was so frustrated and I have an appointment with the apple store tomorrow. Everyone was saying 7 0′Clock and I was using everything, a match, a bobby pin, a pen insert and nothing. I have a regular old white MacBook and finally at the 3 O’clock position with a safety pin it worked. I think with different computers there are different positions. DO NOT GIVE UP! Everyone kept saying don’t give up, but I was about to. 2 hours I spent fiddling around with this. All of there success stories and I thought my computer was broken. Just be careful and if 7 0′ clock is not working, try 3 0 ‘clock way in the back. Good luck!!1
i just turned mine off and turned it off again. spent ten minutes with a bobby pin and thought i’d just try the old fix everything. switch the cunt off
The red light came on when the battery charge went below the threshold (around 10%). After plugging into AC power the light went away after 30 seconds or so. It could be voltage related.
I thought I was stuffed. Tried paper clip, toothpick, head phone jack, PRAM reboot and safe boot with disk repair. No luck. then found this and saw how long the tooth pick took to work. Tried consistently for 3 minutes and hit something and it worked. Thank you very much.
YESS Graham (#62) thanks so much! thats exactly where mine was too.
OMG thanks so much i just plugged my head phone i and pulled them out a couple times really fast and it worked!
mine has been like that for like 4 months!
I also plugged in some headphones and it is all back to normal.
Thank you!
I couldn’t find any switch or reset button or ‘hump’ in my white macbook headphone port. But i just poked around with a toothpick and all was good. It took me a little while, so keep trying.
Im having a problem kinda similar, but i have a white 13.3 inch macbook and everytime, I plug in my headphones, they will work fine for exactly 30 seconds then they quit and i have to unplug them then plug them back in. It happens every 30 seconds after plugging them in.. If you have any thing for me please help out, it is very very frustrating… thanks
William is the man! His post was so helpful in dealing with this problem, and far more informative than “jiggle a toothpick around in there haphazardly”.
thanks for the help, just did the toothpick trick, and it worked … YOU GUYS HAVE HELPED ME SO MUCH, THANK YOU!!
the right light is coming from my headphone jack and my speakers do not work anymore.. so apple is replacing my logic board for free.. my warranty is still efective… my macbook is a 13in aluminum 2.4GHz intel core 2 duo with 4Gb Ram.. it has crashed once 2 months after i bought it and had to take it to apple and have the opertating system reinstalled, or some bullshit. and now this problem with the motherboard happened.. was my $2,000 dollars worth it???
I was so worried I’d have to go to the Apple Store to get this fixed! I’ve had this computer for three and a half years now and have never had to deal with so many strange problems that all started happening as soon as my warranty expired, of course.
Just plug and unplug back in once….
This is a safety feature, so if your headphones come unplugged accidentally the world won’t hear what your listening to.
Sometimes porn in my case…. Would be quite embarrassing if everyone started hearing moaning as my ear phone plugs come undone while reaching to pull my pants back up!
Holy moly. I was beginning to think that the same person was posting under many different aliases just to trick me into sticking a paperclip into my headphone jack… Then click. It worked. Good lookin!
Are you serious?
I got this problem when installering Windows 7 to my MacBook unibody. I tested the sound and nope, it didn’t work. I reinstalled the drivers and the red light went away, and the sound started to work.
It sounds like all you guys do is destroying the red led light. :)
Would be awesome to see someone else just reinstall their drivers for the sound.