Fixing Macbook Pro’s internal speaker output device…with a paperclip
I’m posting a solution to this because it seems like a common problem others before me have experienced… A funny thing happened to me yesterday. I removed my headphones from my Macbook Pro, and all of a sudden, a red light activated inside my headphone jack. I attempted to turn my volume up and down, or mute it, but all my computer showed was the speaker icon crossed out, rendering my speakers useless. I opened up system preferences and discovered that my Internal Speaker output device wasn’t functioning. To test, when I plugged in my headphones, sound came out and when I restarted my computer (initially thinking that was the problem), the speakers played the common start-up sound. But still, once my computer had fully rebooted, there was no sound. What gives? Luckily, an extensive Apple discussion thread provided my fix. Seeing the red light, others before me had wiggled around a paper-clip, chopstick, or toothpick in the headphone jack and viola!, the speakers work again. Hopefully, the problem won’t happen again. See for yourself (it’s a long thread): http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2117797 Anyway, the solution worked for me. I wonder if others have encountered a similar situation. And more important, I wonder if Apple is aware of this.
I’ve never had this happen to me, but I have heard of this before. Apple’s discussion groups are pretty awesome for support; I’ve had many of my questions answered there.
If this was for you work laptop, you know we have people who will fix it for you right? Might want to think about that before you start sticking paperclips in your computer. :-)
yup, it’s the work one. Given the stories of that people had with taking their computer’s to the Genius Bar at the Apple store, I figured I’d try this one little thing before taking it in for service. And luckily, it worked!
Yah I had this problem too. The paper clip/toothpick didn’t work for me though.
I began having the same symptom today and ended up at this blog, searching for a solution. The paper clip did just the trick for me. Thanks!
I tried the whole paper clip thing and it didn’t do anything for me. I decided to try something bigger, so i took a chop stick and stuck it in the headphone jack. I don’t know what it did but my internal speakers work again. Woot woot!
@Tatsuya – yay!
@Nick – that’s great to hear! it sounds like people have luck with different sized objects
I fixed mine with a paperclip, but I had absolutely no luck with either paperclip or matchstick previously. Tell you why. Because no one seems to be explaining themselves!
Here’s how to fix it with the paperclip.
When you look inside your headphone jack with the red light on on the inside, you will see a series of little tiny switches everywhere against the walls. What each does is not important, but which one you need to fiddle with is.
Looking inside the headphone jack with the blazing red light on (don’t look directly at it, you will get very sore eyes hehe), against the right hand side there will be two little metal microswitches. The one at the back is the culprit. All you have to do is extend your paperclip so it’s nice and pointy, then press it against the switch a couple of times to unstick it. Again, it is the switch against the right hand wall, and furthest away from the entry.
Mine didn’t need any kind of solvent or anything, but I suspect it may be a bit of rubbing alcohol may fix it for good. Not sure on exactly how to deliver said rubbing alcohol effectively, but if you do try the solvent approach, make sure your laptop is switched off and the battery is removed. Also hold the power button down after you remove the battery for a second just to make sure there’s no residual power.
Happy listening!
PS get a Google AdWords account cause you’re going to get some traffic lol
@ Adam – Wow, thanks for the thorough explanation! Hopefully future searchers who stumble upon this post will find your thorough answer in the comment section. I’ll add it to my post as an updated explanation if other reader’s find your explanation as thorough as it looks! I guess for me – I simply stuck the paperclip in and got lucky. I don’t really want to have the problem again to test if your solution works =)
Toothpicks are always wiser, being wood and all…not so eager a conductor. Generally, I have always thought sticking metal objects into my computer was a bad idea.
In any event, the toothpick worked great! THANKS ALL!
Whoa! The paper clip worked for me too. It’s as if some ear wax gets clogged in there and needs to be punctured (don’t try sticking a paper clip in your ear though).