I’ve had this happen twice now and couldn’t find anything about it. While happily working away on my laptop, the speakers made a loud, sudden pop. After that no sound would come out of them – no iTunes, no notifications, nothing. I turn the volume up and down several times with no effect. Mute caused the popping noise though so I knew the speakers weren’t dead just freaked out. On a whim, I plugged in my headphones and mashed the mute button again. Viola! Sound worked fine in the headphones. Upon unplugging them, I now have sound again. Uh…ok.
Not sure if it warrants a trip to the Apple Store (when am I NOT looking for a reason to go there) but since I can’t exactly reproduce the issue I’m guessing I’ll have to wait for a reoccurrence.
David O’Hara is a Senior Consultant with Improving Enterprises in Dallas, Texas.
January 26, 2008 at 5:30 pm |
That is bizarre. Were this a PC, I would instantly lay blame on the sound card. (Does a macbook have a sound card?) …
January 28, 2008 at 12:33 pm |
Static maybe? The after market speakers I have on my home PC do some weird popping when I turn off the ceiling fan via the wall switch. I just have to turn the speakers off and back on again. I’ve always assumed this was related to static.
February 1, 2008 at 11:33 am |
Wierd – same thing happened to me this morning. Google led me to your post, I tried the headphone trick and sure enough, back to normal.
February 9, 2008 at 5:58 pm |
Same here. Thanks for saving me a trip to the Apple store!
February 26, 2008 at 4:50 pm |
Wow, the same thing is happening to me right now… Thanks for the tip on fixing it. I wonder if its common?
March 16, 2008 at 10:40 pm |
Like the person above, I Google’d when I had this issue and was led to your post… and it worked! How odd. I was freaking out.
March 31, 2008 at 3:15 pm |
thanks for the help. my macbook pro has done this atleast 5 times since i got it, and normally i just wait for it to cut back on. i assume it’s some sort of overheating mechanism that keeps the speakers from dying when the computer is beginning to get too hot. mine generally gets overheated when i use it on the black neoprene case i purchased for it. quite obviously because the case is attracting the heat because of the black color and then the heat goes nowhere. i always seem to forget that that happens and i don’t stop i before it happens. anyways, thanks a ton for the quicker tip to getting it back to normal.
March 31, 2008 at 10:04 pm |
It worked! AMAZING!
April 26, 2008 at 3:07 am |
Hello Guys
I am sorry for being simple but I do not quite get what the solution is for fixing the speaker pop problem.
Cheers
Greg
April 26, 2008 at 7:04 am |
If you plug in some headphones and then press the mute button, you will have sound in the headphones. When you unplug the headphones, sound should be fine. If you don’t hear anything in the headphones or sound doesn’t come back, I’d recommend taking it in to the “genius bar”.
April 26, 2008 at 11:43 am |
Hello David
Thanks for the post. I have just done what you suggested and there is no problem with the sound either with the earphones plugged in or without them. Unfortunately that slight ‘pop’ sound is not gone. When you do something in the finder, for example copy and paste there is always a ‘pop’ before the actual alert sound comes on.
I have been looking everywhere for the solution without any success and frankly I am expecting a firmware or an update release that will fix this common bug.
Thanks
Greg
April 26, 2008 at 12:35 pm |
Ah ok, with mine there was NO sound from the speakers as opposed to a popping noise before sound came out. While it’s possible that there’s debris in the earphone jacks that is causing this, my guess is you’ll need someone to look at it for you. Sorry.
April 26, 2008 at 7:15 pm |
Hey.
No worries mate. My only concern is that the mac is properly tuned in and everything is workin’ fine on it. this popping issue is the only one that makes me wanna kick its ass…if i saw a ‘genius’ they would say it is a common issue, there is nothing they can do about it at the moment which i can not believe..
G
April 26, 2008 at 10:28 pm |
just wanted to add to the discussion.
same thing (pop/no sound) has been happening.. it just happened but was the second time.
i have the program smcFancontrol and ran it once the pop happened… soon as the temperature of my computer went back to about 130 (from about 156) degrees… the pop indicated that the sound came back..
still doesnt solve the problem… and i learned a new trick with the headphones… so i’m just adding some input so someone can solve this thing…
August 4, 2008 at 8:55 am |
Yup – same here but on a Macbook black, happens all the time. i have to keep a set of earphones handy just for that issue. i googled it several time and nothing except people experiencing the same thing. Sister has the macbook white and it does the same nonsense…. whats the deal?
August 5, 2008 at 12:30 pm |
I’m another that came here via Google. I had the exact same problem. I didn’t try the headphone trick. I closed my MBP and left it for the night. In the morning I hit the mute button and the popping noise was gone. The sound was back too. So this really could be a temperature issue.
August 25, 2008 at 4:20 pm |
Thanks so much for the help! Like many others, google led me to your post. What a sweet little trick eh? Take Care
September 20, 2008 at 11:21 pm |
OMG, thanks for the headphone trick. My white Macbook does this all the time, it’s pretty annoying. It pretty much only happens though when I’ve recorded something in Garageband and want to hear it played back. ???
September 25, 2008 at 12:42 pm |
My mbp does it too, only after the system reaches 175 degrees or above though. This computer is macs version of the easy bake oven. ugh.
September 26, 2008 at 1:58 pm |
my new MBP did this too… thanks for the headphone tip!
October 16, 2008 at 6:10 pm |
thanks for the tip. i, too, found the post via google and my macbook pro had the same problem. thanks for saving me a trip to the FAR AWAY apple store and for saving me from freaking out that they were blown for good! i wonder why the speakers pop though…apple should fix that.
October 29, 2008 at 9:50 pm |
Haha, had the same problem, and that fixed it. Wouldnt you think after this many problems they would fix it? Lets hope its fixed with the new MBP.
December 12, 2008 at 2:39 am |
I had a similar problem with my g5 imac. It started with pop>mute and developed into a long uncontrollable and rather frightening extended pop. took ALOT of convincing on my part at the genius bar and two misdiagnoses to get a whole new logic board. works fine now a year later.
December 30, 2008 at 8:10 am |
Hi, I’ve got a new MB since 3 months, and the pop-mute sequence has occured over 5 times already. So I’m very happy with the earplug-trick, saves me a restart. But I must also (like Sam) say that it only happens when playing back recorded stuff in Garageband, so I don’t think the temperature thing is the only problem.. (As it happens instantly upon changing the position of the timer, and I don’t think that can instantly create the heat increase). So would be nice if a software update could fix the problem, but till that time I guess the earplugs are a necessity to keep it running properly!
December 31, 2008 at 1:38 pm |
Ah, this just happened to me as well, popped it into The Google, found this, and you, sir, saved me a LOT of stress. Thank you for pointing out the obvious when others are too busy freaking out.
January 7, 2009 at 3:54 am |
i bought my mbp about a week ago. this happened to me this morning, although i wasn’t exactly playing nice…i was toying in garageband with a flanger and a distortion and it was getting insanely loud even with the master volume on the macbook pro (not just garageband’s master fader). at any rate, it freaked out, but worked after a shutdown/restart.
January 30, 2009 at 11:10 am |
I ran into this for the first time with my 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro yesterday. After I blogged it (http://eirens.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/speaker-pop/) WordPress pointed me here. I’m surprised to see so many people with this problem.
If it recurs I’ll try the headphone handling.
Per iStat menus, CPU temperature at the time was a little under 145 degrees Fahrenheit. (My MBP seldom goes above 145F.) To the poster above, Kasey, whose MBP goes to 175F, I’d send that thing to Apple — that’s too hot. I had an Apple support rep tell me recently that my MBP should top out at 145F.
January 31, 2009 at 10:20 pm |
Wow, thanks for this article. I’ve had my MacBook Pro for a couple of years and it’s got some problems that would put repair out of the question due to the cost, as Apple refuses to do partial repairs on products shipped to the factory.
This is the first time my speakers have ever done this, but I have to say I’m quite relieved that this worked. Found the article though Google.
February 14, 2009 at 2:29 pm |
Hello I have a ‘06 macbook pro. My speakers have quit but I suspect it is a software problem. Volume controls only show a circle with a dash through it and there is a red LED shining out from the 1/8th inch line out.
I have no idea. Do you(question mark)
April 30, 2009 at 8:36 am |
Crap, I have a simular problem, but it just happens to the right speaker, and it doesn´t turn of if I mute it, or leave it to cool
Headphones take away the hf sound, but after I unplug them the HF sound comes back. really anoying.
May 5, 2009 at 7:25 pm |
One of my speakers had the exact same problem. What a weird occurence. Hey, at least it’s an easy fix…??
May 12, 2009 at 7:44 am |
Thank you!
July 2, 2009 at 10:40 pm |
same thing. thanks!!!
July 16, 2009 at 11:25 pm |
Just wanted to say that I was afflicted with the same problem. The headphones and mute button trick worked perfectly. I’m guessing it is due to overheating as the problem only happens when I keep the lid of my 2.4Ghz macbook pro closed and work on an external monitor. I do a lot of computationally intensive stuff and the laptop heats up quite a bit. In any case, thanks for the tip!
July 20, 2009 at 8:17 pm |
Same thing happened to me. I just bought a Macbook Pro two days ago and this happened to me this morning while messing around with Garageband. Interestingly enough, the problem occurs when switching the position of the playback timer while playback is occurring. I was worried all morning that somehow I had gotten a defective computer. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone and that the problem has an easy workaround.
August 6, 2009 at 11:33 pm |
I just got my MBP today and this happened to me while I was doing exactly what Jason said. I hope this doesn’t mean bigger problems in the future?
September 18, 2009 at 1:25 am |
hi all. This just happened on my new (July) MBP 13″ . The headphone thing fixed it, but I am pretty annoyed! if I can repeat it I am def going to the apple store to winge.
October 7, 2009 at 10:27 pm |
Thanks for posting this. Just happened to me. I’ve read many other sites saying it’s the latest 10.5.7 update. Strange since it happened to me and I have yet to upgrade to 10.5 So it’s not the OS update. Mine happened when the warning came on about low battery. There was a loud pop then no sound out of the left side. I tried your plug-in-headphone advice and it worked like a charm. Thanks again. You saved me a lot of stress. My specs are early 2007 2.4 GHz Core Duo running 10.4.11. I’ve had slight pops previously, but nothing this severe.
October 19, 2009 at 12:54 am |
This just happened to me, as well, and I’m running 10.6.1 (Snow Leopard)
I was running Garageband, and the little lap warmer was getting toasty when the pop sound happened.
THANKS for your post about the headphones. It did the trick perfectly!
October 26, 2009 at 9:40 am |
Thanks for the headphone hint, and for the SMC Fan Controller software; everything seems to be improved. Worth noting, I rarely if ever used the headphones on my MBP (15″silver OS10.5) After having the computer for almost 9 months I needed to used them, after unplugging the headphones for the first time did all this popping actually start. sure enough the computer was hot, but had been know to get hot for a while, so I’m not sure if its a combo of heat and the use of headphones… but i thought it might be worth mentioning.
(if this had been stated already sorry, I only read about 75% of the comments)
thanks ot everyone for the help!
October 26, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
Google got me here too. Unfortunately this is happening on my brand new 15″ MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard 10.6.1. The headphone trick definitely fixes it.
From what I can tell, it’s VLC on my notebook that’s triggering it, but I can’t prove that yet. I dunno if that means this is an OS issue or a hardware issue, though.
November 17, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
Hello everyone, I have the exact same problem, the first time i did the headphone trick without knowing it, the second time i just restarted my computer and just before it shut down it “poped” so i knew i got the sound back, I have a Macbook pro from 2006 and still using the original OS that came with it (10.4), I was wondering if anyone know why this happens, I though because my computer beign over 3 yrs old the speakers were “dying out” on me or something, but apparently is not that because what i read so far on this page
December 15, 2009 at 9:53 pm |
Well… December 15, 2009… and add another one to the list. I had the EXACT problem Steven had. Playing in GB, changed the position on a long song. Pop.
But the headphone trick worked to bring it all back.
Dunno what the real issue is, but I’m glad it was a simple fix.
December 27, 2009 at 9:15 pm |
omg.
i did your headphone idea, and relief washed over me in an aweome wave,
youre a genious.
January 4, 2010 at 12:50 pm |
I did exactly as you have said, and it worked great. What an odd problem though. My cpu was running kind of fast/hot. Perhaps you’re all right, and that could be the cause.
Thanks for your help.
January 27, 2010 at 9:46 pm |
Google brought me here as well. Worked perfectly for my MBP, just wanted to say thanks!
February 3, 2010 at 8:45 pm |
i had the same issue while in garage band, with my week old Macbook pro 15in fully loaded and i was freaking out these things dont come cheap! anyway, i shutdown and then booted back up to hear the apple boot sound to my releif! this is scary this notebook is brand new! I love this computer so much and have already loaded everything on it photoshop illustrator indesign and word etc.
March 4, 2010 at 8:08 pm |
It’s March 4th, 2010 and I’m reading all these comments and wondering why Apple has not gotten to this yet.
I’ve got a brand new MBP, and my issue comes up when I am playing any audio track on Garageband, and i simply skip to a different spot on the timeline. Garageband gives me an error at the exact same moment there is a static-POP sound and my speakers are out. My MBP can be hot as lava, or cold as ice, and I experience this issue. I’ve 100% narrowed it down to the action of skipping on the timeline when a track is playing
I shouldn’t have to carry a headphone jack. And honestly, the popping sound doesn’t sound healthy to the speakers.
For me personally, this is a pretty big issue for 2 reasons. It’s happening 100% of the time I use Garage Band, and one of the bigger selling points of this machine WAS garage band and it gives me an error message and really won’t let me use the software for more than 3-4 minutes before killing my sound.
March 8, 2010 at 9:28 am |
It’s March 8, and I am having the same issue with my MBP, but using Final Cut Pro. Same thing though, started when I was moving through the timeline with audio. Haven’t tried the headphone trick yet but it does keep happening after rebooting…