Line Out: broken ground connection?

Hi!
At home, I ususally connect my MacBook Pro with my stereo using the line out socket to listen to music.
Today, after coming home from work, I plugged in my stereo into the line out of my MacBook and all I got was some nasty buzzing. Just like if there was no ground connection between the Mac and my stereo. The internal speakers worked fine.
So I plugged in my headphones and started an AC/DC song. The guitars where OK, but the drums, the base and Bon Scott was gone. Yes I know, Bon Scott died some 30 years ago, but I mean: His voice could not be heard. The line out combined with the headphones now act like a karaoke machine, cancelling out the vocals.
Looks like there's no ground connection and the headphones are drawing all the current through the left an right channel, creating an out-of-phase cancellation effect.
Does anybody experience the same "lost ground connection" with their line out?

I don't have a mac, but am having a similar issue with my first gen iphone. Weird thing is for me, only headphones are affected (no center), while any speakers (line out) seem to play fine.

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Line Out broken.

Hello all,
I have a problem.
The line-out socket in my G5 is broken. I think it is physical damage (possibly caused by someone tripping on a wore plugged into it).
I am fairly technically minded, but thought I would check... does anyone have any experience with this problem?
If I said I was thinking about boring a bigger hole and replacng the sicket with a stereo 1/4" Neutrick locking jack socket what would people say? Possible?
Any comments, suggestions, advice appreciated.
Cheers.

Hi. As can be seen from page 112 here
http://akserver.dyndns.org/macosx/hw/asm/PowerMac/PowerMac-G3-G4-G5/PowerMac-G5/ powermac_g5.pdf
the rear audio out/line out socket is mounted on the main logic board.
To facilitate access for inspection and repair, the rear exhaust fan assembly can be removed
http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/pdf/g5/073-0814.pdf
Personally - if the problem with the rear socket could not easily be fixed, I might be irresistably tempted to use the front audio socket. Good Luck.

Static coming through computer line out, PLEK500

I have three of these working just fine, in this configuration:
#1 tied to cable modem
#2 tied to ethernet port of a macbook pro
#3 tied to a Roku box
#4 is meant to serve the Ethernet port on the Mac Pro tower in my home office. Unfortunately, upon installing it I get a huge amount of audio static coming through the Line Out jack on the computer, or the speakers if not using the Line Out (which I connect to a stereo receiver). The static correlates clearly to network load; if I run a test on speedtest.net, pushing a big amount of data up and down, the static is nearly continuous. If I'm just working locally on the word processor it's intermittent. So something is interacting between the Ethernet connection and the other electronics of the computer.
What is going on here? I can't use it like this.

Hi zenpicker,
I would suggest you try using another Ethernet cord for isolation. Make sure as well that the Powerline's firmware is upto date for better performance.
Help, learn and share

Where in the hell is the Line-Out jack in SB24Bit

I just got a new system with that card included and I obviously wanted to do what is normally always done and what I did on my older system with the SBLi've - plug in the speakers into the speaker jack and plug in my stereo system into the LineOut... but there doesn't seem to be such a jack on that card!!! What is this?!?!?

JebediahJonah wrote:
I just got a new system with that card included and I obviously wanted to do what is normally always done and what I did on my older system with the SBLi've - plug in the speakers into the speaker jack and plug in my stereo system into the LineOut... but there doesn't seem to be such a jack on that card!!! What is this?!?!?
As told in the User's Manual on "About your Hardware":
. (BLUE)
Line In/Mic In/Digital I/O jack (DIGITAL_IO) Connects to analog devices like music synthesizers and other line-level sources.
Connects to an external microphone for voice input.
Connects to the Digital I/O Module (included with Sound Blaster Li've! 24-bit Digital Audio or available separately with other models).
2. (GREEN)
Line Out jack (_) Connects to Front Left and Front Right inputs on powered analog speakers or an external amplifier for audio output.
3. (BLACK)
Line Out 2 jack (_2) Connects to Rear Left, Rear Right and Side Right (only on 7. speaker systems) inputs on powered analog speakers or an external amplifier for audio output.
4. (ORANGE)
Line Out 3 jack (_3) Connects to Front Center, Subwoofer and Side Left (only on 7. speaker systems) or Rear Center (only on 6. speaker systems) inputs on powered analog speakers, or an external amplifier for audio output.
Also, check the audio settings on 'Creative Surround Mixer' panel.
.jtp

Is the iPhone4 dock line out dif from iPods?

My SendStation dock connector, which works on iPods, exhibits no audio from the line out connector
when connected to my new iPhone4.
Just in case, I made sure that the USB connector is also connected.
Still no audio.
Headphone connector works.
Google does show a few people having very low line out audio level problem.
No answers yet.
I'm hoping it's a setting.
Thanks.
Mitch

When I bought my first iPod (a 40GB hard drive based model) it came wth a dock. have used that dock over the years as I upgraded to a 5th Gen iPod, then a first gen iPod Touch, an iPhone 3G, a 3rd Gen iPod Touch, and now an iPhone 4. All my devices seem to work about the same in that very old dock. Only the hard drive based devices fit it properly, but the other devices stll plug n (with plenty of free space around them) and play just fine.
Based on my experiences, I wold guess that it's either your Sendstation or your iPhone that is the problem but based on what you provide it is hard to determine whch. If ou have any friends with iPhone 4's you could ask them to try their phones in your dock. If theirs works fine, it is probably your Phone, otherwise if theirs have problems too I would suspect you have a faulty dock.

Line Out on G5 PowerMac broken

Hello all,
I have a problem.
The line-out socket in my G5 is broken. I think it is physical damage (possibly caused by someone tripping on a wire plugged into it?).
I am fairly technically minded, but thought I would check... does anyone have any experience with this problem?
If I said I was thinking about boring a bigger hole in the case and replacng the socket with a stereo 1/4" Neutrick locking balanced jack socket what would people say? Possible?
Any comments, suggestions, advice appreciated.
Cheers.
P.S. This is dug up from an old topic that got archived, but I did resolve the issue.

Hi RedHavoc-
Believe it or not I once heard it mentioned on these boards that poking around gently with a toothpick can reset the little switch that senses optical or analog connections. If this is the same jack it may be worth a try.
If it is a physical component issue, the best guys to contact so far seem to have been: MAC-PRO If you don't see what you want by searching on their site give them a call-they are friendly enough.
Your idea sounds cool to me, but then again I am a Man of Science and not afraid to venture into such territory.
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck

Connecting to audio line out freezes QuickTime!

Today for the first time I tried plugging my Apple speakers into the line out socket of my new Mac Pro instead of the headphone socket, only to discover that this prevented any QuickTime files from playing. It also caused FCPX to freeze up. Has anyone else experienced this strange phenomenon?
This was after installing the latest Yosemite update, but I cannot say whether this made any difference as I did not try this socket previously.

The Mac Pro (Late 2013) has two distinct audio ports. Audio devices you connect to the port will appear in System Preferences > Sound > Output.
Audio out: The left audio port with a speaker icon is a 1/8" stereo minijack for audio line out. It can use analog audio and digital S/PDIF fibre optic cables. Note that this port does not support headsets or microphones.
Headphone port: The right audio port with a headset icon is a 1/8" stereo minijack for headphones. When you plug in headphones to this port, sound is redirected from the internal speakers to the headphones. If the headset contains a microphone, it will appear in System Preferences > Sound > Input.
As with handling audio processing errors on a per-application basis, you can try toggling some audio format and input/output device settings in the Sound panel of System Preferences, or using the Audio MIDI Setup utility that is in your Applications > Utilities folder.
If this does not work, then you may need to reset the audio daemon, which can be done by rebooting your system; however, this may not be desired if you are in the middle of a workflow and would prefer to keep your system operating. In these cases, you can manually reset the audio daemon, by simply forcing it to quit. This can be done by opening the Terminal utility and running the following command: sudo killall coreaudiod

Vehicle Dock connect with line out exist?

Mornin' all,
I have a 3G 40G iPod that has a Griffin Airclick Wireless remote occupying the top connections so the earphone output is 'taken'. What I'm looking for is a product that has a dock connection on the bottom that can charge and specifically has a 'Line Out' much like the home dock, but this one needs to work in a vehicle. Does anyone know if such a product is made, or a possible work around?
Thanks a bunch...

You may want to look at reviews online.
Also, why don't you want to use a dock?
btabz

Audio line out buzz, clicks and ground hum all of the sudden?

I've developed a nasty, sharp, buzzing from my audio line-out on my iMac G5, and it's gets twice as loud and unbearable when I put the computer to sleep. When I plug in a pair of iPod headphones and play a song, NO AUDIO WHATSOEVER appears in the phones, just a steady endless series of audible clicks. All connections were tested with new cables, etc., and it didn't make a lick of difference. My guess is that this issue has something ot do with the "optical out" dual-purpose jack 3.5mm jack, like it's internal switch is stuck half-on or something-- I saw a red light when plugging in the audio cable. Has anyone experienced a problem like this on their machine?

I've read about the red light here before. The jack does indeed read the impedence and then ping software to let it know something's attached. Perhaps try several different plugs in addition to the cables you've already tried. I know some speakers and headphones here at my place have WAY different impedence values.
Some people have been able to trouble shoot by creating a dummy user account to verify it's a software problem (the problem is gone in the new account). Other people have been successful resetting the core audio by running the GarageBand program. Not sure these tricks will help you, as 60 cycle hum leads me to think there's a hardware problem.
Let us know if this is helpful (as I only need 5 more points to hit 1000!)
Ed

The outer layer of the power line was broken

The outer layer of the power line was broken and it does not work now

A broken power adapter is not safe to use. Discard it and buy a new one from Apple.
http://store.apple.com/us/mac/mac-accessories/power

Connect 5G to stereo - headphone jack vs. line out

Is it better to connect my iPod to my home stereo using the 3.5mm headphone jack or buying the Apple Dock and using the 3.5mm "line out" (assuming either would go into the "AUX" RCA inputs on my stereo)?
I have read that the "line out" from the Dock isn't a true line out since the click wheel still controls the volume.
Using the headphone jack, as I am now, I have to have the iPod volume up all the way and my stereo up quite high to get adequate volume. Would this still be the case using the Dock?

You get loads better sound with the dock althought you can control it with the clickwheel. Using the headphone jack limits your sound to a small amount while having a line out and connecting it to speakers lets you able to turn your music up as loud as you want. Also has better sound.
kEat0n

Line out audio through dock connection

Does the nano have line out audio through the dock connector? The threads I've read here have conflicting information. The tech specs at http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html do not list this for the nano so I'm assuming NOT...and that my Sik Imp (http://www.sik.com/imp.php) won't work with the nano.
Anyone?

I suspect a documentation artifact here...
Apple originally supplied the dock std with iPod, but then subsequently removed it to make it an add-on accessory. Someone likely forgot to remove the mention in std iPod features, and also correctly did not include it in nano. The nano dock has an audio line out, just as all other docks before it since 3g.

Disharging with USB, Freezing on Sync, Hard Drive noise on Line Out

I have been dealing with three issues with my 60GB iPod click wheel with color display (Photo).
The first is something that slowly creeped in, which is hard drive noise that is audible through the line out when the iPod is charging in a dock. I'd like to say it's like a ground loop issue, but it's in my car, on my iHome, and on my apple dock when plugged into power on a stereo system. It sounds like the spinning of the hard drive is correlated to the noise.
Second, over the past year or so, I've noticed that when I have the iPod plugged into any mac using USB, the iPod discharges. My friend has noticed the same problem on her 40GB 3rd generation iPod. We've tried them on several computers. Firewire connection, no problem, only USB when plugged into a computer, not the power adapter.
Just recently, the iPod froze up iTunes and the rest of my Mac (G4 MDD Dual 1gHz, OS X 10.4.10, iTunes 7.4.2) during sync. I made reformatted the iPod using Disk Utility, Restored to iPod, making sure to plug into power to finish the restore, then attempted to resync. Two attempts of this and I get the same result, a freeze.
The first two issues, I've adapted with, but this last one is just frustrating. I will attempt to sync using a firewire cable, but that should not be the solution. This iPod came with a USB cable, it should charge and sync with one. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thank you!

ok I went here for instruction on how to take it apart since I wasn't having much luck on my own:
http://www.flexbeta.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=20&t=8269
his tip worked for me so far. hopefully this won't be just a temporary fix:
Good tip: if your iPod seems dead and the hard drive is throwing errors pull out the connection at the bottom of the ipod mainboard and plug it back in, this will hard reset your ipod and worked a few times for me

Line Out Cable for 5th Gen Nano?

Well Apple changed things up again and the line out cables/adapters don't work on the 5th generation Nano. Anyone find any that do?

Well after some research I found some answers. The older line out adapters/docks do not have a 68k resistor on pin 21 which is needed to tell the Nano/Touch to turn off the internal speaker.
And just to note, you would connect pin 11 to ground (15/16) and then connect that using a 68k ohm resistor to pin 21.

IPod Line Out Problem

I have my iPod connected to my car stereo to play music via the line out signals. It is powered / charged via USB connections on pins 23 (USB power), 16 (USB Ground), 25 (USB Data -) and 27 (USB Data +). It sends line out audio to my stereo via pins 2 (Common), 3 (Line Out Audio Right), 4 (Line Out Audio Left). Pin 11 is connected to Pins 15 and 16 to send the audio to Line Out rather than the onboard speakers. Pin 21 is connected to Pin 15 and 16 via a 68K ohm resistor to avoid error messages. When docked the charging works correctly but the audio signal will switch between Line Out and the onboard speakers. It will start by sending music via Line Out but after 20 seconds it may switch to the onboard speakers. After another 20 seconds it may switch back to Line Out or it may continue to play via the onboard speakers. Eventually it will usually switch back to Line Out but it may take a long time. The fact that it repeatably switches back and forth after 20 seconds is interesting. It's like it is checking to see what mode it is in and it's not seeing what it should see. I've checked and reworked all of my connections several times. I still can't eliminate this problem. Any idea how to correct this? I would really appreciate some help!

EDIT: I just tried headphones instead of my home dock and had the same problem...is my headphone jack bad?

Line Out: broken ground connection?

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