No System Sound

All of a sudden my MacBook doesn't play any of the system sounds (alert, new mail, empty trash, etc.). It just stopped working the other day.
Today I was trying to figure out what happened, and went into the sound section in System Preferences, and I noticed that the drop down menu next to "Play alerts and sound effects through:" is grayed out. I don't know if that's the problem, or it the problem is something else. Either way, I'd like to be able to get my sounds back. Any suggestions?

Well, it seems to have corrected itself. The only thing that changed was I removed the SuperDrive firmware updater from my startup items, which had installed itself after the recent software update. I'm not sure if that was the cause of the sound problem or not.

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I lost sound. In systems/sound all options are greyed out

I lost sound. In systems/sound all options are greyed out

Try resetting your SMC http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 Then make sure in system prefs/sound/output that you've selected internal speakers.

System sounds through the Bluetooth headset while listening to audio

Not sure if anyone had this issue, I have read a few about cars and bluetooth connections but no mention of system sounds not operating.
I was using Motorola S9 bluetooth headset and the music was fine, but after I returned home I noticed that I had missed several text and some email notifications. The sounds operated correctly without the headset connected so, my only guess is would it be related to the Bluetooth operation?
Thanks, Joe.
Post relates to: Pre p100eww (Sprint)

Could this be patched in the 2.0 release? I can't wait til christmas; no really, I hope they don't take that long to release the update.

After upgrading to itunes 7.3.2 system sound does not work

I recently upgraded my itunes to 7.3.2 and the sound worked for a short time. it then began to cut on and off until ceasing to work completely after a day or so. I have run diagnostics and my computer can produce sound, but not in any programs or any of the system sounds. i reinstalled windows xp and the sound worked, but when i installed itunes again the sound once again stopped completely. i have checked all the drivers, codecs, hardware etc. and they seem to be in order. what is going on?

I really struggled with this one and my IT people couldn't help. They suggested that I add my secure corporate website to the Java Exceptions Sites, and use the Java client, but that didn't work. I tried the CITRIX Native CLient (ICA Client) and that didn't work either. So, I searched my Mac for all of the instances of CitrixICAClient, or anything else with ICA in it. I then deleted all of those files, shut down Safari, rebooted my computer and tried again to log into my corporate site using the Native Client conenction option. I remembered from years ago, that the first time you try to connect using the native client, that Citrix plugin is downloaded. THat's exactly what happened and I haven't had any more problems. So apparently, you have to clean up a little adn make sure that any "old" citrix products are removed.

System sounds do not work since upgrade to ML 10.8/10.8.1

Hello. Since I upgraded to Mountain Lion, I have the persistent problem of my system sounds not working, after my laptop sleeps. Fresh after a restart, they will work..then, after screen saver or sleep, they will not.
Here's what doesn't sound:
- Apple mail sounds (sending, receiving)
- alert sounds
- Sys Pref -> Sound -> any/all sound effect selection
- screen capture click
Here's what always works fine:
- the pop-pop-pop sound when I increase/decrease the volume
- iTunes
- any sound from audio/visual embedded in browsers
- sound from all 3rd party apps
Internal speakers are selected
No problem throwing out sound to airplay, etc.
No problem with non-system non-Mail sounds
All sounds work fine after a restart...but after a sleep or a screen saver, they will cease working until the next restart.
MacBook Air, 10.8.1 (also was noticed under 10.8)
1.7 GHz, 4 GB
I do see posts where people are experiencing the same, but no real solutions. I have found & trashed the prefs file (from other posting solution) but that did not solve this persistent issue. The sounds always DO work fresh after restart...just after sleeping, they do not. Thank you :-)

Yeah, just to keep everyone breathlessly updated: there has been no fix for me.
Amusingly (mostly not..) on the plane yesterday, when I plugged in my headphones, I was greeted with about 3 weeks' worth of Sent Mail and Alert tones. Good times.
The fix involving Audio MIDI Setup and momentarily changing the internal speakers integer dropdown list used to occasionally work for me...but lately it has not. I'm just making do with no mail sounds, like a chump. How I wish GrowlMail worked with 10.8 because I could get my sounds that way.

How do I enable all sound files wav,MP3 on windows 7 64-bit change system sounds

How do I enable all sound files wav,MP3 on windows 7 64-bit change system sounds it will only give me the option to choose wav?

Windows 7 uses .wav (wave) files for the sound events. The default folder that Windows 7 uses to store the sound files in is located at C:\Windows\Media.
You cannot use a MP3 file but there are lots of (WAV to MP3 converters) available on internet which can help you to convert MP3 to wav serving your purpose of changing system sound.
//Click on Kudos and Accept as Solution if my reply was helpful and answered your question//
I am an HP employee!!

Lag when system sounds play on Retina MacBook Pro

I have a problem on my Retina Macbook Pro (Mid 2012, running on 10.9 Mavericks) that has persisted for quite some time.
Essentially the problem is that whenever an application plays a system sound, the application lags for a few seconds. However, this comes and goes.
For an example of what I mean, the lag happens when I make the following actions:
- Deleting a file in Finder (Trash sound should play)
- Using a 'find' prompt in an app like Chrome, Xcode, TextEdit, and entering a string that cannot be found. That is, the lag occurs when I type the character that causes no result to be found. (Beep should play)
- Pressing 'delete' (backspace) in any app's text field with no text present (Beep should play)
- If I go to System Preferences -> Sound, and select a new 'alert sound' in the Sound Effects tab, the lag occurs and the Console prints "System Preferences[52828]: Error 268435460 setting AlertSound"
While my computer is in 'problem' mode, every single app is guaranteed to lag when these events happen.
But as I said, the problem comes and goes. It first happened after I had to reinstall one day. I think I screwed something up with preferences, permissions and such, because it took a while for me to fix everything up. But I don't think I quite fixed everything, because this problem started to occur ever since then.
The problem will appear for days or weeks at a time and then disappear for weeks. Just now I'm posting this thread because it had actually gone away for months, and just reappeared today. Nothing that I have found can explicitly start or stop this problem from occurring, it's seemingly random.
Does anybody have any idea why this would occur, and what can be done to fix it other than a complete clean reinstall?
Thanks!

Sorry wrong post to this thread.
Now the right post.
No OS X can not use all 8GBs of RAM when the Windows Virtual Machine is running. As long as the Win VM is up and running it take all the RAM you allocated to it. So if you allocated 2GBs of RAM to the VM OS X can only use the other 6GBs. As for the CPUs OS X can use all the cores and or Virtual core as all current Intel CPUs show as double the physical number of cores. So if you have a Dual Core i5 it will look like you have 4 cores. It's done with HyperThreading.

Lost system sounds, then all sound gone even after installing a Live! 24-bit ca

I'm having a migraine over a computer at work. It has Windows Xp Pro installed as the OS, and originally had an integrated sound card. At some point, before I was even hired in, the system sounds stopped playing. The BIOS for the machine showed that sounds were On. The Windows Default sound scheme was selected, nothing was muted, volume was cranked, no system sounds. When you even tried to test system sounds in Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Sounds Tab, the Play button was greyed out. At one points CD's and other sounds could be played. Now nothing plays, with an error stating the device is not working properly, or is in use. So today I installed a SoundBlaster Li've! 24-bit PCI card. Card went in, installed all the drivers, installed all software from the install CD, opened the Creative sound manager to test the speakers. Clicked the 'Channel' button and 'Left Channel' was heard from the left speak, and 'Right Channel' from the right. Clicked the noice button, both speakers played noise. So card works and speakers work far as I know. However same old story with system sounds and any other sound, no matter the sound file type. Cannot play music from a CD. I've tried disabling the old integrated sound device, still no luck. I've never had this much trouble over sound, and of course as luck would have it the machine is for a user with a ton of sensiti've and very important data so I want wiping the system to be an extreme last resort (the user is also important enough to bother with the demand for sound for the sole purpose of hearing the .wav sound played when Outlook gets a new e-mail otherwise I would not have spent more then 5 seconds dealing with this.) Anyone have any tiny clue as to what could effecti'vely tell a machine it's not allowed to play any sound whatsoever?

well.....in what ways it isn't good and what are you comparing it with?

System sound disables app sound.

Certain apps unexpectedly have this issue. This applies to Garageband for example.
It has been like this forever, and it hasn't been fixed.

Example system sounds — alarm, Siri.

System Sound Output Level Reset After Reboot ?

Whenever my iMac Core Duo is rebooted, system sound output level always get reset to value 0.56 (-24dB) as shown in utility "/Applications/Utilities/Audio Midi Setup". I have to increase the system sound output level to desired value of 0.75(-12.75dB) to match with built-in amplifier of Altec Lansing FX6021 speaker system. The desired setting lasts until next reboot. Is there any way I can fix the system sound output level at desired level between reboots ? Why I have to be involved in such constant struggle with the iMac for such simple audio configuration ?
Audio Hijack Pro 2.6.7 wihtout Soundflower 1.1 virtual audio device has been installed. Audio hijack function of this utility has not been used at all. Thank you for any pointer.

Thanks for the confirmation that my iMac is not an isolated case. In case you are not willing to use Audio Hijack Pro, just use Automator to create an Automator script to set system volume (In Automator's Library plane: Applications>System>Set System Volume) and save it as application. Set this application as Login Items for your account through following menu path:
System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items. Whenever you login with this account, the script will be invoked automatically by Mac OS X and sound levels for output, input and alert will be set to user preferred levels. For older versions of Mac OS X (10.3.9 and earlier) without Automator, same effect can be achieved with Apple Script, use Apple Script Editor instead of Automator to create Apple Script and set it as Login Items. This workaround has been working consistently on my iMac Intel Core Duo.
iMac Intel Core Duo 20" 2 GHz 2 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Firewire External Drive, Belkin Wireless Router, iPod nano

How do I route system sounds to USB audio?

I own An M-Track USB audio interface. Music, Videos, and Applications in general all route audio to this device properly. In sound settings, both Input and Output are set to the M-Track. The problem is that system sounds specifically still route to the built in speakers. This is a problem since a lot of my work is done overnight while my wife is sleeping. These random sounds wake her up. Please help me figure out how to fix this.

I appreciate the answer, but if you read my question thoroughly you will notice this: "In sound settings, both Input and Output are set to the M-Track"
Most audio routes properly. It is strictly system notifications (New emails, File transfer completed, etc) that routes to the internal audio.

How do I stop system sounds when using AirPlay on my MacBook Pro?

Hi all,
Probably a quick question, but I'm fairly new to Macs. I've a Macbook Pro 13 Late 2011 and now I've got an Apple TV, I use AirPlay. But how do I stop system sounds when using AirPlay?
Many thanks in advance, Jon.

Open AirPort Utility located in HD > Applications > Utilities
From the AirPort Utility menu bar click AirPort Utility > Preferences
Deselect: Monitor AirPort base stations for problems

Screensaver, system sounds and itunes problem

I did all the updates and even used migration assistant so my computer has been through allot already. I do not know which update affected my screen saver and optical audio but my screen saver is having the same issue with two monitors. My VGA monitor displays photos when the screen saver kicks in but my macbook just says looking for pictures. I tried reseting pram, repairing permissions and "safe boot" but nothing works. My optical audio somehow messes with my system sounds and iTunes on first song or podcast played. Sometimes the progress bar will freeze and I can't move it.(the time counter for a track in iTunes). The system sound works off and on when I use optical audio out to my stereo receiver. I talked to apple care and the genius bar and they said I might need to archive and install from the recovery discs that came with my computer. I think if I did that and did all the updates then the problem would return because I think it is a firmware or software update problem and not third party software interacting with the system.

iTunes shouldn't do that. Normally when iTunes finds that it would like to move/rename a file after download or a tag edit, and the filename it wants to use is already in use, it adds a " 1" or " 2" to the end of the filename. It does not overwrite the original file. In fact if it had reused the filename then there would be two entries in your library, which would both have the same information and content. Is this the case? How exactly is the title of the film spelt?
File & folder names are limited to 40 characters in Windows so I would expect (judging by the titles given in the store) to find the movies in a folder called:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - P
and to be called
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.m4v and
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallo 1.m4v
Hopefully you have a backup of the missing file as, in principle, you are only allowed to create one copy using the redemption code.
tt2

When I talk on Skype or record something, even my system sounds can be heard. How do I fix this?

When I use Skype or record something, everything can be heard: not only mi internal mic, but even system sounds. I tried lowering the mic volume to 10, but nothing changes.
Any suggestions?

It all depends a bit on how & what you backed up, and how you restored it. Select an affected track. Press CTRL-I to Get Info. Click Cancel when asked to locate the file. Look at the location given on the summary tab. Now look through your computer for file in question. What are the two paths? iTunes could be using the wrong layout (pre or post iTunes 9) in error. Or your library could have been split on the previous system, and not restored to preciesly the same path. Posting back the two paths should make things clearer.
tt2

Seperate itunes from other system sounds

I want to make iTunes play music through
one interface, and system sounds come out
someplace else.
How do I do this?
I have built in speakers, a firewire audio card,
and optical spdif connections available.
I want my Itunes to go through either the firewire
or optical outputs, and have system beeps go
through the built in speaker.
I can't seem to get this to work. I've tried
the audio system preference panel, and the audio
Midi setup application. I'm sure I'm missing something
stupid.
Is there anyway to have itunes sound go though
one interface, and all other sound go through
a different interface? (I think you can do this with an airport express, but, I don't have one of those)

Maybe Detour can do what you want.
It's freeware now and not supported anymore, but it should work on systems with Mac OS 10.2 - 10.4 according to the information here,
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

System sound output switchery

Hi everybody,
I'm having a very strange problem that I haven't figured out how to reproduce just yet but thought I'd give it a try on the forums anyway...
The problem is that the system sound output in the audio prefernce pane seems to be randomly* switching from "Digital Out" to the next one in line, my bluetooth headset. So, if my headset is turned off I get all kinds of "error connecting to bluetooth device" messages and if it's on, the battery drains quickly from connecting and disconnecting all the time. I should mention that Digital out is working beautifully; it's just that I'm getting these bluetooth errors all the time as something is switching the audio out from "Digital Out" to my headset.
*I'm sure there's a cause, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it just yet.
Sorry I can't be more specific at this time...
Cheers,
Ryan

OK, I've found that the problem only occurs when watching a movie in dolby digital (VLC or DVD Player) and a sound is played in iTunes or an event happens such as receiving an IM. This is beginning to make sense to me as the receiver after all is receiving a dolby digital signal, and wouldn't be able to play a stereo stream while it has its hands full with the dolby digital. (I guess? Correct me if I'm wrong... anyway the receiver LED can only display stereo or digital, not both at once!)
So my question becomes, how to stop OS X from directing these sounds to my bluetooth headset. There must be a way just to turn off all other sounds while I'm watching a movie in 5.1 or send them to /dev/null or something, anything other than repeatedly connecting/disconnecting with my headset or displaying annoying warning messages.

No System Sound

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