Red Light in Earphone Jack

I was using my Macbook Pro with my Headphones plugged in. When I unplugged them I got a red light that appeared to be in the Earphone Jack. When I tried turning the volume up without the headphones plugged in it would give me a circle with a dash through it. But when I tried with the headphones plugged in that didn't happen. Once I restarted my Macbook it went away but I would like to know what this is/how it happened for future reference.
Message was edited by: Lux1200

The socket is capable of outputting analogue audio or a digital stream (seen as a red light) and this is controlled by a small switch inside the socket and should only go to digital if you use a Toslink plug.

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Macbook 2008 no audio from speakers - can't disable digital audio - red light in headphone jack

Looking for help with this problem, that seems like a lot of people had in the past and still have, but I see that a couple of discussions on it here have been archived. Too bad, as the problem continues.
I seem to be having the same problem with my late 2008 white 2.1Ghz Macbook.
I had used earphones a few times with movies and iTunes, with no problems. Now I've just rebooted to find that I have no audio from internal speakers (the boot up chime works though). Earphones work perfectly.
There is a constant red light in the earphone jack. The volume icon in the top menu bar is greyed out. In the Sound preference panel, Built-in Speakers are not available as an option for audio out. The only option is Digital Audio. If I connect earphones, then they are available as the only option.
I have tried all the various methods that people have recommended, to switch off digital audio through the earphone jack: trying to flip the little switch with a toothpick, paper clip, etc., as well as cleaning around inside the jack with a bit of rubbing or cleaning alcohol; also tried inserting and removing the earphones plug several times, while pushing the volume buttons on the keyboard. Nothing works.
I did get something from inserting/removing the earphone plug, as I seemed to be able to adjust volume from the keyboard, but I never got sound out from the speakers; the volume window seemed to indicate increase/decrease volume as I pressed the keys, but after a few seconds the volume window greyed out again with the No Entry symbol.
Trying to flip the digital audio switch in the jack occasionally gets the red light to turn off for a couple seconds, but then it comes back on.
Is there any particular problem with this that can't be solved by the aforementioned methods, that many people have used to solve it in a simple manner? Could my problem be more serious? Is there anything I could do if I opened up the Macbook, e.g., somehow to manually turn off the digital audio switch?
Any help greatly appreciated.

Got it fixed with a small flathead screwdriver with a fairly wide blade. Opened iTunes, started playing songs, had red light in headphone jack, as per usual with this problem.
Put screwdriver in jack, with blade more or less vertical, started moving it around inside of jack in clockwise motion, pressing pretty firmly. Took just a couple of "swirls" around the inside of the jack and then audio finally turned on! Was a bit of a hassle, but finally worked.
Many thanks to all for their suggestions.
P.S. re. advice not to use metal object. This was the only way I was finally able to solve the problem (i.e., using the small screwdriver). I didn't see where using a metal object would be a problem, seeing as the headphone plug itself is metal. Anyway, it worked.

Boot Camp Windows 7 do not recognise wifi, ethernet, USB ports and has a scary red light in audio jack output!

Hi!
I have just tried to install Windows 7 x86 version on my MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion and a couple of strange things start appearing:
    1. On the Boot Camp Assistant first screen, I tried to download the drivers and after about 15min the system responding that the server did not responded.
    2. I went further and installed the Win7 without making the ISO as requested by the assistant and with no driver burned on a CD
    3. After installed the Win7 I noticed that it did not recognise the WIFI in my home nor any other in the area;
    4. There is a freaking RED LIGHT coming from my Audio jack output that I have never seen in my life... and that scares me!
    5. The USB ports does not works on Win7 side !
    6. The ethernet does not work, Win7 just don´t recognise it...
    7. There is no Boot Camp on Win7 side to be deployed...
Basically I will use Windows to run Quicken for Windows, but I can´t acces my backups on Dropbox because I do not have intercet access, and obviously I am not going to be able to back up new files.
Is there someone able to help me?
I have:Boot Camp 5.0.0 / Win7 Ultimate x86 / MacBook 2,5Ghz Intel Core i5 MID-2012 / Memories 4GB amd 500GB/ OS X 10.8.1 / Boot Camp partition with 50Gb for Windows.
I appreciate all help!

Did you make sure to install the Bootcamp utilities after installing Windows? They can be found in the boot disk/usb flash that Bootcamp creates (check for a folder called "Windows Support").These should enable sound/video/trackpad/etc.to work with full functionaliity under Windows (you may need to reboot after doing so). After installing them, you may also want to run Windows Update to make sure you get the latest drivers.
As far as the red light, many models of Macbook Pros are equipped with a digital Audio out. You can either use the standard analog 3.5mm Stereo jack (standard headphone connector), a 3.5mm miniSPDIF digital coax or miniTOSLINK digital optical cable (hence the red light). Windows may not know how to handle to audio out port until the proper drivers are installed and it may be enabling the digital signal by default. Installing the drivers mentioned above should set this back to normal operation.
hope this helps.
Toodles!

Kernel Panic plus a Red Light from Audio jack

First off, I'm gettin a Kernel panic EVERY SINGLE time I boot into Macintosh. This is not good. I can't access my Mac partition at all, and now I'm stuck with using Windows.
Secondly, there's this red light that's coming out of my Audio jack. I've done some research and I've already inserted a toothpick and tried to toggle a 'switch' or something, but the red light hasn't gone away. I'm still without any sound.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1.
Alright, here's a snapshot of the Kernel Panic message:
http://i.imgur.com/d8jqMYu.jpg?1
2.
And man, I've already tried inserting my headphone jack in and out rapidly, but the red light is still there. Is there any other way?

Red Light in Audio Jack

I tried to turn up the volume for my internal speakers but it says it can't do it & a red light shines out from the audio jack. If I put external speakers in the audio jack, they will work just fine. Why won't my laptop speakers work?

Some device you plugged into the headphone jack was slightly out-of-spec dimensionally and jammed the jack in the "mute" position. Most people are able to "unstick" the connector by inserting a headphone plug and wiggling gently in the horizontal plane.
Apparently there is a dimensional standard for 1/8" stereo mini-pin plugs that is observed by some manufacturers better than others others. I have a dirt-cheap set of external speakers whose plug fits the jack on my MBP perfectly. Yet I also have a "name-brand" set of headphones whose plug is a little too long and can cause the problem you have if I run the plug in "to the hilt." When i use the headphones, I'm careful to insert them only until I get satisfactory stereo sound. The plug is secure at that point but the stop shoulder on the plug is not touching the side of the MBP at the port.

When on windows xp red light from headphone jack and low sound

I put windows xp sp3 on my computer about a week ago. There is a red light that comes from the headphones jack that is always on. The sound is only audible at full, it is extremely low. I don't understand this problem. It only happens when Im on windows (T_T I like to play sims). Does anyone have any information, or helpful suggestions about this? Thank you.

I think this was covered in the update for bootcamp.

How do you disable "digital optical output" so the red light in headphone jack goes off and I can use the internal speakers?

HI,
I have a red light in my headphone jack and I see "correct responses" listed as "when digital output is enabled speakers are disabled." That's all well and good but doens't really help. HOW do you disable the "digital output," get the red light to turn off and be able to hear through the speakers? What's the SOLUTION to the problem. Sorry, just a bit frustrated. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Best,
dpeast12

Allegedly this can occur if there is a contaminant in the headphone jack that makes the computer believe there is an optical connection there, so it shuts off the internal speakers.
Try inserting and removing a headphone plug repeatedly. This ought to dislodge the junk, and seems to have fixed the problem for others. Hope it helps!

No audio with 64 bit Vista Ultimate, red light in headphone jack

So I've been searching these forums for the last several hours, trying to find some helpful tidbit of knowledge to help me in this situation. I have whatever the latest version of bootcamp installed, and just did a full install of Windows Vista Ultimate (64 bit). With relative ease, I got everything working except for sound. With the generic driver off the Snow Leopard install disk, it tries to tell me it's working, but there is obviously no sound. The red light inside the headphone jack stays on all the time, and I have tried all the dumb tricks suggested for that issue too. I have unsuccessfully manually installed the latest realtek driver (2.28), and even tried both the 32 bit and the 64 bit. The 32 obviously does nothing, but with the 64 it tells me the device won't start, and shows that obnoxious yellow exclaimation point. Just trying to progress beyond this point so I can hear what I am trying to do in windows. Please help!

Same problem here. Daily I plug in speakers at the office, then rely on internal speakers while on the road/at home. I use old analogue speakers that go into the headphone jack.
I don't think i have any firewire audio out devices, but think i might put my hands on a USB one, so will try a varient of that trick.
tried the "wiggle the plug" solutions, but no luck.
I have to say, after something like 20+ years of using apple products (IIC was my first), my instinct here is that this is a software issue. People are getting sound out of a variety of devices (USB, Firewire, headphone plug) and the problem is intermittant but recurring. I don't wonder if it didn't start w/ the last iTunes update (to 4.9)? just a guess there. (although note that when i was fiddling w/ iTunes, the system speed and iTunes slowed way down.
Apple, please note there are two other related threads on this, one small at
Topic: "Sound optical out/ Headphone"
and a very large one (which may conflate several problems) at
Topic: "Entire sound on PB is gone ! "

No internal speakers | digital output only | red light from audio jack

I plugged in a stereo through analogue mini jack to the headphone socket of my mac book pro. When i unplugged the stereo, the internal speakers failed to work. There is now a red light coming from the jack as if a "digital output" is plugged into the socket. But no digital output has ever been plugged into the socket - and I have no control of mute or volume settings.
When I plug headphones in, they work fine and I have control of mute and volume settings. Once the headphones are removed I am automatically set back to "digital output" with no control over mute or volume, and no audio from m internal speakers.
I have tried changing the settings in system preferences/sound/settings/output ... but there is no option other than "digital output". I suppose I would like to select "internal speakers" but there is no option for this. And like I stated earlier, the jack is lit up red.
I've tried software updates, restarts, disk utilities (permissions and repairs including repairing with the startup disk), plugging and unplugging, but to no avail.
When I try to change the volume on the keyboard's volume controls I get the "no entry" sign under the volume bar and have no control (as if it were stuck on mute).
The only thing I can think of is that I forced a mini jack into the headphone socket too hard so I'm worried that I've damaged the hardware.
Could this have caused the problem? Or is this a software issue? Any help would be appreciated.
In short I have no sound from the internal speakers.

Same here. I don't remember doing anything out of the ordinary. I was working in Parallels on getting a AM station to stream via some web interface. Next time I went to play sound on the internal speakers, no go.
I've tried zapping the PRAM, toggling the headphone jack and the toothpick thing. Nothing seems to work.
I've also noticed that I get sound in my headphones in iTunes but not in Garageband (someone had suggested that starting up Garageband would reset things.
Any other ideas out there?
Is there a file that could get corrupted that I could switch out of my back up?

Help! red light from headphone jack and strange sound issues!

Help! I use my baby for listening to music and watching DVDs almost constantly when I'm working, and just the other day it started doing something really odd whenever I start doing something that involves sound!
If I'm listening to a song, watching a DVD, playing a game, whatever, as long as it involves sound it does this. What happens is, it'll be fine for up to a minute, and then it starts making this staticky skipping noise and losing the tracking on whatever it is I'm doing (game, song, DVD, etc.). This happens whether I've got headphones or speakers plugged in, or I'm using the laptop speakers. Also, a red light flashes from INSIDE the headphone jack with every staticky noise.
Everything else works fine. The problem doesn't appear as long as I'm not doing anything using sound, and it goes away about a minute after I stop using sound when it appears. It just started doing this yesterday, which was an entirely uneventful day and no different from normal. I traveled, but the laptop stayed in its case the whole time and didn't get dropped or jostled or anything.
I depend on my music to keep me sane! I can use my iPod for now, but I've got finals coming up and I need to use music while I study! HELP!

if the red light is flashing at the output, it means that the computer is trying to output a digital optical signal.. which would explain why your audio is cutting in and out, cos it's flipping randomly between digital out and built in speaker, which means the speaker is being intermittently muted.
the reason for this is that the sensor in your audio output port is dodgy. this sensor is supposed to detect when you have a digital optical cable connected, and yours seems to just be going a bit nuts. fraid the only way to get it properly sorted is to take it in for a service.

Red light from headphone jack--- no speaker volume

I am sure that I have done something wrong
but I no longer have any external sound or control of sound for that matter
and there is often a red light shooting from my headphone jack.
what must I do to regain control of my sounds.
thanks
1.67 g4 powerbook hi res Mac OS X (10.4.6)

The red light from your headphone jack is probably from the 'optical digital output'.
I don't know that model of PB but does enabling the digital out turn the headphone out off? Check in the sound control panel.
Phil

Red light at earphone plug in?

My son has just installed Windows on our MacBook. It is one of the new ones with Intel. When he starts to use the Windows applications a red light appear when the earphones would plug in. Is this something that I should worry about or is it all right? I told him that I didn't want him using Windows until I found out as I didn't want to damage the computer if the red light meant a problem.
thanks in advance for your help
Macbook and I-mac Mac OS X (10.4.7)

The light is something that turns on, guess a quirk with the bootcamp program.
BUT YOU CAN TURN IT OFF!!!
I guess everyone has been experiencing it but has not figured it out.
You can go to control panel, then look for sigma tel audio. I belive its either under sound or the mouse and other hardware. After you find sigma tel audio, click on it then click advanced. Then uncheck enable digital output
Then after that you should see that the red light goes off.
The red light bothered me for a while, and I found the setting in the control panel.
Now no more worrisome Red light q:o)

Red light inside headphone jack. no option for internal speakers.

what do i need to do?

A toothpick.
Get a toothpick and wiggle it around in the audio out port until you 'flip' the switch for optical/digital out. The red light should go off and you should be able to select your internal speakers again for output.
Seriously. It's worked for hundreds of people.
Clinton

Red light headphone jack problem iMac 27" 2011

I have a problem with internal speakers. I searched forums and I think is a problema about the connector, the red light in headphone jack is on. I cannt hear from internal speakers sometimes and now it's allways. I need to plug a headphone or external spekaers to get sound.
I buy the iMac about 2 month ago. May I send the computer to the store or can I fix it?
Regards,
Francisco Mesa

Some solutions to be found in this thread https://discussions.apple.com/message/10384803#10384803
Stefan

Audio jack showing red light indicator

audio jack was showing red light when i was installing windows first time via boot camp ... !

Try System Preferences>Flash>Advanced tab>Delete All...
My wife's 2011 mbp had the same problem:
no sound from speakers,
sound okay in headphones,
red light on in jack,
slow computer.
She plays MANY different FLASH online games in Firefox. I searched everywhere and found the same advice as you all did ref toothpick in headphone jack, etc. Nothing worked.
Today, I googled "firefox" "problem" and "sound". I found "Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems". I stopped reading at this point and decided to check out the status of her Flash settings. I opened System Preferences > Flash and explored the different tabs and options on my mbp compared to hers and noticed a LOT more "websites" in her Storage and Camera & Mic tabs. I went to her Advanced tab and selected Delete All... . It took over a minute to clear all her "websites". I did a reboot and was shocked, surprised, relieved that her mbp speakers were spewing sounds again! Problem solved! Her computer is now faster as well.
Short story:
System Preferences>Flash>Advanced tab>Delete All...
Hope it works for you, too.

Red Light in Earphone Jack

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