2011 Mac Mini

[bobwire]

I have a 2011 Mac Mini i5 that a installed a OCZ 128 gb Vertex 4 ssd drive, 16 gig of ram in last year that has been working awesome until about 2 weeks ago.
I have this unit in my shop so i disconnect it nightly and store it in the safe.
I turned on itunes and no sound came out so i went to the sound icon in setting. The spinning colored circle came up for at least a minute then said i didn't have any sound output. I restarted the mini 2 or 3 times and finally everything started working right. This now happens every day and is a real pain. Since then i have done the following.
Replaced the HDMI cable.
Used a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter.
Run OS X hardware diagnostics test ( everything was ok ).
Ran Mackeeper virus scan
Ran CC Cleaner
Removed all programs that were 3rd party
Flashed ssd with current firmware.
Reinstalled a fresh copy of Mountain Lion.
Put the original memory back in.
And probably a few other things i don't remember and still nothing will help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Bobwire

 

[opinio]

I have a 2011 Mac Mini i5 that a installed a OCZ 128 gb Vertex 4 ssd drive, 16 gig of ram in last year that has been working awesome until about 2 weeks ago.
I have this unit in my shop so i disconnect it nightly and store it in the safe.
I turned on itunes and no sound came out so i went to the sound icon in setting. The spinning colored circle came up for at least a minute then said i didn't have any sound output. I restarted the mini 2 or 3 times and finally everything started working right. This now happens every day and is a real pain. Since then i have done the following.
Replaced the HDMI cable.
Used a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter.
Run OS X hardware diagnostics test ( everything was ok ).
Ran Mackeeper virus scan
Ran CC Cleaner
Removed all programs that were 3rd party
Flashed ssd with current firmware.
Reinstalled a fresh copy of Mountain Lion.
Put the original memory back in.
And probably a few other things i don't remember and still nothing will help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Bobwire

The fact that you have reinstalled the OS suggests it is hardware. I wonder if the headfone sound output is short circuiting. Sound for the HDMI could be overridden if you say plug in some head phones. I wonder if there is dust or something in the headphone jack that is telling the OS something is plugged into it? It is an absolute stab in the dark but try plugging in a jack to the headphone jack a few times turining it etc.

The only other thing I can think of is confirming in the sound section of System Settings that sound output is via HDMI.

Also I wonder if it is the speakers/TV/monitor you are using? Did you try the HDMI on another device?

 

[bobwire]

Thanks opinio, that makes sense. I will try it this later this week