iMac audio output -- pretty much gone

[ghostee]

I've mostly used the internal speakers on my 20" iMac 2ghz, although I have plugged in a cable to my surround sound system (standard mini->2rca, no optical) from time to time. I went to do so again recently and the sound is so insanely low that I have to turn my receiver to full blast to hear a peep! To make sure it wasn't a receiver problem, I tried using a pair of working headphones, and I can't hear anything.

I checked the volume setting and made sure "Line out" was selected for output in System Prefs. I'm thinking this is a hardware issue, and just wanted to ask if theres anything else I could check before calling Apple?

 

[Josh396]

I've actually had similar problems, sometimes even worse. It's not uncommon for my speakers to just stop working. It usually happens during a video chat of if I have iTunes open and I am doing something else. I'll get a loud pop noise from the speakers and they just stop working. They usually come back after a few minutes though.

 

[Kernow]

Sometimes reinitializing CoreAudio can get rid of problems like this. If you have Garageband, launch it and then quit. See if that helps.

 

[ghostee]

I've tried rebooting, as well as your Garageband idea, and no luck. The internal speakers work fine when the receiver/headphones arn't connected, so I guess something must be dead inside. Time to call Apple.