MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro (Mid 2010) 5,1 Optical Audio Out Stuck?

[iOrbit]

I have the cMP 5,1 attached to a Late 2009 27-inch iMac for display. I just want the audio to go to the iMac via the display port connection and it won't output the audio; the speaker icon in the menu bar is greyed out. It's output is set to 'Color LCD Display' (iMac)

The Optical Audio Out toslink port is stuck. The red light is on and I have tried blowing compressed air into it, q-tips, to no avail in getting it to trip off and switch off.

I'm not sure what to do. Maybe its damaged.

Im hoping someone can suggest some options on what else I can do to trip it off (turn it off) or how else I can send the audio to the iMac - I don't want to use the internal speaker (although at least it works despite the audio out port being stuck)

 

[arw]

Greyed out normally simply means, it‘s a digital audio connection where you cannot change the volume on the OS side but must do so on the speaker side. Not sure how this exactly works with an iMac in target display mode.
The Toslink light is always on, even when selected a completely different audio device for output, so don‘t worry.

edit: have you tried changing the volume on the iMac with its own keyboard?
It seems to be important, that you DON‘T login on the iMac to make sound work.

 

[iOrbit]

Greyed out normally simply means, it‘s a digital audio connection where you cannot change the volume on the OS side but must do so on the speaker side. Not sure how this exactly works with an iMac in target display mode.
The Toslink light is always on, even when selected a completely different audio device for output, so don‘t worry.

edit: have you tried changing the volume on the iMac with its own keyboard?
It seems to be important, that you DON‘T login on the iMac to make sound work.

really? I'm gonna have another look today. I'll feel pretty stupid if its something this basic that I've overlooked. I remember it working easily with my original 5,1 (the board died, and I just bought a replacement 5,1)

 

[iOrbit]

I did look this up and it appears to be true that the red light is always on in the Optical audio out port. That's a relief. The Mac Pro ports are probably working just fine then.

But the question remains, why can't I get the iMac to play audio from the Mini Display port cable from the 5770 to the iMac? Im sure I used to do this over a year ago on my other Mac Pro? Am I misremembering?

Can a 5,1 Mac Pro send audio over Mini DP cable to MiniDP port on an iMac late 2009 27 inch?

selecting Colour LCD doesn't seem to work.

I tried using my keyboard to adjust the volume on both Macs. The Mac Pro volume just shows the muted speaker icon and doesn't let me alter the volume. The iMac volume responds when I use the iMac keyboard but its only adjusting the iMac system volume.

 

[iOrbit]

restarting the iMac seemed to get it to work.