Why does the macbooks headphone jack emit a red light in windows, and nothing in osx?

[ljump12]

A red light shoots out of the headpone jack in windows... but it just seems normal in OSX?

 

[epicwelshman]

I may be talking out of my a$$, but from what I gather, the headphone jack on the MB also doubles as an optical input jack, hence the red light. In Windows however, maybe it's not recognised, so it just turns on all the time?

Can someone more informed than me maybe clarify this?

 

[crazzyeddie]

That is correct, that is the optical output from the headphone port. Although, this was addressed in a more recent version of Boot Camp... you should probably update your drivers.

 

[treblah]

Via Apple's BootCamp FAQ:

This issue is addressed in Boot Camp Beta 1.1.

With earlier versions of Boot Camp Beta, the Digital Audio output can be manually disabled by opening the SigmaTel control panel and deselecting the Enable Digital Output checkbox in the Advanced tab.