Macbook Pro Digital Out (Stuck)

January 31, 2008

I was watching a movie on my projector with my external speakers plugged in to my Macbook and as the movie ended I pulled the speaker cable out of my headphone jack to plug it back into my Air port express.

I’ve done this before with no problem.

This time the phone jack had a red light coming out of it like the pit of hell! I couldn’t use my internal speakers, and when I went under system preferences it said: “Digital Out”

There was no choice for internal speakers.

After searching the forums I found two things can remedy this situation.

1. Plug and unplug a set of headphones a few time to get the jack to reset and the light will turn off.

2. A digital jack is a bit longer than a headphone jack, so I put VERY little pressure on the headphones be putting a small paper clip in the jack.

It seemed to be a bad idea to put a paper clip in to plugs, because I learned that is a bad idea at five years old. It turns out this is a different plug

I did find a few forums where people claimed Apple Support told them to reinstall the OS to fix the problem. Which will definitely fix it. Kind of like tearing the house down because it needs paint.

Always ask for a second opinion, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Posted in Mac Tricks, Useful Information