Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Uisce · 05:10 PM

Okay, G4 running 10.2.8. I was playing music though my speakers, put the computer to sleep, and when I woke it up again, I got no sound from my left stereo channel at all.

Here's the trick - I have a stereo jack splitter that runs to my computer speakers and some other speakers elsewhere. When I plug the speakers directly into the computer, they work fine. I got a replacement splitter, but still no luck. Any ideas?

himself · Nov 23, 2003, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by Uisce:
Okay, G4 running 10.2.8. I was playing music though my speakers, put the computer to sleep, and when I woke it up again, I got no sound from my left stereo channel at all.

Here's the trick - I have a stereo jack splitter that runs to my computer speakers and some other speakers elsewhere. When I plug the speakers directly into the computer, they work fine. I got a replacement splitter, but still no luck. Any ideas?

Whenever your stereo sound is playing only one channel, you should check your audio system preferences... click t "Output" tab, and check the balance adjustment slider. If the problem isn't there, I can only assume the problem is somewhere between your splitter and the speakers.

Uisce · Nov 23, 2003, 06:16 PM

Originally posted by himself:
Whenever your stereo sound is playing only one channel, you should check your audio system preferences... click t "Output" tab, and check the balance adjustment slider. If the problem isn't there, I can only assume the problem is somewhere between your splitter and the speakers.

Its really weird. both channels play when the speakers are connected directly to the computer, or any other computer for that matter. The splitter however, will not work on my G4 all of the sudden, although it works fine on other computers. So, I have limited the problem to my computer, some how.

DeWatson · Nov 23, 2003, 08:08 PM

Do you have a Keyspan DMR? Panther changed some things in the way the sound system routines are handled, and if you have the DMR you need to get the latest drivers, because the old ones mess up the sound output. (I don't know if anything has changed with the Jaguar updates that would cause this behavior)

thePurpleGiant · Nov 23, 2003, 08:25 PM

Originally posted by Uisce:
Its really weird. both channels play when the speakers are connected directly to the computer, or any other computer for that matter. The splitter however, will not work on my G4 all of the sudden, although it works fine on other computers. So, I have limited the problem to my computer, some how.

So you have definitely checked the System Prefs? Go to the Sound preference, then click the output tab, as has already been said. Jaguar had a habit of changing this.

Uisce · Nov 23, 2003, 09:16 PM

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
So you have definitely checked the System Prefs? Go to the Sound preference, then click the output tab, as has already been said. Jaguar had a habit of changing this.

Yes, I have checked everything I can think of, and no, I don't have a Keyspan for my speakers. Its really weird, since the adapter will only not work with my desktop with the left channel. When I plug the stereo speakers into the adapter and into my laptop, everything still plays fine, so I am thinking there might be some hardware problem with my stereo out jack, but I have no ideas.

mcsjgs · Nov 23, 2003, 09:59 PM

It's probably a weird audio glitch in Panther. Wait for 10.3.2 as it will have a lot of audio fixes. Should be pretty soon.

Uisce · Nov 23, 2003, 11:48 PM

Originally posted by mcsjgs:
It's probably a weird audio glitch in Panther. Wait for 10.3.2 as it will have a lot of audio fixes. Should be pretty soon.

Okay, this is what happened and what I've done, in detail.

Played songs in stereo through current, proven set up - hardware, and 10.2.8 - been using it since 10.2.8 came out, and well back into 9.
Put computer to sleep.
Woke computer up, and left channel was dead.

The hardware set up is a G4, with a 1/8" stereo jack connected to my speakers.
The 1/8 jack has a splitter plugged into it, which goes to two sets of speakers.
When the connection is G4-splitter-speakers, I only get right channel audio.
When I go G4-speakers, I get both channels.

Sounds like a bad splitter, right? Well, when I go PowerBook-splitter-speakers, both channels work. Also, I replaced the splitter with a new one, and got the same results on the G4. Incidentally, the left channel is dead through both speaker sets with the G4.

So I am thinking that out of nowhere, my computer can no longer produce stereo through a splitter, but that makes no sense!

I am stumped.

mcsjgs · Nov 24, 2003, 12:17 AM

Thta's what I mean. It sounds as if:

ran ok in 10.2.8
splitter works on another computer (if I am reading earlier posts correctly)
stock speakers work OK

sounds like software in 10.3 or 10.3.1

Uisce · Nov 24, 2003, 07:45 AM

Originally posted by mcsjgs:
Thta's what I mean. It sounds as if:

ran ok in 10.2.8
splitter works on another computer (if I am reading earlier posts correctly)
stock speakers work OK

sounds like software in 10.3 or 10.3.1

The thing is, though, that I'm still running 10.2.8, not 10.3.

mcsjgs · Nov 24, 2003, 11:30 AM

Doh, my bad. Posting tunnel-vision syndrome strikes again.

tooki · Nov 24, 2003, 04:31 PM

Sounds to me like a physical connection problem (not software).

Perhaps the G4's audio out jack has loosened over the years, to where the splitter no longer makes good contact (perhaps its plug is not precisely machined).

I'd try putting a headphone extension cable in between the G4 and the splitter, see if that helps.

tooki

Joske · Mar 2, 2004, 12:16 PM

I have some kind of same problem over here. All well yesterday, but suddenly the left channel on the headphone jack stops working. I only hear a very soft hissing noise on the left channel which dissapears when I unplug it, so there is some kind of signal.
Sound is normal via the Pro Speakers but no sound from the left channel on my headphone or JBL Creatures.
When I plug-in a headphone (or Creatures) I get sound shortly (for about 1 or 2 seconds) and then the left channel mutes and only the right channel works. So I don't think it's a hardware problem with the output jack because of the 2 seconds of left channel sound. In the sound preference panel the balance slider is in the middle. The startup sound is also muted on the left channel, even when I start from a CD. Zapped the PRAM, repaired permissions.
I am running 10.3.2 on an iMac 17" 1 Gig.

Can this be a software problem? Any suggestions?

Moonray · Mar 2, 2004, 01:03 PM

Is that a stereo to 2 x stereo or a stereo to left and right splitter?

-

pwolfe1 · Mar 2, 2004, 01:25 PM

this just happened to me except a little wprse actually. apple fixed it for free and they only had the laptop for 4 days.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=202102

Joske · Mar 2, 2004, 02:19 PM

Originally posted by pwolfe1:
this just happened to me except a little wprse actually. apple fixed it for free and they only had the laptop for 4 days.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=202102

Can you tell me if it was a hardware or software problem? Did they tell you what te problem was?