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drainyoo · Apr 15, 2003, 12:03 PM

Every now and then the sound balance on my Powerbook moves to the right a little. Not all the way but enough so I dont hear any sound in my left speaker. I have to go into my Sys Pfres and center it. Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know what this might be? Could it happen when I unplug my SoundSticks?

Thanks

nobitacu · Apr 15, 2003, 12:26 PM

Hmmmm... that's weird... I don't have any problem with this though... sorry... can't help you out here... you might want to give Apple Care a call and ask them about it.

Ming

Mercator · Apr 28, 2003, 06:46 PM

This happens with my QS 867 too, except it sneaks to the left. I'm using Apple pro speakers.

Did you find a solution to this?

anti-sleep · Apr 28, 2003, 09:34 PM

The same thing has happened on every OS X machine I've owned...never found a solution.

Russian Mac fan · Apr 29, 2003, 01:27 AM

happens to my PowerBook about every week. I have to then manually readjust it

beanman · Apr 29, 2003, 01:31 AM

I have this problem every and a while too. When I'm at home, I run my sound externally through a USB hub and through an iMic. I go back and forth between that almost everyday and have had that happen at least once. I kind of figured that perhaps the USB switching on and off kind of messed with it, but who knows?

What OS version are you running?

�tomic · Apr 29, 2003, 04:50 AM

My 17" sound balance started jumping from left to right at random - I have no idea what causes it but im getting pretty tired of centering the volume in the sound prefs...

jindrich · Apr 29, 2003, 12:53 PM

this has happened to my ti since 10.2 or so
everytime you boot the sound balance moves off center. ditto for some waking up. ffery annoying.

it's an osx thing. me thinks.

xylon · Apr 29, 2003, 02:42 PM

Ha! Just checked my sound output settings and sure enough, it was slightly right of center. Never noticed before as I don't use headphones on the 17, I usually whip out the headphones to listen to music on my iPod or old Lombard. Hmm... I'm gonna keep watching this now.

badnewsblair · Apr 29, 2003, 02:47 PM

Originally posted by drainyoo:
Every now and then the sound balance on my Powerbook moves to the right a little. Not all the way but enough so I dont hear any sound in my left speaker. I have to go into my Sys Pfres and center it. Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know what this might be? Could it happen when I unplug my SoundSticks?

Thanks

I get the same problem. No big deal, but that is wierd!

drainyoo · Apr 29, 2003, 02:50 PM

I think it has something to do with the 17inch. I dont know how or why but this never happened on my Tibook. I also notice it happens everytime I have my soundsticks in and I unplug them. The sound balance shifts. Its oviously a bug in the OS.

melshutson · Jun 27, 2003, 02:17 PM

I have a 15" Imac and my speaker balance has randomly changed numerous times. Happened under 10.1 and 10.2 and both when I was using Apple Speakers and JBL creature speakers. Obviously a defect of the operating system.

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G-mac · Jun 27, 2003, 04:21 PM

Same problem here. I've got a 15" PB/550 running 10.2.6. I've seen other posts regarding this, but no solutions. Although my guess is that it's an OS X problem, Apple hasn't fixed this in its recent updates. Seems to happen randomly, although perhaps it has something to do with using the headphone jack - I often switch from headphones to built-in speakers.

fisherKing · Jun 27, 2003, 05:55 PM

have this too, on my pismo (10.2.6)
I THINK i see it after i install mac software...noticed it after upgrading to .2.6, and again this week after installing the new safari...

so, yeah, seems like an osx quirk...annoying (but fixable)

Lateralus · Jun 27, 2003, 07:07 PM

I have had the off-balance sound problem on every Mac I have owned under OS X. (iBook 500, PMac G4 533, iBook 700, Dual 867 G4 PMac, PowerBook G3)

schuey100 · Jun 27, 2003, 07:49 PM

It's a known problem and there is already a tech note on it. It's caused by changing the volume during high CPU usage. There isn't a fix so far.

Dougmc · Jul 1, 2003, 01:17 PM

Like the others, I've noticed it as well. I use it as an excuse to change my desktop while I'm already in the System Prefs. What can I say, I'm lazy. I have to have a reason to open them before I do much of anything in there.

george328 · Jul 1, 2003, 01:59 PM

I thought I was the only one! It was driving me crazy, thought it was an undocumented key command that I was inadvertently hitting.

drainyoo · Jul 1, 2003, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by george328:
I thought I was the only one! It was driving me crazy, thought it was an undocumented key command that I was inadvertently hitting.

He I was going nuts! It is still driving me mad! I hope Apple has a fix for this soon or at least correct it in Panther.

Cellery · Jul 1, 2003, 04:04 PM

I thought the sound was a bit off, and now I know why! Both my TiBook and 17" AlBook exhibit this problem, I wish the sound systems were a bit less problematic. (The need for KeepSoundAwake comes to mind)