Headphone/External Speaker Jack stopped working

Thank you George - LOL I cant believe I didnt work that one out - Yes after an hour of trying to troubleshoot this issue, as soon as I plugged the Speakers back in the headphones option appeared in the Sound Settings and it was in fact muted.

"Well, this isn't a fix per se to the problem of the malfunctioning headphone jack, but it is a workaround which allows you to continue using your external speakers for all Mac sound output.

This fix requires obtaining a piece of hardware, namely an Airport Express with sound output. According to Apple, this device can only stream sound out from iTunes. However, with two pieces of open source software, this situation can be changed to allow all Mac sounds to be routed through the Airport Express. The two pieces of software are soundflower and the other is RaopX. Description of how to get and intstall each is available at http://www.hersson.net/projects/raopx, and as best as I can tell, they work well.

You're still left with a malfunctioning headport jack, but you have full access to the highest quality sound that you wish to expend your $$ on relative to the speakers you buy.

So, work around, but not true fix"

"This thread is a year old, but since it still comes up in a search I'll give my February 2012 advice:

Computer: iMac 27"" Intel based all in one

Issue: Internal speakers work; headphone jack does not.

Seems to me, it is easy to bend the inside connectors, fry the jack itself or otherwise simply break it. You can click all the settings, preferences, and MIDI controls you want - it will not correct the problem. You're a Mac user, you know you have tried all the settings and are second guessing your own expertise. So here's the problem: your headphone audio jack is cooked. Get over it.

Solution #1 (expensive): take it to an Apple store.

Solution #2 (inexpensive): get a USB to stereo audio input off Ebay for $2.00, wait 3 weeks for it arrive from Hong Kong and use your headphones through it."

"FIXED! I tried everything and was beginning to believe that the headphone jack was just broken. But, I'm thinking -- I hardly ever even USE it?!!? How??

So I rebooted, and tried all the above solutions and nothing.

Just for the !&&* of it, I just added a bluetooth speaker (DJKnight Magicbox II) -- As soon as the device was paired -- BAM the headphones showed up.

This just happened after an OS update, so it's NOT hardware or a worn out jack. This is definitely a bug. Adding a bluetooth speaker is just a work-around -- but it works and it's free.

Hope that helps.

Good luck!"

"Have you tried a pair of headphones or a different set of speakers in the headphone jack? If headphones work in the jack and you get the ""Headphones"" listing in the Sound panel, then the problem may be with your speakers or the speaker plug rather than the computer.

Another possibility -- could ""Built-In Output"" you're seeing be referring to the headphone jack? I think your computer has only one audio out, so it might not have separate listings for ""Headphones"" and ""Line Out."" If that's the case, maybe click on that listing to see what the setting of the output volume is. Maybe it's muted?

If the problem ends up being the headphone jack on the computer itself and you're leery of attempting a repair, an alternative might be to get a USB to Mini adapter like the iMic. But I'd highly recommend confirming that your speakers work with another machine first."