Macintosh Portable: Sound Volume Problem Solved



I am having a problem controlling the volume on the internal speaker of
our Macintosh Portable. Most of the time, the speaker is barely audible
-- even though the volume control in both the General and Sound CDEVs is
at 7.

I cleared PRAM by using the keyboard method (Control, Shift, Option, and
Command). This procedure worked, but it raises a couple of questions:

1) What is causing the speaker volume to become so low?

2) Why does resetting the PRAM fix the problem, whereas removing the
power supply via the battery removal/power-down sequence does not fix
the problem?

1) The volume on your Macintosh Portable was low because the PRAM was
getting scrambled.

2) To clear PRAM on the Macintosh Portable, both batteries must be
removed for an undefined period of time -- probably more than 10
minutes. Otherwise, the 9-volt battery holds the values stored in PRAM.
The easiest way to clear this memory is, as you discovered, by keyboard
command.


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012