MBP Headphone Jack Doesn't Work in OS X but does in Windows I bought a brand new Mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13" from Apple. Ever since I've had it, it's had this quirky bug where headphones are only recognized if they're plugged in before the computer is woken up: the computer has to be either turned off or put to sleep every time I want to plug in my headphones. I called Apple Support and went through all the usual stuff and some not-so-usual stuff, but the problem still persists. I, along with multiple tech support guys from Apple, finally just concluded it was a hardware issue. I never bothered to take it into the store to get fixed, and the problem never went away (no surprise there). 

Today, after living with this and doing nothing about it for months, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Enterprise using BootCamp, and in Windows, headphones work perfectly all the time. I've just been living with this issue since I've had a workaround, but this makes me think there must be some way of making the jack work properly in OS X, too. 

Any ideas on what could be causing this problem or how to fix it? What would be different about Windows 7 that would make it act differently?



Here's what I've already tried:


Resetting the PRAM and SMC
Ensuring that no weird audio drivers or services were installed (the Apple Support guy and I went through my /Library and ~/Library with a fine-tooth comb)
Re-installing the OS fresh (in fact, since then, I've changed hard drives and installed fresh a second time)
Cleaning out the headphone jack itself
Using a different set of headphones (any of them that use the 1/8th inch jack don't work in OS X but do in Windows; Bluetooth and USB headphones work fine)
Ensuring that everything is attached correctly inside the MBP (no frayed wires, no loose connections, etc.)
It's entirely likely you have a situation where the drivers on Windows are not detecting a faulty hardware condition and thus continue to send signal to the copper ports. Your Mac may be sending the audio to the TOSlink (optical) portion of the jack.

See this other question for details and a similar answer by @chico on his experience getting around this hardware failure by using different OS / drivers.