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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.)
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Is the headphone check recognized when headphones are not working (Apple Logo in the menu -> About this Mac -> more info -> system report -> Audio)? I think there is still a chance of a hardware failure. Maybe the Windows drivers just connect differently to the port (?). – cyphorious Feb 26 at 9:00
I'm pretty sure you've checked this a thousand times, but could you nevertheless please provide a screenshot of your sound output preferences (I'm interested in the list of devices). – cyphorious Feb 26 at 9:11
And one last question (sorry for the flood of comments): Have you already played around with the "Audio and Midi Setup")? This will may only help if your headphones a REALLY not recognized, meaning that if you plug them in you will still get sound output of the internal speakers and not just having everything "muted". – cyphorious Feb 26 at 9:15
Yes, the headphone jack shows up in the system report, even though it doesn't work. – ahruss Feb 26 at 21:23
@cyphorious Here is what the out preferences looks like. It doesn't change at all when headphones are plugged in. (i.imgur.com/DRAKGTh.png) I guess I didn't make that clear in my question. The headphones are completely unrecognized when I plug them in. Absolutely nothing changes. The internal speakers don't mute, the volume doesn't change, nothing. It's as if I hadn't plugged them in. They are REALLY not recognized. What do you recommend changing in the Audio MIDI Setup? – ahruss Feb 26 at 21:32
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