Chosen Solution
I’ve been playing a lot of YouTube videos recently which has caused the fan to whir a lot more than usual. Then I noticed the audio on my earbuds quit, and when I tried to adjust the volume on the keyboard controls the onscreen sound display had a line through it (the “no” diagonal line) and I could not adjust sound. Now, when I first turn the computer on, sound and video work fine for a while, but after a while of use, the audio quits. The computer appears to run fine other than audio cutting out. This isn’t just with the earbuds, but the internal speakers as well. When this happens and I’m watching a video, the video AND audio stops playing. If I’m listening to a CD or to iTunes when the sounds goes out, the countdown timer on the song also stops, as well as the audio output. One other thing I’ve noticed is a slightly yellow discoloration (about 1 1/2" diameter) on the white plastic on the bottom of the computer, right under the 1,2,3 keys. In the center of the discoloration, there is a very small (dime sized) area where the finish has actually chipped off. No doubt this is from heat. So.. is this computer “done for”? If repairs would be fairly costly, I’d prefer to sell it as is. What might it be worth as it is? MacBook white 13" _ 2.2GHz C2D _4GB RAM _250GB HD
The first thing I would do is open it up and see if it needs cleaning. Inspect the boards and see if I could locate the problem.
Hi DHart, welcome to iFixit Answers !! First you should download iStat Menu for Mac and monitor the internal temperature of your MacBook during an intense youtube session. Post the readings here. http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatmenus/ Second, that could sound strange but try to repair your permissions via Disk Utility software located in folder -> Applications -> Utilities or with Disk Utility on your installation disk (recommended by Apple). I resolved a similar sound problem with this simple procedure.
Check to see if any red light is coming out of your headphone jack. I have had a similar problem, and it had to do with dust triggering the optical audio jack. The fix involved sticking a toothpick in the audio jack and scraping around inside counter-clockwise, I think.
