Apple updates Boot Camp audio driver that was causing blown MacBook Pro speakers

Apple has issued an update to Boot Camp drivers within Windows, preventing the random, loud pops from over-ranging and damaging the new MacBook Pro's speakers. However, the driver doesn't fix speakers already damaged by the problem.

AppleInsider has confirmed that users who have installed Boot Camp since 1 p.m. Nov. 23 should already have the updated drivers. Older installations may require the user to manually run an Apple software update process from within the Windows installation.

Users with un-updated drivers could still experience a periodic loud pop out of proportion with the volume settings while booted into Windows. The loud pops are induced by an out-of-date Windows audio driver in Boot Camp.

Users who never booted into Windows through Boot Camp are not affected by the problem, nor are users running Parallels or other similar solutions.

Some users reported that MacBook Pro speakers were permanently damaged as a result of the pop over-ranging the hardware.

AppleInsider was told by Apple to have users manifesting speaker damage that persists in macOS after exiting Windows contact Apple Care phone support to document the problem, and to make a Genius Bar appointment for assessment and rectification.

30 Comments

suddenly newton 13819 comments · 14 Years

About 7 years ago

Speakergate. /s

blastdoor 3565 comments · 15 Years

I'm genuinely surprised that Apple still supports Boot Camp. Are there any statistics on what fraction of Mac users use Boot Camp?

Also, among Boot Camp users, why do they use it? Is it mostly about games? Aside from games, I would think Parallels (or VMware) would be the better solution.

iphonenick 23 comments · 13 Years

I run Windows via VMware from my bootcamp partition many for Outlook and a custom internally developed application, but some applications don't play nice and require booting into Windows to function properly.

macxpress 5910 comments · 16 Years

blastdoor said:

I'm genuinely surprised that Apple still supports Boot Camp. Are there any statistics on what fraction of Mac users use Boot Camp?

Also, among Boot Camp users, why do they use it? Is it mostly about games? Aside from games, I would think Parallels (or VMware) would be the better solution.

I use it at home to play games on my MacPro tower. Otherwise, I'd rather just use Parallels for everything else. I guess maybe if there's something else really graphics/CPU intensive you'd want it to be fully in Windows and not in a VM.