Weird Mac Mini issue

[MiTT]

Very weird issue with my Mac Mini. a week ago Saturday I was listening to music with no issues. Shut the system down as I always do and I left town for a little over a week on business. I come home on Monday night and go to listen to some music and my Mac Mini no longer recognizes my AURALiC Vega. I open up Preferences, select Sound and the Vega is no longer in the list of devices for sound output. I reboot the Mac, no change. I unplug the USB cable and plug it back in, no change. I repeat, this time plugging back in to a different USB port, no change. I turn the Vega completely off, wait a few minutes, then turn it back on, no change. I try rebooting the Mac again, still no change.

 

The was an automatic update to Safari while I was gone, but I can't imagine that having any effect.

 

Any ideas from the collective here? I'm baffled.

[mitch751]

Very weird issue with my Mac Mini. a week ago Saturday I was listening to music with no issues. Shut the system down as I always do and I left town for a little over a week on business. I come home on Monday night and go to listen to some music and my Mac Mini no longer recognizes my AURALiC Vega. I open up Preferences, select Sound and the Vega is no longer in the list of devices for sound output. I reboot the Mac, no change. I unplug the USB cable and plug it back in, no change. I repeat, this time plugging back in to a different USB port, no change. I turn the Vega completely off, wait a few minutes, then turn it back on, no change. I try rebooting the Mac again, still no change.

 

The was an automatic update to Safari while I was gone, but I can't imagine that having any effect.

 

Any ideas from the collective here? I'm baffled.

 

 

See if connect via a USB hub helps

[gmgraves]

Very weird issue with my Mac Mini. a week ago Saturday I was listening to music with no issues. Shut the system down as I always do and I left town for a little over a week on business. I come home on Monday night and go to listen to some music and my Mac Mini no longer recognizes my AURALiC Vega. I open up Preferences, select Sound and the Vega is no longer in the list of devices for sound output. I reboot the Mac, no change. I unplug the USB cable and plug it back in, no change. I repeat, this time plugging back in to a different USB port, no change. I turn the Vega completely off, wait a few minutes, then turn it back on, no change. I try rebooting the Mac again, still no change.

 

The was an automatic update to Safari while I was gone, but I can't imagine that having any effect.

 

Any ideas from the collective here? I'm baffled.

 

 

Several things:

 

First of all, does your Auralac Vega use Safari for anything? If so, don't be so quick to discount the Safari upgrade as the culprit. This is not really germane to your problem, but when I upgraded my Mini to Yosemite, my Logitech Squeezebox Touch Server software stopped working. It took Logitech about a year to fix it. While it was broken I was unable to stream my iTunes and other music from my Mac to my Squeezebox (which was connected to my stereo system).

 

My advice is that if your Auralac Vega doesn't use Safari at all, the try a new USB cable. That seems to be next logical step in your troubleshooting process.

[Axiom05]

Can't help with your immediate problem, but I would strongly urge you to turn off automatic updates.

[Paul R]

My immediate first suspicion is power - perhaps a lightening strike or some other event caused a nasty surge in your area and burned out something. That's given the number of really strong T-Storms that have passed our way. Could be either hunk of gear.

 

If you have another USB DAC, try that first. If it does not work, then suspect the Mac. If it does, have a hard look at the Vega.

[AnotherSpin]

Try to check Audio MIDI setup.app in Utilities folder. Is your Auralic chosen as output device?

[MarkS]

I know this sounds dumb, but try plugging the dac into a different USB input on the mac mini.

[alfe]

I know this sounds dumb, but try plugging the dac into a different USB input on the mac mini.

 

In his post he did already.

[alfe]

You should check the input of the DAC in menu if set to usb .http://www.auralic.com/download/VEGA_USERSGUIDE_R1.pdf

[tranz]

Check to see if another computer recognizes the Auralic. Check whether there is/was an Auralic firmware update. Check the output settings in the DAC.

[mjb]

Open System Information, perhaps by typing that in the <CMD-Space> search box, then click USB - if your AURALiC Vega isn't listed (when plugged in), convince yourself that the USB port(s) work for other things. If they do, suspect the AURALiC Vega

[Superdad]

You should try resetting both the SMC (System Management Controller) and NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM) of your Mac mini.

 

To reset the SMC:

Shut down the computer.

Unplug the power cord.

Wait fifteen seconds.

Attach the power cord.

Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

 

To reset the NVRAM:

Shut down your Mac.

Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R.

Turn on your Mac.

Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.

Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.

Release the keys.

 

 

Hope that works. Good luck.

 

On a different note of weird Mac mini developments. My 2012 i7 has stopped making its start-up chime. My machine is headless, and when it was first silent after a restart (due to a power outage), I freaked out, thinking it was dead and not booting (mine takes a while with its deteriorating SD card boot). But then (after all sorts of pointless actions) I realized it is working fine, just not chiming. And yes, I rest both the SMC and the NVRAM. Strange. It is still chime-less--luckily not charmless.