Is it possible to reinstall just the core macOS audio drivers on a MacBook Pro?

Question

My audio only works from the headphone jack and for a long time I thought it was a hardware issue. When I unplug from the headphone jack, I see the loudspeaker icon with the error-icon on the bottom.

But recently I discovered it’s most probably faulty OS audio-drivers because everything worked fine when booting my MacBook Pro from a friend’s hard drive.

So can I specifically reinstall just the audio-drivers. I couldn't find any info online so I’m afraid I would need to do a complete reinstall.

Solution

Just reinstall macOS over your existing install. If you do that without telling it to erase your hard drive, it will do a “repair install” where all the OS pieces get reinstalled without losing your data.

However, it’s always wise to make sure you have a full, recent, tested backup before doing this kind of repair install, just in case.

Comments

[slhck]

You'd have to do a complete re-isntall. But before you do that, perhaps try resetting the NVRAM (support.apple.com/en-us/ht204063) and also fixing permissions (support.apple.com/en-us/ht201560)