[Solved] Audio pops/ticks and errors "Sound assertion in AppleHDAController"

[evolutg]

Maybe this can help.... I just solved an issue I had with annoying spurious pops (more like very brief hi-pitched lone "ticks") in analog audio out.
I can't explain the root cause of the problem but found it was definitely triggerred when system definition = iMac12,2

The noises occured not constantly but most often when a new sound was initiated after a certain period of silence (e.g. an alarm with sound coming up, manually adjusting sound level, etc...). Some softer pops occured every few minutes when nothing particular was happening.

In the console, I found that every pop was accompanied by those 4 messages (or so it seemed, I didn't check them all!:
------------------------
26-08-2012 19:42:01.000 kernel[0]: Sound assertion - Command/Response TIMED OUT and ( kRequestStateMatch == fCodecRequest->state = 2 ), fCodecRequest->command->codec: -548945164288, fCodecRequest->command->verb: 0xFFF, fPoweredDown: 0
26-08-2012 19:42:01.000 kernel[0]: Sound assertion in AppleHDAController at line 4909
26-08-2012 19:42:01.000 kernel[0]: Sound assertion in AppleHDAController at line 4910
26-08-2012 19:42:01.000 kernel[0]: Sound assertion in AppleHDAController at line 8088
------------------------

Since I had a backup of my boot drive from a few days ago when the pops did not occur, I checked what had changed. One thing was the system definition: iMac12,2 Vs. MacPro3,1

So I had 2 copies of my smbios file, one with each definition and I did three full round trips swapping the two files in /Extra, rebooting and testing every time, like: iMac12,2 --> MacPro3,1 --> iMac12,2 --> MacPro3,1 --> iMac12,2 --> MacPro3,1
and the scenario reproduced every time as follows:
---- system definition = iMac12,2 ---> Audio pops
---- system definition = MacPro3,1 ---> No problem

Other than swapping the smbios file, I did absolutely nothign else. This positively points to the issue being triggered when system defintion was iMac12,2

I did not check other system definitions.

My setup for this test: GA-Z77X-UP5 TH [F4], i7-2600 3.4Ghz, Gigabyte HD 6450 512Mb, 16Gb RAM 1600Mhz
Installed 10.8 followed by update to 10.8.1 w/no issues. Installation was quite straight-forward using MB 5.0.2 (Options: DSDT-Free, Audio ALC898, 3rd party eSata, hnak's AppleIntelE1000e.kext, SSDT Sandy Bridge Core i7).

 

[chadthman]

I noticed the same thing in the console on mine and I am also using iMac12,2 to enable Airplay to my Apple TV. Although I have been using the Optical out for audio so I haven't noticed any popping.

 

[toleda]

I noticed the same thing in the console on mine and I am also using iMac12,2 to enable Airplay to my Apple TV. Although I have been using the Optical out for audio so I haven't noticed any popping.

Digital audio does not pop. Optical is digital audio, therefore, no pops.

 

[mewannamac]

You know the problem with "this is not my first rodeo"?
You get cocky!

With purchase of new SSD I thought time to do a new install of 10.8.2 and oh yeah why not pick iMac12,2 instead of MacPro3,1?
After all you get such a nice graphical picture when you look at specs...

Well thank you so much for this simple fix that has been driving me crazy...
The motto: Don't brag about building hacks since December of 08 just say I am still learning!

 

[epoon2]

ignore my post. accidental resurrection.

 

[rich1940]

Pops with sysdef 12,1 too. Using 12,1 fixed all kinds of Yosemite boot problems for me with my IB 13 3225 processor, but does give the audio pops with analog out. Annoying to be sure, but not terminal.