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Last active September 19, 2025 13:54
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Fix audio issues in Ubuntu on MacBooks from around the 2008-2015 era

Fix audio issues in Ubuntu on MacBooks from around the 2008-2015 era

First, you need to uninstall all PipeWire-related packages:

sudo apt remove pipewire-audio-client-libraries pipewire-pulse wireplumber

Install the stuff required for pulseaudio and itself:

sudo apt install pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils pavucontrol

Enable any pulseaudio services so they start on login:

systemctl --user enable pulseaudio
systemctl --user start pulseaudio

Disable any dangling PipeWire units:

systemctl --user --now disable pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

Now you should be able to reboot with sudo reboot and then you should be good to go. When you log in again, you can verify that it's running PulseAudio by running the following command:

pactl info | grep "Server Name"

It should have no mention of PipeWire anywhere and should say pulseaudio. This should resolve all issues with headphone jack audio becoming distorted and mic hardware not showing up.

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