Instructions for recent "could not load and play sound" issue

[Jeremy O]

I'm the creator of the following thread in which I mentioned having a problem with Growls sound notifications, finding out it was an OS X bug and offering a solution.

http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss/browse_thread/thread/19399353461c271f/d7ebadfa0ad4d63f?lnk=gst&q=sound#d7ebadfa0ad4d63f

In the thread I was asked to email my solution to the Group. I've tried to make this somewhat clear and easy as I do not know the OS X experience of Growl users. I'm also writing this from memory so if there are any mistakes feel free to correct them. The instructions are as follows...

Growl seems to rely on an OS X process called coreaudiod. If coreaudiod does not start with the system the sounds in Growl notifications will refuse to play. This can happen if the file com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist is missing from /System/Library/LaunchDaemons. This is a file that starts coreaduiod on system startup.

Before you assume this file is missing open System Preferences > Sound and make sure "Play user interface sound effects" is checked. This being unchecked is another thing that will prevent sounds in Growl notifications from playing.

These instructions include use of Terminal.app (found in /Applications/Utilities) and the sudo + cp commands. Make sure you know your password as you will be prompted for it.

From the OSX install disk
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Insert your OS X install disk and reboot your busted Mac (the one missing the plist file). Hold Option or C after the boot sound. You should see an OS X installation window. Ignore this. Launch the Terminal (from Menubar > Utilities) and run the following command...

sudo cp /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/

This will copy the plist file from the OS X install disk to your hard drive where it will launch at startup.

Shutdown and let the system boot normally.

From a another Mac
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From another working Mac (a friend can also do this for you) launch Terminal and run the following command.

sudo cp /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist ~/Downloads/

This will copy the plist file to the Downloads folder of the working Mac. From here transfer (via email, dropbox, usb drive, etc) the plist to the Downloads folder of the busted Mac. Then (from the busted Mac) run the following commands (one at a time)...

sudo cp ~/Downloads/com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/

sudo chmod 644 com.apple.audio.coreaudiod.plist

Reboot.