

I checked Sound in the system preferences, and all looks normal, but it acts like it has been muted - but isn't. However, after a time, either due to sleep, use of other applications (Safari?), etc. "When I boot, the sound works fine, including new message sounds for Mail. Some users experience an odd phenomenon where sounds refuse to play through USB speakers, but upon disconnecting the speakers, a queued up series of sounds plays through the internal speakers, as if the sounds were clogged in the USB channel then pushed in rapid succession through the internal speaker once USB speakers are taken out of the loop. We've recently received a rash of reports indicating problems playing sound through USB-connected speakers - especially after updating to Leopard.
