Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

karlth

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
210
0
Sometimes booting the my Mac with the chime can be uncomfortable, for example in a public place. How can I turn off the startup sound?

Please don't tell me that I need to run a script to accomplish this?? :confused:
 

baryon

macrumors 68040
Oct 3, 2009
3,875
2,922
Hold the MUTE button while you press the POWER button, this should mute the startup chime. It's not permanent, you have to do this each time you want to turn the sound off.
 

Tootles

macrumors member
Jun 15, 2011
76
0
Has Apple really made it impossible to startup your Mac in public without advertising its presence at maximum volume? I haven't had to restart/shutdown my Mac yet so, haven't experienced this annoyance yet. I can see it happening to people who aren't fortunate enough to have broadband at home. Anyone doing their updating at school or the public library - in a cubicle, to keep a low profile - now being pissed off by their Mac, as insult to injury. Bad move, Apple.
 

Steve's Barber

macrumors 6502a
Jul 5, 2011
773
1
I don't understand the reports about StartupSound.prefPane version 1.1b3 not working in Lion.

It works for me.
 

phySi0

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2011
76
0
You don't want to know!
Has Apple really made it impossible to startup your Mac in public without advertising its presence at maximum volume? I haven't had to restart/shutdown my Mac yet so, haven't experienced this annoyance yet. I can see it happening to people who aren't fortunate enough to have broadband at home. Anyone doing their updating at school or the public library - in a cubicle, to keep a low profile - now being pissed off by their Mac, as insult to injury. Bad move, Apple.

It's not always at maximum volume, not for me anyway.

Besides, holding the mute button is one trick mentioned, which IMHO is how it should be. The sound is not to advertise its presence, it's to tell you that everything is working fine and the bootup process is good. Most of the time, you want this. Sometimes you don't. People aren't going to remember to make sure their bootup process went OK, they are going to remember to mute it when they need to be polite.
 

Tootles

macrumors member
Jun 15, 2011
76
0
Tootles said:
Has Apple really made it impossible to startup your Mac in public without advertising its presence at maximum volume? I haven't had to restart/shutdown my Mac yet so, haven't experienced this annoyance yet. I can see it happening to people who aren't fortunate enough to have broadband at home. Anyone doing their updating at school or the public library - in a cubicle, to keep a low profile - now being pissed off by their Mac, as insult to injury. Bad move, Apple.
It's not always at maximum volume, not for me anyway.

Besides, holding the mute button is one trick mentioned, which IMHO is how it should be. The sound is not to advertise its presence, it's to tell you that everything is working fine and the bootup process is good. Most of the time, you want this. Sometimes you don't. People aren't going to remember to make sure their bootup process went OK, they are going to remember to mute it when they need to be polite.

I never wanted to listen to the startup chime while in public, which is where I had to do my updates, before recently getting satellite broadband at home. It wasn't just about being polite, it was also to be discreet. Apple could at least keep the speakers turned off when something is plugged into the audio output port, then you could discreetly hear it through earphones if you wanted. From what I've read here, that no longer happens with the startup chime. We shouldn't have to hold down a key to be discreet.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,033
5,405
ny somewhere
since the startup chime can be essential in troubleshooting (reset PRAM anyone?)...it's not such a big deal to have to hold a key on startup...
 

karlth

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
210
0
There seems to be a difference in the way Windows and Mac OSX users react to "hardwired" preferences in the operating system.

If Microsoft introduced a startup sound that the user would have to remember to mute each time (while the wife was sleeping or in a café) they would be literally hanged. :p

Here on the other hand it seems to be almost considered a "user" problem. :D
 

digger1985

macrumors newbie
Aug 8, 2011
21
0
There seems to be a difference in the way Windows and Mac OSX users react to "hardwired" preferences in the operating system.

If Microsoft introduced a startup sound that the user would have to remember to mute each time (while the wife was sleeping or in a café) they would be literally hanged. :p

Here on the other hand it seems to be almost considered a "user" problem. :D
That's the main difference between Apple and MS. With MS you get choices, with Apple you have to live by with what Steve Jobs says.
 

Head Unit

macrumors newbie
Apr 26, 2009
8
0
since the startup chime can be essential in troubleshooting (reset PRAM anyone?)...it's not such a big deal to have to hold a key on startup...

Actually the chime still comes out under those types of circumstances, so the comment doesn't really apply.

Plus, who needs the chime to tell you if your startup was OK? I think most people use an alternative technique called "look at the screen after startup and if it looks weird, something is wrong."

It's not a big deal...unless, like many many people, it is something you will often forget to do, and end up making noise in a quiet house or library or whatever.


There should be a preference to turn the damn thing off. End of story. Maybe now that Steve is dead they can "allow" it.
 

jim468

macrumors regular
Jun 14, 2009
117
5
Hold the MUTE button while you press the POWER button, this should mute the startup chime. It's not permanent, you have to do this each time you want to turn the sound off.

For some reason this does not work on my Mac. I am using Lion 10.7.2 on my Macbook Air.

Can anyone confirm this? Thanks.
 

0000757

macrumors 68040
Dec 16, 2011
3,894
850

Nameci

macrumors 68000
Oct 29, 2010
1,944
13
The Philippines...
The chime is not accomplished thru the OS. It is on the firmware, unless you want to hack the firmware. It is on the boot up process before even the system starts the OS.

The chime is needed to tell the operator that the boot up is normal and nothing wrong with the hardware and its peripherals.

I you don't want to hear the chime, don't shutdown your macbook, let it sleep it will wake up and there is no chime.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.