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[Merged] Muting the Mac Startup Chime

lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Probably a silly question . . . . . . but I would really like to stop or mute that loud "BONG" that my iMac makes when I start up in the morning. I can't find anything about that in the three Tiger OS books I have.

Thanks for your comments.
L
 
If you mute your speakers before shutting down your mac it should also mute the startup chime the next time you turn it on.

As far as I know this is the only way to mute it..
 
Thanks for your comments. It seems unusual that Apple would not have included some option to silence this startup noise.

And, from the responses I suspect a lot of other users would also like to mute the bong.

For the time being, I will just live with it. I don't want to install a software app specifically for just this one purpose.

Thanks again,
L
 
Somehow this just seems so... un-Macintosh.

Macs have gonged on startup going back to the Mac 128 in 1984! How dare you gainsay all of us kool-aid drinking Mac huggers?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱

I'm hereby kicking your backside out of the Brotherhood of the Mac. Away with you, ye hedonistic pagan!!! 😛

Seriously, I never knew the startup gong actually bothered anyone. Guess I was mistaken. 😕
 
Hello MikeTheC -

LOL. I am just new to the Mac . . . after 15+ years with the PC and Windows.

Perhaps that explains my lack of sensitivity or my brain-dead attitude. 😱
 
I actually found that bong really annoying and useless.
But then I realised what it was for. When I had to upgrade the RAM for the mac mini's at work I realised that was the best and fastest way to check if the speaker cable was plugged in properly. So it did help out.
 
MikeTheC said:
Seriously, I never knew the startup gong actually bothered anyone. Guess I was mistaken. 😕
Click to expand...

It's disturbing in a class or the library when you turn on the computer and everyone looks at you when it goes BOOONNNGGG!

On my old powerbook, I could just connect my headphones briefly to avoid the problem (I never remember to mute my computer first nor do I want to) but now that doesn't seem to work for the Mac Book Pro.
 
You could always plug a headphone jack into the port and start her up for a less permanent, hardware based solution.
 
lugesm said:
Hello MikeTheC -

LOL. I am just new to the Mac . . . after 15+ years with the PC and Windows.

Perhaps that explains my lack of sensitivity or my brain-dead attitude. 😱
Click to expand...

It's funny, though, and I'm not directing this towards you or mean it any kind of mean-spirited way, but you can always tell Windows users from Mac users when it comes to sound on their computer. Mac users normally have their speakers on at some level, but if you ever send a PC user a link or whatever that might require audio to appreciate, 9 times out of 10 you have to also give them advanced warning about it, otherwise they just don't seem to get it.

Anyhow, welcome to the world of Mac, lugesm. Enjoy! 🙂
 
MikeTheC said:
It's funny, though, and I'm not directing this towards you or mean it any kind of mean-spirited way, but you can always tell Windows users from Mac users when it comes to sound on their computer. Mac users normally have their speakers on at some level, but if you ever send a PC user a link or whatever that might require audio to appreciate, 9 times out of 10 you have to also give them advanced warning about it, otherwise they just don't seem to get it.

Anyhow, welcome to the world of Mac, lugesm. Enjoy! 🙂
Click to expand...

That's why on Windows, the first thing I do is disable the windows sounds. I don't need to hear a click to know that I've clicked a link on a website. I have the startup chime on my mac on a lower level so I don't accidentally wake someone because I sometimes turn it on at night.
 
The bong comes after the initial system check. it indicates that the very core functions are working. If you ever have to call Applecare, and you tell them there is no bong, that will lead them directly to the issue.

The bong is outside of the OS and therefore generally not adjustable by it, although mysteriously it seems to be subject to your volume levels.

it would be nice if, instead of a bong, it gave a discrete ping or warble, but it's a bong, and we all just have to live with it.
 
Ubuntu said:
Wish they updated the sound!
Click to expand...

Actually, they have over the years, but the current one has been around for at least the past 10 years or so.

The normal sound occurs upon successful completion of POST, but a different kind occurs if POST fails. Of the various "POST has failed"-type errors, this one is my own, personal favorite.

So technically, being able to hear the startup sound on your Mac is, in fact, useful.
 
lugesm said:
For the time being, I will just live with it. I don't want to install a software app specifically for just this one purpose.
Click to expand...

The "apps" are pretty innocuous. At least two of them are just preference panes -- OS X has an architecture where third party developers can create panes for the System Preferences. They just edit normal system variables, as far as I know, that just aren't available in the OS X GUI for editing. It's really quite unobtrusive.

I guess the chime is just kind of the way Apple does things, and many of us don't reboot more often than once every couple of weeks (my iMac is at 19 days right now, and my iBook at 39 days), so we don't find ourselves in situations where the chime is a problem more than once every couple of years....

Anyway, good luck!
 
Although I don't dislike the bong, it is way too loud. I have external speakers connected to my headphones socket, but even with these turned off the bong still bongs. Perhaps we can hope that one of the fabled Leopard secrets will be an adjustable bong volume. 😉
 
Plugging in headphones/speakers doesn't mute the startup bong.

Adjusting volume (of bong only) to minimal is great because it means I can have general-volume-control-level set to full (I always have the iMac plugged into a hifi) but not wake up everyone if I turn it on early in the morning.
 
There are multiple well-accepted programs that let you silence the startup chime or adjust its volume. Most of which have been posted more than once in this thread. You can also silence it by muting volume before shutdown...

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Why are we even still having this discussion? If you want it silenced or volume reduced, just go and install one of those preferencepanes. You really needn't wait for Leopard. 🙄
 
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