silent startup?

[objc]

Is there a way to make a Mac start up without making the boot chime noise? I know it will be silent if it's muted before shutdown, but it's easy to forget to do that.

My girlfriend starts up her Mac in class sometimes and it makes the boot chime sound and she would prefer it to be silent. Is it possible to press a key or something to bypass the chime?

 

[macbookairman]

Is there a way to make a Mac start up without making the boot chime noise? I know it will be silent if it's muted before shutdown, but it's easy to forget to do that.

It is possible (kinda). I'm not aware of any way to turn it off via System Prefs. or anything like that. The only way I know of is to set your computer to mute automatically on shutdown. Check out this link (it explains it). http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051013141919568


EDIT: I found this...not sure if it works with Leopard. http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/StartupSound/index.en.html

EDIT 2: Forget everything else i've posted. Go with these: http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/StartupSound/BETA/index.en.html (latest version of what i put above) and http://www.satsumac.com/Psst.php

 

[reclusivemonkey]

Ghetto method: find an old/broken pair of headphones. Cut the jack off the end as short as possible. Plug the jack into the headphone socket.

 

[logana]

Ghetto method: find an old/broken pair of headphones. Cut the jack off the end as short as possible. Plug the jack into the headphone socket.

Why would this work ? Does it work ?

My MacBook is connected through the headphone socket to a set of SoundSticks.

The start-up sound still comes from the internal speakers. A headphone jack stuck in the socket is going to have the same effect (ie none).

 

[JNB]

Why would this work ? Does it work ?

My MacBook is connected through the headphone socket to a set of SoundSticks.

The start-up sound still comes from the internal speakers. A headphone jack stuck in the socket is going to have the same effect (ie none).

Then there's something wrong with your MB. Anything plugged in to the headphone socket will route all sound through them, and disable the internal speakers. If yours is different, it's broke.

For the OP, if you mute prior to shutdown, then there will be no audible chime at the next startup.

With Automator, you can have a single action that first mutes the volume and then runs a shell script. I"ll have to see if you can shutdown from that.

 

[spinnerlys]

^I don't know about that being broke.

My iMac is plugged to an amplifier, but when I restart the start up sound is played via the internal speakers. Maybe it's the new fashion of the Intel Macs.

 

[macbookairman]

For the OP, if you mute prior to shutdown, then there will be no audible chime at the next startup.

The OP said they knew they could mute it, but they want an option in case they were to forget to mute before shutdown. This is why i recommend this software, which installs into System Preferences. It will allow you to set a startup chime volume (or u can mute it). available here (worked for me on a Leopard MacBook): http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/StartupSound/BETA/index.en.html

 

[objc]

^I don't know about that being broke.

My iMac is plugged to an amplifier, but when I restart the start up sound is played via the internal speakers. Maybe it's the new fashion of the Intel Macs.

The woman reports the same thing on her Macbook Pro. However, my Power Mac G5 at work plays the startup through external speakers or headphones if connected. Apparently a change on the new IA machines. Kind of a shame; I used the headphone trick before with a Powerbook, and the startup chime sounds much better through external speakers. I actually like hearing it; it's a nice way of knowing that the machine POSTed successfully.

 

[zachsilvey]

my macbook also plays the startup sound through the internal speakers no matter what is connected.