Startup chime

[alfogator]

How to enable the startup chime on recent Macs

One feature that many users miss on more recent Mac models is the startup chime. Although once a plague in labs and classrooms, there’s something deeply emotive about that chord. For some tim…

eclecticlight.co

😁

 

[pshifrin]

This works! Just enabled it on my 2019 15 inch. Oh happy day!

 

[Fishrrman]

Just tried this on a 2018 Mini, and it works there, too...!

 

[cmaier]

Funny how this is being reported as something new. I’ve been doing this for years.

 

[Peadogie]

Funny how this is being reported as something new. I’ve been doing this for years.

I've been debating about whether or not to do this since I got my 2019 MBP. Some times I do miss it, but other time not so much.
Anyway, what is old news to some is welcome new information to others. That's what makes this and other forums like it such a great place to be!

 

[cmaier]

I've been debating about whether or not to do this since I got my 2019 MBP. Some times I do miss it, but other time not so much.
Anyway, what is old news to some is welcome new information to others. That's what makes this and other forums like it such a great place to be!

I do it because it’s pretty helpful when you start the machine and it’s moving slowly to know that it’;s actually doing something

And nostalgia.

 

[Peadogie]

I do it because it’s pretty helpful when you start the machine and it’s moving slowly to know that it’;s actually doing something

And nostalgia.

I do miss the pulsating "sleep" light on my 2012, so you know it actually asleep.

 

[cmaier]

I do miss the pulsating "sleep" light on my 2012, so you know it actually asleep.

yeah that was awesome

 

[me55]

Funny how this is being reported as something new. I’ve been doing this for years.

I've tried the other command that's been floating around for a couple of years (sudo nvram BootAudio=%01) and that one doesn't work. The "new" one (sudo nvram StartupMute=%00) works though.

 

[3SQ Machine]

Brilliant! Works on '19 MacBook Air. The old command that was floated around a couple years ago didn't work on my newer Macs. Haven't tried this new line on my '19 iMac yet, but will report back if it works.

 

[53kyle]

I noticed a small detail when I enabled the startup sound on my MBP. For my 2016 model, it has exactly the same startup sound that's existed since what, 1998 with the iMac G3? However, the startup sound has a different, lower pitch on the 2019 (and I think 2018) MBPs.

I just find it interesting that Apple, which made it extremely difficult (even previously impossible) to enable the startup sound on 2016- Macs, not only didn't fully remove the startup sound from said Macs, but at some point since then, put in the effort to change it a bit, knowing that absolutely no-one would be able to hear it (at least if no-one discovered the NVRAM command).

For anyone who might be interested, here's a a comparison I threw together:

 

[Fishrrman]

Having just used "the new terminal trick" to re-enable the startup sound on my 2018 Mini a couple of days' back, I discovered that it, too, now has a "lower-pitched" startup sound.

Not quite as pleasing as the "earlier" sound...

 

[Peadogie]

Having just used "the new terminal trick" to re-enable the startup sound on my 2018 Mini a couple of days' back, I discovered that it, too, now has a "lower-pitched" startup sound.

Not quite as pleasing as the "earlier" sound...

Some Apple coder's way of saying...😜
😀

 

[CE3]

I've tried the other command that's been floating around for a couple of years (sudo nvram BootAudio=%01) and that one doesn't work. The "new" one (sudo nvram StartupMute=%00) works though.

Neither works on my 16" Macbook 🤷‍♂️

 

[cmonroe]

Neither works on my 16" Macbook 🤷‍♂️

The new one (StartupMute) works great on my 16in.. make sure your volume is not all the way down.

 

[Clix Pix]

I think I'll pass after hearing that comparison; I loved the original chime sound, but the lower-pitched one just doesn't sound right to me and I would just as soon continue doing without altogether rather than having that!

 

[decisions]

Great thread. Just enabled this on my 2018 15". I still have the old startup sound, so I'm guessing only the 16" has the new sound.

 

[Clix Pix]

Ah.......thanks for this info! I may indeed take the leap after all. I have really missed the startup chimes!

 

[gilby101]

Doesn't work on 2019 27" iMac.

 

[JimmyG]

How to enable the startup chime on recent Macs

One feature that many users miss on more recent Mac models is the startup chime. Although once a plague in labs and classrooms, there’s something deeply emotive about that chord. For some tim…

eclecticlight.co

😁

I guess the author reads these forums...

2017 iMac Owners - They killed the chime??? | MacRumors Forums: Post #72

2017 iMac Owners - They killed the chime???

this terminal command brought back the startup chime on my 2017 iMac: sudo nvram StartupMute=%00

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Marshall73]

Funny how this is being reported as something new. I’ve been doing this for years.

This didn't work on the late 2016 until Catalina.

 

[pshifrin]

I’m sure this is totally coincidental but is there anyway this setting could cause this behavior:

Today was the first day I used my laptop on battery after enabling this wonderful nostalgic chime... I was sitting at a desk at a remote office typing away and the laptop (2019 15 inch 10.15.3) just shutdown. Got it back on and a few minutes later it happened again and the screen showed the red / empty battery. Except it wasn’t, it was somewhere in the 70% range. I plugged into power and was able to finish work. Got home and tried working off battery and it happened again. Reset SMC and it happened again.

According to coconut battery i have 49 cycles, condition good and capacity of 57.1% ??? WHAT? Plugged in and it jumped to 87% let it charge for a few minutes, unplugged, ran a few rounds of cinebench with the brightness turned up and it happened again. Apple diagnostics (boot holding D) shows no problems, of course.

Basically without the power brick, the battery capacity will drop 10% every few seconds and then shutdown at around 61%.

Edit: While typing this on my iPad reset NVRAM too, chime gone, erased and reinstalled 10.15.3 with no apps or iCloud signed in it’s still doing it. To the genius bar it goes!

 

[konqerror]

I just find it interesting that Apple, which made it extremely difficult (even previously impossible) to enable the startup sound on 2016- Macs, not only didn't fully remove the startup sound from said Macs, but at some point since then, put in the effort to change it a bit, knowing that absolutely no-one would be able to hear it (at least if no-one discovered the NVRAM command).

I don't think they changed it on purpose. The sound from all modern laptops have heavy equalization curves applied to them in the OS driver because the tiny speakers and case would make them sound awful otherwise. I would bet that nobody bothered to fix up the audio and you're just hearing the native audio performance of the thing.

 

[SuprUsrStan]

Neither works on my 16" Macbook 🤷‍♂️

I got it to work on my 16" Macbook Pro. Video as proof:

Other thoughts, this audio is handled by the T2 chip and this startup chime is also handled by the T2 chip. It takes a while for the system to decode the disk when you log in. That's why they had to make the T2 chip handle this. This feature was added into MacOS Catalina but never made it into the preferences, perhaps we'll see it as an option in 10.16. The sound is indeed different on the 16" macbook pro compared to the older macs, I would hazard a guess that the deeper tone was implemented because of the 16" Macbook pro's ability to produce a much deeper sound compared to previous macs. It really does sound good on the 16" MBP's speakers.

The old sudo nvram BootAudio never worked for the 2016+ macs but this new sudo nvram StartupMute command actually works. If you can't tell, I'm completely over the moon over this discovery.

 

[redheeler]

Yeah, there is a different startup chime for the newer MBPs. Heard it just now after a restart to install the Big Sur beta and it caught me off guard. And I heard them play the same sound during the keynote. So an official comeback may be imminent?