mac G4 does not chime on start up

glendalf81 · Mar 21, 2010

hi my power mac G4 does not chime when it starts up, the sound works from the internal speaker when the mac is running and it all starts up fine but no chime when i switch it on, any ideas why this maybe, any help appreciated
thanks
glen

p.s. it used to chime it just stopped yesterday

harryb2448 · Mar 21, 2010

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Glenda go into System preferences > Sound > Output and check Built in Audio is selected, and the volume is actually up high enough to hear and not set to Mute. This assumes you are using OS X.4 and/or OS X.5. Always helps if you provide the OS information in your post.

Keep us posted if this does not help?

glendalf81 · Mar 22, 2010

hi and thanks for your reply, it was running os X.3.9 i have recently re-installed os9 as i stole the hard drive for my G4 MDD which had failed,

i am going to install tiger later today

but correct me if i am wrong as i am new to macs but isn't the power up chime unrelated to the OS as it sounds before the OS has even loaded and it sounds on my MDD when no hard drive is even connected

as i said before it worked fine before a snagged the hard drive and then stopped before i took the hard drive out, plus when in the OS the built in speaker works fine i never touched any of the settings in the preferences, it just stopped working

Jamie-Jamie · Mar 22, 2010

It happens from time to time on Power Macs. I don't ever pay it any mind, myself. It's always corrected with a PRAM wipe, though.

deus_ex_machina · Mar 22, 2010

glendalf81 said:
hi and thanks for your reply, it was running os X.3.9 i have recently re-installed os9 as i stole the hard drive for my G4 MDD which had failed,

i am going to install tiger later today

but correct me if i am wrong as i am new to macs but isn't the power up chime unrelated to the OS as it sounds before the OS has even loaded and it sounds on my MDD when no hard drive is even connected

as i said before it worked fine before a snagged the hard drive and then stopped before i took the hard drive out, plus when in the OS the built in speaker works fine i never touched any of the settings in the preferences, it just stopped working

PRAM zap will return the chime - but it is related to the POST

glendalf81 · Mar 22, 2010

thanks guys, it randomly started working again this morning, never changed anything either, oh well as long as it boots into OS i guess i can live without the chime if it stops again

harryb2448 · Mar 22, 2010

Glenda if you are a regular here at the forums you will see the question asked about starting up daily or letting sleep and not turning off. Personally am a great believer in shutting down and booting when needed. Not only does this save power, but your Mac goes through the boot up process checking file after file until the machine gets the green light and away she goes (or he goes if you think it is a male machine after all it is pretty dense and slow eh?)

Little things that have become corrupted, or unstuck if you like, are repaired during this process hence you now have the bong back in your life.

dtravis7 · Mar 22, 2010

A PRAM reset might make it chime every time. One other thing to check, be sure the PRAM battery is not dead and 3-3.6 Volts. If not, that can affect things also.