Newbie - how to disable start up sound

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Hi everyone! Noob here - I cannot locate any info on how to disable the start up sound on my bright and shiny and new 27.5 iMac I just pranced through the street home! Outside of muting it - not always a reliable very early am option for me, where can I stop it? Tried my preferences in my administrator, and it disabled all of the other sounds but it.
Please be kind, been years since I had a Mac. Avid learner and eager to understand more!
Thanks for reading.

Gina
 

pigoo3

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Most folks don't encounter the Mac startup sound very much anymore...since most folks put their Mac's to "sleep" when they are done with it for the day.

Mac's should be rebooted/restarted every so often for other reasons...but many folks will use their Mac's for weeks (or even months) without actually shutting the computer down. Thus the Mac startup sound is encountered very very rarely.

Just offering this as a solution that requires no changes in settings (there really isn't a specific setting for this)...or install of special apps.:)

But here are some alternatives:

How To Silence Your Mac's Startup Chime | MacTrast

- Nick
 

chscag

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Your best and easiest solution from the link that Nick provided is to download the free Startup Ninja. It works and there's no need to get into the terminal. Startup Ninja will turn it off completely and also turn it back on again if you so desire.
 
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Thank you

Thank you both for your response. I have a habit of shutting down all of my machines. Perhaps there is some better reason to let them sleep. The 4:30 or 5:00 am wakeup call that arouses others in the house is not going over well. Thanks for the info from both of you!

Cheers,

Gina
 
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Just leave it be unless a thunderstorm threatens. Once a week reboot is ample.
 
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Startup Chime

Hi,

I use OnyX application to turn off the startup chime on my iMac so I don't wake up the household. Don't know if it would keep the startup chime from sounding when Resetting the PRAM.

Here's a screen capture showing the path in OnyX. Parameters > Login > Then at bottom of dialog box chose button [Turn on] or [Turn off] for the Startup Sound. The buttons don't change color or anything.

Bonnie

OnyX is a free app.

Startup sound turn off buttons.jpg
 
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chscag

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You're displaying an old version of OnyX. Newer versions do not allow for turning off and back on the startup sound. The only application that works as far as I know is the Startup Ninja. There are several apps that work for OS X versions of Snow Leopard and earlier but not after Snow Leopard.
 
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Correction......BonnieW is right.
I am running Onyx 2.8.5 on Mavericks and I can disable and enable the startup sound inside Onyx.

Cheers ... McBie
 
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Your best and easiest solution from the link that Nick provided is to download the free Startup Ninja. It works and there's no need to get into the terminal. Startup Ninja will turn it off completely and also turn it back on again if you so desire.

Only works on 10.7 or 10.8 unless I'm missing something.

StartNinja Download Page

Plus, isn't a download a potential security risk?

The method via Terminal works very well and is easy and what a blessing to have that sound eliminated.
 

chscag

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Correction......BonnieW is right.
I am running Onyx 2.8.5 on Mavericks and I can disable and enable the startup sound inside Onyx.

Cheers ... McBie

And give our MoTM McBie another gold star because he is indeed correct! I totally missed the new version (2.8.5) and that the "login" tab was selected.

And my apologies to Ms BonnieW. She was correct. Thanks for the input. Even an "old dog" like me can learn a new trick. ;D
 

chscag

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OK, I just ran a test to see if selecting to stop the startup sound in OnyX works. It does not work. So much for that... :Angry-Tongue:

Let me know if it does work on your system. I'm running 10.9.3 on a Late 2013 27" iMac.

@dotdotdot:

The Startup Ninja works fine on my system (see specs above) and no, it's not a potential security risk to download. However, if you have Gate Keeper turned on (it should be on by default) you will be warned about it. Right click and select open to bypass Gate Keeper. If you have your startup sound turned off from the terminal command, that's fine. The Startup Ninja does the same thing without having to open the terminal.
 
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Even an "old dog" like me can learn a new trick. ;D

We all learn from each other, that is what makes this place great.

I checked the functionality of that button in Onyx and it does work on my 2013 ( September ) 13" MBA running 10.9.3
Could there be a difference in the EFI firmware for different models ?

Cheers ... McBie
 
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I never hear the chime, because I have external speakers which are always off when I reboot. And I reboot 6 or 7 times a week. My Mini has lasted since late 2007, so if it dies from being restarted so often (and how would you know?) it will be long after most people would have upgraded to a newer machine.

Can the volume just be turned way down before shutting down? Will it stay turned way down through a reboot?
 

chscag

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I checked the functionality of that button in Onyx and it does work on my 2013
( September ) 13" MBA running 10.9.3
Could there be a difference in the EFI firmware for different models ?

Yes, I suspect that's the reason. I definitely tried it and it (OnyX) verified that it had turned off the startup sound, however, when I rebooted it was not turned off. But the StartNinja app worked just as it always has. I like to leave the startup sound on anyway and rarely turn it off.
 

Rod


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Um, forgive me for taking the simple path but if it's such an issue in the household why doesn't silverthunder simply hit the mute button before shutdown?
 
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I agree that start up sound is annoying as ****. But I get the feeling that installing a program that only turns it off would make boot time 10 times worse.
 
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With a few keystroked he can kill, and forever forget about, that intro "music" for good rather than hit the mute button before each shut down. Now that is the simple route.:eek:
 

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