Boot up sound on Mac

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How can I get rid of the sound that comes on as Mac boots up?
 
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chas_m

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That sound is actually a health indicator that says "hardware's okay!" but there are situations where you'd want to mute it.

Most Mac users very rarely reboot the Mac, and consequently we rarely hear the sound. The simplest solution is to just sleep the Mac when you're not using it instead of powering down.

I also seem to recall that if you mute the sound of the Mac before a restart, the boot noise remains muted. You can plug in headphones or speakers that are turned off, and that will achieve the same effect. There are also some third-party apps that can mute the startup sound, but again the simplest solution by far is to sleep the machine as Apple intended rather than restarting it. I think my machine only ever gets restarted when a software update requires it, so ... like 4-5 times a year, maybe?
 
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You answered questions I always wanted to know but was afraid to ask! I'm so glad I don't have to worry about leaving my MacBook on all the time. I was afraid it would a) overheat or b) cause the battery life to shorten. You have made me a very happy camper. THANKS
 
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Put this code in Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal): sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80
 
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Put this code in Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal): sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80

I can confirm that this works. I used this trick myself a few weeks ago turn it off on my iMac. Here's the Terminal command to turn the startup sound back on if desired:
sudo nvram -d SystemAudioVolume
 

chscag

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Why even mess around with the Terminal when the "StartNinja app" works and it's free?
 
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Why even mess around with the Terminal when the "StartNinja app" works and it's free?

Why mess with a 3rd party app when a Terminal command will do the trick?

StartNinja doesn't work with iMacs (according to the product page on MacUpdate). For the Macs it does work with, it installs a helper tool that drops the volume down as the Mac is shutting down, then brings the volume back up when logged back in. It's a rather clumsy way of handling this and adds an unnecessary burden on the system (however trivial it may be) by having an ever present helper running in the background.
 
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Thanks for all the great responses. I'm going to give the Terminal Services fix a try.
 

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chscag

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StartNinja doesn't work with iMacs (according to the product page on MacUpdate).

We've been through this before several times over. It works just fine with iMacs. I've had it working on my 2011 iMac 21.5" machine and currently have it working on my 2013 27" iMac.

But if you like using the terminal, that's fine.
 
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We've been through this before several times over. It works just fine with iMacs. I've had it working on my 2011 iMac 21.5" machine and currently have it working on my 2013 27" iMac.

Don't shoot the messenger, dude. I was just answering your question. ;P

I just spent the past 10 minutes experimenting with StartNinja and it doesn't work on my 2010 iMac.

But if you like using the terminal, that's fine.

If using Terminal gives you hives, Benadryl is cheap and available over the counter. :Cool:
 

chscag

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Using Terminal doesn't give me the hives, you're prescribing for the wrong guy... Slydude is the one with the itches. :p

Like I said, StartNinja worked for my 2011 iMac and is working for the 2013 model. Guess it doesn't work for all iMacs, however, you're the first one who I know in these forums that it doesn't work for.
 
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Using Terminal doesn't give me the hives, you're prescribing for the wrong guy... Slydude is the one with the itches. :p

If it's just queasiness in your case, there's meds for that also. Heck, there's meds for everything!

Like I said, StartNinja worked for my 2011 iMac and is working for the 2013 model. Guess it doesn't work for all iMacs, however, you're the first one who I know in these forums that it doesn't work for.

I only found 4 discussions here mentioning SN, and in one them someone said it didn't work for him. It appears he has a 2010 iMac also. There are a smattering of reports elsewhere that SN doesn't work for various people.

BTW, it appears I was wrong about SN installing a helper tool. The helper tool is embedded in the app and appears to simply run one of 2 scripts on a root-level item.
 
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Why even mess around with the Terminal when the "StartNinja app" works and it's free?

Didn't work on my iMac, plus why have extra bloat ware? That is a big criticism of Windows, after all.
 
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What's wrong with just turning the sound down before rebooting - except forgetting to do so. iMacs, at least, remember the last set sound level at start up.
 
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What's wrong with just turning the sound down before rebooting - except forgetting to do so. iMacs, at least, remember the last set sound level at start up.

The bolded part of your question is what's wrong. It's far simpler to just disable it and call it a day. it's clearly supported with a simple modification to the SMC anyway.

And to address chas' assertion that the sound chime exists to "prove" that the hardware is working... I think the fact that it boots up is proof enough. Chime or no chime, if it doesn't boot up, then I'll worry.
 
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Didn't work on my iMac, plus why have extra bloat ware? That is a big criticism of Windows, after all.

In all fairness, StartupNinja isn't really bloatware, and it certainly does nothing to bog the system down (I thought it did earlier, but a little more investigating proved myself wrong). It just puts a GUI on the task of running a script to disable the sound. A large number of utilities for OS X do nothing but run scripts, and there's nothing wrong with that. The GUI was invented to make stuff like that easier.
 
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MacInWin

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I boot my MBP when 1) I travel and have to turn it off (Seldom) and 2) when an update forces me to.

Otherwise, it's on all the time.

I boot my iMac when an update forces me to, never any other time. It's on 24/7.
 

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