The classic Macintosh startup sequence includes hardware tests which may trigger the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death. On
Macs running macOS Big Sur or later the startup sound is enabled by default, but can be disabled by the user within System Preferences (
Big Sur or
Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
) or System Settings (
Ventura).
Startup chime
The Macintosh startup chime is played on power-up, before trying to boot an operating system. The sound indicates that diagnostic tests run immediately at startup have found no hardware or fundamental software problems. The specific sound differs depending on the ROM, which greatly varies depending on Macintosh model. The first sound version in the first three Macintosh models is a simple square-wave "beep", and all subsequent sounds are various
chords.
Mark Lentczner created the software that plays the
arpeggiated
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves.
An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
chord in the
Macintosh II
The Macintosh II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on the Motorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the first Macintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic sy ...
. Variations of this sound were deployed until
Jim Reekes
Sosumi is an alert sound introduced by Jim Reekes in Apple Inc.'s Macintosh System 7 operating system in 1991. The name is derived from the phrase "so, sue me!" because of a long running court battle with Apple Corps, the similarly named music c ...
created the startup chime in the
Quadra 700
The Macintosh Quadra 700 was a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1991 to March 1993. It was introduced alongside the Macintosh Quadra 900, Quadra 900 as the first computers in the Macintosh Quadra, ...
through the
Quadra 800.
[Whitwell, Tom (May 26, 2005]
"Tiny Music Makers: Pt 4: The Mac Startup Sound"
''Music Thing'' Reekes said, "The startup sound was done in my home studio on a
Korg Wavestation EX. It's a C major chord, played with both hands stretched out as wide as possible (with 3rd at the top, if I recall)." He created the sound as he was annoyed with the tri-tone startup chimes because they were too associated with the death chimes and the computer crashes. He recalls that Apple did not give him permission to change the sound but that he secretly snuck the sound into the computers with the help of engineers who were in charge of the ROM chips. When Apple discovered this, he refused to change it, using various claims in order to keep the new sound intact. He is also the creator of the iconic (or "earconic", as he calls it) "bong" startup chime in most Macintoshes since the
Quadra 840AV
The Macintosh Quadra 840AV is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from July 1993 to July 1994. It was introduced alongside the Centris 660AV
The Macintosh Quadra 660AV, originally sold as the Macintosh Ce ...
. A slightly lower-pitched version of this chime is in all PCI-based
Power Mac
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...
s until the
iMac G3
The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003. The iMac was the first major new product release for Apple under Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO and cofounder ...
. The
Macintosh LC
The Macintosh LC is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to March 1992.
Overview
The first in the Macintosh LC family, the LC was introduced with the Macintosh Classic (a repackaging o ...
, LC II, and
Macintosh Classic II
The Macintosh Classic II (also sold as the Performa 200) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to September 1993. Like the Macintosh SE/30, the Classic II was powered by a 16 MHz Moto ...
do not use the Reekes chime, instead using an F major chord that just produces a "ding" sound. The first generation of Power Macintosh computers also do not use the Reekes chime, instead using a chord strummed on a
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
12-string acoustic guitar by jazz guitarist
Stanley Jordan
Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands.
Music career
Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...
. Further, the
Power Macintosh 5200–6300 computers (excluding the 5400 and 5500, which have the "bong" chime like the one in the PCI-based Power Macs) use a unique chime, which is also in the television commercials for the Power Macintosh and PowerBook series from 1995 until 1998, and the
20th Anniversary Macintosh uses another unique sound.
For models built prior to the introduction of the Power Macintosh in 1994, the failure of initial self-diagnostic tests results in a
Sad Mac
The classic Macintosh startup sequence includes hardware tests which may trigger the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death. On Macs running macOS Big Sur or later the startup sound is enabled by default, but can be disabled by ...
icon, an error code, and distinctive Chimes of Death sounds.
The chime for all Mac computers from 1998 to early 2016 is the same chime used first in the iMac G3. The chord is a F-sharp major chord, and was produced by pitch-shifting the 840AV's sound. Since 2012, the Mac startup chime is a
registered trademark
The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or wor ...
in the United States, and is featured in the 2008
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
film ''
WALL-E
''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...
'' when the titular robot character is fully recharged by
solar panels as well as in the 2007 Brad Paisley song "
Online
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
".
Starting with the 2016 MacBook Pro, all new Macs were shipped without a startup chime, with the Macs silently booting when powered on. In 2020, the startup chime would be added to these models with the release of
macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and was released to the publi ...
, which allows it to be enabled or disabled in System Preferences. On the macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta, it was discovered that the new lower pitched chime was brought to all older supported Macs. In a firmware update included in the macOS Catalina 2020-001 Security Update, and the macOS Mojave 2020-007 Security Update, the new startup chime in Big Sur is brought to all Big Sur-supported Macs including the unsupported 2013 iMac.
Happy Mac
A Happy Mac is the normal
bootup
In computing, booting is the process of starting a computer as initiated via hardware such as a button or by a software command. After it is switched on, a computer's central processing unit (CPU) has no software in its main memory, so so ...
(startup)
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
of an
Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computer running older versions of the Mac
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
. It was designed by
Susan Kare in the 1980s, drawing inspiration from the design of the
Compact Macintosh
A Compact Macintosh (or Compact Mac) is an all-in-one Apple Mac computer with a display integrated in the computer case, beginning with the original Macintosh 128K. Compact Macs include the original Macintosh through to the Color Classic sold ...
series and from the
''Batman'' character
Two-Face
Two-Face is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character was created by Bob Kane and first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942). As one of Batman's ...
.
The icon remained unchanged until the introduction of
New World ROM
New World ROM computers are Macintosh models that do not use a Macintosh Toolbox ROM on the logic board. Due to Mac OS X not requiring the availability of the Toolbox, this allowed ROM sizes to shrink dramatically (typically from to ), and facilit ...
Macs, when it was updated to 8-bit color. The Happy Mac indicates that booting has successfully begun, whereas a
Sad Mac
The classic Macintosh startup sequence includes hardware tests which may trigger the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death. On Macs running macOS Big Sur or later the startup sound is enabled by default, but can be disabled by ...
(along with the "Chimes of Death" melody or one or more beeps) indicates a hardware problem.
When a Macintosh boots into the
classic Mac OS (
Mac OS 9 or lower), the system will play its startup chime, the screen will turn gray, and the Happy Mac icon will appear, followed by the Mac OS
splash screen
A splash screen is a graphical control element consisting of a window containing an image, a logo, and the current version of the software. A splash screen can appear while a game or program is launching. A splash page is an introduction page on a ...
(or the small "Welcome to Macintosh" screen in
System 7.5 and earlier), which underwent several stylistic changes. Mac OS versions 8.6 and later also includes the version number in this splash screen (for example, "Welcome to Mac OS 8.6").
On early Macs without an internal
hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...
, the computer boots up to a point where it needs to load the
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
from a
floppy disk. Until the user inserts the correct disk, the Mac displays a floppy icon with a blinking question mark. In later Macs, a folder icon with a question mark that repeatedly changes to the
Finder icon is shown if a
System Folder or boot loader file cannot be found on the startup disk.
With
Mac OS X 10.1, a new Happy Mac was included. This is also the last version with a Happy Mac icon; in
version 10.2, the Happy Mac symbol was replaced with the Apple logo. In
OS X Lion
OS X Lion, also known as Mac OS X Lion, (version 10.7) is the eighth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers.
A preview of OS X 10.7 Lion was publicly shown at the "Back to the Mac" Apple Speci ...
10.7, the Apple logo was slightly shrunk and a drop-in shadow was added. In
OS X Yosemite
OS X Yosemite ( ; version 10.10) is the eleventh major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
OS X Yosemite was announced and released to developers on June 2, 2014, at WWDC 2014 and rel ...
10.10, the white screen with a gray Apple logo was replaced with a black screen with a white Apple logo and the spinning wheel was replaced with a loading bar. However, this only applies to Macs from 2013 and later, including the 2012 Retina MacBook Pros, and requires a firmware update to be applied. All earlier Macs still use the old screen. The shadow on the Apple logo was removed in
OS X El Capitan
OS X El Capitan ( ) () is the twelfth major release of macOS (named OS X at the time of El Capitan's release), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh. It focuses mainly on performance, stability, and security. Followin ...
10.11. In 2016 and later Macs (excluding the Early 2016 MacBook), the Apple logo appears immediately when the screen turns on.
The
Face ID
Face ID is a facial recognition system designed and developed by Apple Inc. for the iPhone and iPad Pro. The system allows biometric authentication for unlocking a device, making payments, accessing sensitive data, providing detailed facial ex ...
logo for the
iPhone X
The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten", also known as iPhone 10) is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from October 27, 2017, it was re ...
was based on the Happy Mac.
Bomb screen
![MacOs Syserror](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/MacOs_Syserror.png)
With the introduction of
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...
, in addition to the blinking system folder icon, a
prohibition icon was added to show an incorrect OS version is found. The
bomb screen in the classic Mac OS was replaced with a
kernel panic
A kernel panic (sometimes abbreviated as KP) is a safety measure taken by an operating system's kernel upon detecting an internal fatal error in which either it is unable to safely recover or continuing to run the system would have a higher ...
, which was originally colored white but was changed to black in
version 10.3.
Sad Mac
![Sad mac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Sad_mac.png)
A Sad Mac is a symbol in older-generation
Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computers (hardware using the
Old World ROM
Old World ROM computers are the Macintosh (Mac) models that use a Macintosh Toolbox read-only memory (ROM) chip, usually in a socket (but soldered to the motherboard in some models). All Macs prior to the iMac, the iBook, the Blue and White Powe ...
and not
Open Firmware
Open Firmware is a standard defining the interfaces of a computer firmware system, formerly endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It originated at Sun Microsystems, where it was known as OpenBoot, and has bee ...
, which are those predating onboard USB), starting with the original 128K Macintosh and ending with the last
NuBus
NuBus (pron. 'New Bus') is a 32-bit parallel computer bus, originally developed at MIT and standardized in 1987 as a part of the NuMachine workstation project. The first complete implementation of the NuBus was done by Western Digital for th ...
-based Power Macintosh models (including the first-generation
6100,
7100,
8100, as well as the
PowerBook 5300
The PowerBook 5300 is the first generation of PowerBook laptops manufactured by Apple Computer to use the PowerPC processor. Released in August 1995, these PowerBooks were notable for being the first to feature hot-swappable expansion module ...
and
1400),
to indicate a severe hardware or software problem that prevented startup from occurring successfully. The Sad Mac icon is displayed, along with a set of
hexadecimal
In mathematics and computing, the hexadecimal (also base-16 or simply hex) numeral system is a positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of 16. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using 10 symbols, hexa ...
codes that indicate the type of problem at startup. Different codes are for different errors. This is in place of the normal
Happy Mac
The classic Macintosh startup sequence includes hardware tests which may trigger the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death. On Macs running macOS Big Sur or later the startup sound is enabled by default, but can be disabled by ...
icon, which indicates that the startup-time hardware tests were successful. In 68k models made after the
Macintosh II
The Macintosh II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on the Motorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the first Macintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic sy ...
, the Chimes of Death are played.
Models prior to the
Macintosh II
The Macintosh II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on the Motorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the first Macintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic sy ...
crash silently and display the Sad Mac, without playing any tone.
PowerPC
PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
Macs play a sound effect of a car crash, and computers equipped with the
PowerPC
PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
upgrade card use the three note brass fanfare death chime (A, E-natural, and E-flat), followed by the sound of a drum, same as the
Macintosh Performa 6200 and
Macintosh Performa 6300
The Power Macintosh 6200 (also sold under variations of the name Performa 6200, Performa 6300 and Power Macintosh 6300) is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from May 1995 to July 1997. The 6200 is ...
.
A Sad Mac may be deliberately generated at startup by pressing the
interrupt switch on
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computers that had one installed, or by pressing Command and Power keys shortly after the startup chime. On some Macintoshes such as PowerBook 540c, if the user presses the command and power keys before the boot screen displays, it will play the "chimes of death". The chimes are a fraction of normal speed and there is no Sad Mac displayed.
Old World ROM
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...
and
PowerBook models based on the
PCI architecture do not use a Sad Mac icon and will instead only play the error/car-crash sound on a hardware failure (such as missing or bad memory, unusable CPU, or similar).
Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and later instead use the
Universal "no" symbol to denote a hardware or software error that renders the computer non-bootable.
Chimes of Death
The Chimes of Death are the
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
equivalent of a
beep code on
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...
s. On all Macintosh models predating the adoption of
PCI and
Open Firmware
Open Firmware is a standard defining the interfaces of a computer firmware system, formerly endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It originated at Sun Microsystems, where it was known as OpenBoot, and has bee ...
, the Chimes of Death are often accompanied by a Sad Mac icon in the middle of the screen.
Different Macintosh series have different death
chimes
Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...
. The Macintosh II is the first to use the death chimes, a loud and eerie upward major
arpeggio, with different chimes on many models. The
Macintosh Quadra
The Macintosh Quadra is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to October 1995. The Quadra, named for the Motorola 68040 central processing unit, replaced the Macintosh II family as ...
,
Centris
The genus ''Centris'' contains circa 250 species of large apid bees occurring in the Neotropical and Nearctic realms, from Kansas to Argentina. Most females of these bees possess adaptations for carrying floral oils rather than (or in addition ...
,
Performa
The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Macintosh Quadra, Quadra, Macintosh Centris, Centri ...
(including the 6200 and 6300, which were also Power Macintosh models, only occurring after the screen lights up),
LC, and the
Macintosh Classic II
The Macintosh Classic II (also sold as the Performa 200) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to September 1993. Like the Macintosh SE/30, the Classic II was powered by a 16 MHz Moto ...
play a generally softer and lower pitched version of the upward major arpeggio, followed by three or four notes, with slight variation depending on the model of the Macintosh. The
PowerBook 5300, 190, and 1400 use the second half of the 8-note arpeggio as found on the Quadra and Centris models, or the entire death chime if the error occurs before the screen lights up. The Macintosh Quadra 660AV and Centris 660AV use a sound of a single pass of
Roland D-50
The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April 1987. Its features include subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analogue synthesis-styled layout design. The external Roland P ...
's "Digital Native Dance" sample loop, and the
NuBus
NuBus (pron. 'New Bus') is a 32-bit parallel computer bus, originally developed at MIT and standardized in 1987 as a part of the NuMachine workstation project. The first complete implementation of the NuBus was done by Western Digital for th ...
based
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...
models (including 6100,
7100, and 8100) series use a car crash sound. The
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...
and
Performa
The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Macintosh Quadra, Quadra, Macintosh Centris, Centri ...
6200 and 6300 series, before the screen comes on for these models, along with the
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...
upgrade card, use an eerily dramatic 3-note
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
fanfare with a rhythm of drums and cymbals; the former plays the 8-note arpeggio instead when the screen is on. The pre-G3 PCI Power Macs, the beige G3 Power Macs, the G3 All-In-One, and the PowerBook 2400, 3400, and G3 all use a sound of glass shattering; these models do not display a Sad Mac icon. Since the introduction of the
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
in 1998, the Chimes of Death are no longer used in favor of a series of tones to indicate hardware errors.
See also
*
Booting
*
Power-on self-test
A power-on self-test (POST) is a process performed by firmware or software routines immediately after a computer or other digital electronic device is powered on.
This article mainly deals with POSTs on personal computers, but many other embed ...
*
Screens of Death
In computing, a screen of death is an informal term for a type of computer operating system error message displayed onscreen when the system has experienced a fatal system error. Computer users have dubbed these messages "screens of death" because ...
*
Floppy Disk
References
External links
The Original Macintosh: Boot Beep– Folklore.org
{{error messages
Booting
Sound trademarks
Macintosh firmware
Macintosh operating systems