Macintosh startup

"Welcome to Macintosh" redirects here. For the film, seeWelcome to Macintosh(film).

The classicMacintosh startupsequence includes hardware tests which can trigger the startup chimes, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death.

Startup process

Further information:Power-on self-test § Macintosh POST

Macs made from 1984 to 1998 usedOld World ROMas the boot loader for all Macs produced around that time period. From 1998 up until thePowerPC to Intel transition,New World ROMwas used for all Macs starting with the firstiMacand later expanding to the firstiBookand theBlue and White Power Mac G3.Most Intel-based Macs used Apple's implementation ofEFIas the boot loader, while those with aT2 security chipused a slightly different approach where it verifies thedigital signatureof the EFI firmware via the security chip, which will then load the firmware upon successful verification.AllApple silicon-based Macs use a newer method separate from previous Macs where it uses aboot ROMlocated on theSoCto launchiBoot,in a manner similar to that of theiPhoneandiPad.

In all instances, the startup chimes will be heard upon completion of the boot process (if successful), and a Happy Mac (or the Apple logo on newer versions) will be displayed on the screen to visually indicate that no hardware issues were found during the boot process. On the other hand, a failure to do so will result in a different outcome where a different sound will be heard in place of the startup chime. This would either be a Chimes of Death (for most Old World ROM Macs made from 1987 to 1998) or a series of simple beep codes (for Macs made from 1998 onwards). In addition, a Sad Mac with either one or two lines of hexadecimal codes will be displayed on some Old World ROM machines to visually indicate a hardware issue during the boot process.

AllMacsmade from 2016 to 2020 have the startup chimes disabled by default,however it was later re-enabled on those Macs runningmacOS Big Suror later; this can be disabled by the user within System Preferences (Big Sur up toMonterey) or System Settings (Venturaand later).

Startup chime

The startup chime heard on all Macintosh models made from 1998 to 2016. A slightly modified variant has been used in all Macs since 2020.

The Macintosh startup chime is played on power-up, before booting into an operating system. The sound indicates that diagnostic tests were run immediately at startup and have found no hardware or fundamental software problems.The specific sound differs depending on the ROM, which greatly varies depending on Macintosh model. For models built prior to the introduction of the Power Macintosh in 1994, the failure of initial self-diagnostic tests results in aSad Macicon, an error code, and (later) the distinctive Chimes of Death sounds.

The startup chime in the first three Macintosh models is a simple square-wave "beep", and all subsequent sounds are variouschords.Mark Lentczner created the software that plays thearpeggiatedchord in theMacintosh II.Variations of this sound were deployed untilJim Reekescreated the startup chime in theQuadra 700through theQuadra 800.Reekes said, "The startup sound was done in my home studio on aKorg 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 theQuadra 840AV.A slightly lower-pitched version of this chime is in all PCI-basedPower Macsuntil theiMac G3.TheMacintosh LC,LC II, andMacintosh Classic IIdo not use the Reekes chime, instead using an F major chord that just produces a "ding" sound. The first generation Power Macintosh computers also do not use the Reekes chime, instead using a chord strummed on aYamaha12-string acoustic guitarby jazz guitaristStanley Jordan.Furthermore, thePower Macintosh 5200–6300computers (excluding the5400and5500,which uses the same "bong" chime found in all 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. The20th Anniversary Macintoshalso uses another unique sound.

The chime for all Mac computers from 1998 to early 2016 is the same chime that was first introduced in the iMac G3. The chord is an F-sharp major chord, produced by pitch-shifting the 840AV's startup chime. As of 2012, the Mac startup chime is aregistered trademarkin the United States,and is featured in the 2008PixarfilmWALL-Ewhen the titular robot character is fully recharged bysolar panelsas well as in the 2007 Brad Paisley song "Online".

Starting with the 2016 MacBook Pro, all new Macs were shipped without a startup chime, with the Macs silently booting when powered on.The startup chime would later be added to these models (and all subsequent models since) with the release ofmacOS Big Surin 2020, which can be enabled or disabled in System Preferences.The new startup chime found in Big Sur is similar to the previous one but was pitch-shifted down one semitone, producing an F major chord instead of an F-sharp major chord. A similar-sounding variation of the startup chime can also be heard in the "Simplicity Shootout" commercial that was shown during the iMac G3's introduction in 1998. Initially, this revised startup chime was only included on Intel-based Macs with aT2 security chip;most of the other models at the time (including older ones) still kept the previous startup chime. Eventually the new startup chime was brought over to all older supported Macs starting with the macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta. A firmware update included in the macOS Catalina 2020-001 Security Update and the macOS Mojave 2020-007 Security Update brought the new startup chime in Big Sur to all Big Sur-supported Macs as well as the unsupported 2013 iMac.

Happy Mac

A small, rectangular icon depicting a gray computer emblazoned with a colourful apple logo, and a floppy-disk slot. On its small square screen is a smiley-face emoticon against a lilac background. The icon indicates that the machine has successfully begun booting, in contrast to a "Sad Mac" icon, which displays a "sad" emoticon.

Thesplash screenunderMac OS 8

The "Welcome to Macintosh" screen seen in System 7.5 and earlier

AHappy Macis the normalbootup(startup)iconof anApple Macintoshcomputer running older versions of the Macoperating system.It was designed bySusan Karein the 1980s, drawing inspiration from the design of theCompact Macintoshseries and from theBatmancharacterTwo-Face.The logo also shares some similarities to the faces of the 1934 paintingDeux personnages(Two Characters) byPablo Picassoand to theBauhausemblem.The icon remained unchanged for many years until it and related icons were updated to 8-bit color.

The Happy Mac indicates that booting has successfully begun, while aSad Mac(along with a "Chimes of Death" melody or one or more beeps) indicates a hardware or software problem. When a Macintosh boots into theclassic Mac OS(Mac OS 9or lower), the system will play its startup chime, and the screen will turn gray. The Happy Mac icon will appear, followed by the "Welcome to Mac OS"splash screen(or the small "Welcome to Macintosh" window inSystem 7.5and earlier), which underwent several stylistic changes, the other significant ones being the inclusion of extension icons appearing in the bottom left as well as a progress bar that was introduced in System 7.5. Mac OS 8.6 and later include the version number in the splash screen (for example, "Mac OS 9" in big black text).

On early Macs without an internalhard drive,the computer boots up to a point where it needs to load theoperating systemfrom afloppy disk.The Mac displays a floppy disk icon with a blinking question mark until the user inserts the correct disk. In New World ROM Macs, a folder icon with a question mark that repeatedly changes to theFinder iconis shown if aSystem Folderor boot loader file cannot be found on the startup disk. With the introduction ofMac OS X,in addition to the blinking system folder icon, aprohibition iconwas added to show an incorrect OS version is found, which was first introduced inMac OS X 10.2.

WithMac OS X 10.1,a new Happy Mac was included. This is also the last version with a Happy Mac icon. In 2002, with the release ofversion 10.2,the Happy Mac symbol was retired and replaced with the Apple logo. InOS X Lion10.7, the Apple logo was slightly shrunk and added a drop-in shadow. InOS X Yosemite10.10, 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 inOS X El Capitan10.11 (for 2012 and earlier Macs). In 2016 and later Macs (excluding the Early 2016 MacBook), the Apple logo appears as soon as the screen turns on rather than after the startup chime.

The design of the Happy Mac was reused as the icon forFace ID,introduced iniOS 11for iPhone andiOS 12for iPad.

Bomb screen

Further information:Bomb (icon)

A Classic Mac OS system error alert from System 7, indicating that an unimplemented trap occurred. These were a common sight among many Mac users of the era, and most of them would often have a paper clip nearby in order to restart the computer as the restart button would often be nonfunctional.

Abomb screenwas anerror messageused on the classic Mac OS in the event of a software error in the operating system. It was replaced with akernel panicin Mac OS X, which was originally colored white inMac OS X Jaguarbut was changed to black inMac OS X Panther.

Sad Mac

One version of the Sad Mac icon, this one indicating that anillegal instructiontrap occurred

ASad Macis a symbol in older-generationApple Macintoshcomputers (hardware using theOld World ROMand notOpen Firmware,which are those predating onboard USB), starting with the original 128K Macintosh and ending with the lastNuBus-based Power Macintosh models (including the first-generation6100,7100,8100,as well as thePowerBook 5300and1400),to indicate a severe hardware or software problem that prevented startup from occurring successfully. The Sad Mac icon is displayed, along with a set ofhexadecimalcodes that indicate the type of problem at startup. Different codes exist for different errors. This is in place of the normalHappy Macicon, which indicates that the startup-time hardware tests were successful.

In 68k models made after theMacintosh II,a series of sounds known as the Chimes of Death are played. Models prior to theMacintosh IIcrash silently and display the Sad Mac without playing any tone. MostPowerPCMacs play a sound effect of a car crash, while computers equipped with aPowerPCupgrade card use a three note brass fanfare death chime (A, E-natural, and E-flat) with the sound of drums and cymbals, taken from thePower Macintosh/Performa 6200and6300.

A Sad Mac may be deliberately generated at startup by pressing theinterrupt switch(Also known as the Programmer's Key) onMacintoshcomputers that had one installed or by pressing Command and Power keys shortly after the startup chime. These functions normally opened up adebugger windowwithin the operating system but triggers a Sad Mac error on startup when it is accessed before booting into an operating system. On some Macintoshes such as PowerBook 540c, if the user presses the command and power keys before the boot screen is displayed, only the Chimes of Death are played. Depending on the model, the chimes would play much faster or slower than normal and there is no Sad Mac displayed.

Old World ROMPower MacintoshandPowerBookmodels based on thePCIarchitecture 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 errors).

An equivalent to the Sad Mac on Mac OS X is aUniversal "no" symbolintroduced inMac OS X 10.2 Jaguarand later, which denotes a hardware or software error that renders the computer non-bootable as well as indicating that an incorrect OS has been found (as mentioned earlier).

Chimes of Death

TheChimes of Deathare theMacintoshequivalent of abeep codeonIBM PC compatibles.On all Macintosh models predating the adoption ofPCIandOpen Firmware,the Chimes of Death are often accompanied by a Sad Mac icon in the middle of the screen (more information about the Sad Mac is above).

Different Macintosh series have different deathchimes.The Macintosh II is the first to use the death chimes, a loud and eerie upward majorarpeggio,with different chimes on many models. TheMacintosh Quadra,Centris,Performa,LC,and theMacintosh Classic IIplay a generally softer and lower pitched version of the upward major arpeggio, followed by three or four notes, with slight variations depending on the model of the Macintosh. ThePowerBook5300, 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. TheMacintosh Quadra/Centris 660AVuse a sound of a single pass ofRoland D-50's "Digital Native Dance" sample loop, while theNuBus-basedPower Macintoshmodels (including the 6100,7100, and 8100 series) use a car crash sound. ThePower MacintoshandPerforma6200 and 6300 series along with thePower Macintosh(PowerPC) upgrade card use an eerily dramatic 3-note brass fanfare with a rhythm of drums and cymbals. In the case of the Power Macintosh/Performa 6200 and 6300, the aforementioned death chime plays before the screen lights up for these models while the 8-note arpeggio used in other Mac models like the Quadra and Centris series plays after the screen lights up. 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 the sound of popping and glass shattering; these models do not display a Sad Mac icon.

With the introduction of theiMacin 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
• Screen of death
• Floppy disk

External links

• The Original Macintosh: Boot Beep– Folklore.org
• Every Mac Startup & Crash ChimeonYouTube(2017)