Mac Chimes of Death(512pixels.net)
512pixels.net
Mac Chimes of Death
https://512pixels.net/2021/04/mac-chimes-of-death/
84 comments
Potato-tomato
No not really when you got the chime of death it wasn't like a blue screen crash in windows it meant something was very wrong.
I had as top of the line Quadra AV play its car crash sound on boot once - it it was as dead as a door nail I could even boot it of a floppy.
I had as top of the line Quadra AV play its car crash sound on boot once - it it was as dead as a door nail I could even boot it of a floppy.
>No not really when you got the chime of death it wasn't like a blue screen crash in windows it meant something was very wrong.
Yeah, hence my use of potato-tomato (instead of potato-potatoh as is the regular version).
In the sense that it's different but no so much - it's still a case of error reporting sound. Plus, I wanted to do the pun.
Yeah, hence my use of potato-tomato (instead of potato-potatoh as is the regular version).
In the sense that it's different but no so much - it's still a case of error reporting sound. Plus, I wanted to do the pun.
I supported Macs in the mid-90s, so I heard a lot of chimes. IIRC the funky chord before the rest of the chime (you can hear part of one at the beginning of the IIcx example) carried actual diagnostic meaning. The one here, again IIRC (it's been a while) means "I have no RAM".
ThinkPads and other Lenovo machines have something similar called SmartBeep. Here is an example:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/k6fu6y/hey_i_have...
I had some fun with this one, as mentioned in my comment there. I downloaded Lenovo's app and had it listen to the audio in the post, and it told me the error code and recommended steps.
I guess I am easily entertained.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/k6fu6y/hey_i_have...
I had some fun with this one, as mentioned in my comment there. I downloaded Lenovo's app and had it listen to the audio in the post, and it told me the error code and recommended steps.
I guess I am easily entertained.
It's interesting that different tones were used. That would be difficult to document in any medium that doesn't support embedded sound files.
Many BIOSes used a sequence of beeps to convey the error code. Here's a page about this (found via googling for 2 seconds, so standard caveats apply): https://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
Many BIOSes used a sequence of beeps to convey the error code. Here's a page about this (found via googling for 2 seconds, so standard caveats apply): https://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
Ah yes, a slow Morse code dah-dit-dit-dit is burned into my mind from when my original IBM PC had memory errors!
For the new Lenovo beeps, the idea wasn't that you would listen to them and look it up in a doc like you would with the old PC beeps. They were intended for people who would call customer support and say "my computer won't boot and it makes these strange sounds!"
The CS rep would run the app while on the phone call, have the customer reboot, then the app would listen to the call, hear the beeps and display the error code and recommendations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2rzkO3jwko
For the new Lenovo beeps, the idea wasn't that you would listen to them and look it up in a doc like you would with the old PC beeps. They were intended for people who would call customer support and say "my computer won't boot and it makes these strange sounds!"
The CS rep would run the app while on the phone call, have the customer reboot, then the app would listen to the call, hear the beeps and display the error code and recommendations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2rzkO3jwko
Awesome tidbit, thanks!
Yeah, I just revel in stuff like this. In some alternative universe Sheldon Cooper is contributing to HN.
love these posts, like those EVGA/VGA articles, reminds me of how cheesy, fun, and raw early personal computing was, flying toasters, GORILLA.BAS, having mom yell “sorry” from upstairs indicating in advance that you were about to be booted from your online game because she picked up the phone, getting a copy of Unreal with your AGP Voodoo card, what a fun era that was
People will remember these times with similar joyful feelings too. It's not that computing isn't fun anymore, it's us who stopped seeing the fun in things.
Yes and no. Not to be cliche, but times are different. Everything now is digital, so all of the fun we used to have with the analog stuff is just gone. You could open up an electronic thing and look at the parts, borrow the parts, modify/replace the parts, etc. Sure, some of these things were litterally the size of the desktop, but lots of learning was had by many a hacker.
> Yes and no. Not to be cliche, but times are different. Everything now is digital
What did your elders who grew up with books and radios say of the early computers era you’re fond of?
What did your elders who grew up with books and radios say of the early computers era you’re fond of?
There has never been as many books as today.
A book still smells like a book.
You can still buy beautiful books.
In fact, I don't see the difference between the books from my youth and the books now as an adult.
But the IT field is certainly very different.
However, I don't miss the old modems, the hacks to get my maxtor working, clone CD and emule. I don't miss the floppy, black and white low res monitor, the clunky hardware and the slow or no internet.
I like HD. I like thin laptops, WIFI, USB, bittorrent, and a usable linux desktop.
I do have nostalgia for how the discovery of the old internet felt, the sense of community, the ethics and dreams. But it doesn't mean the current one is not awesome.
A book still smells like a book.
You can still buy beautiful books.
In fact, I don't see the difference between the books from my youth and the books now as an adult.
But the IT field is certainly very different.
However, I don't miss the old modems, the hacks to get my maxtor working, clone CD and emule. I don't miss the floppy, black and white low res monitor, the clunky hardware and the slow or no internet.
I like HD. I like thin laptops, WIFI, USB, bittorrent, and a usable linux desktop.
I do have nostalgia for how the discovery of the old internet felt, the sense of community, the ethics and dreams. But it doesn't mean the current one is not awesome.
My elders where in contstruction with fairly low pay for lots of physical work. So my elders saw my interest in electronics and afforded me every opportunity to do something not in the same line of work they endured. That included buying me books to further my studies. They also bought me electronic toys knowing that once I got "bored" with the toy, I would at some point be opening it up to see what made it tick.
There are all sorts of electronics besides computers. A CPU is a very small shrunken sets of transistors that are too small for anyone to interact with other than through software (realistically that is). However, older "computer" devices used components large enough you could see and manipulate by hand. The traces on the boards were large enough you could physically scratch/break, and re-wire (reprogramming) causing the device to do something new. To the point, at some stage, stickers reading "No user servicable parts inside" became a thing so people would stop tinkering. That sticker has now been replaced with an apple shaped logo, but they pretty much mean the same thing now.
There are all sorts of electronics besides computers. A CPU is a very small shrunken sets of transistors that are too small for anyone to interact with other than through software (realistically that is). However, older "computer" devices used components large enough you could see and manipulate by hand. The traces on the boards were large enough you could physically scratch/break, and re-wire (reprogramming) causing the device to do something new. To the point, at some stage, stickers reading "No user servicable parts inside" became a thing so people would stop tinkering. That sticker has now been replaced with an apple shaped logo, but they pretty much mean the same thing now.
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I fell in love with computers by wasting hours messing with Windows settings and internals. Thinking now, it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of space for that sort of stuff in most people’s routines, especially if they’re stuck in a browsing wheel of boredom. My wheel right now is just Reddit and HN and back and forth, and it’s insanely difficult to unhinge myself from it.
OK then, grab a Raspberry Pi 3B, 4B and Zero, pop open these docs for config.txt, and try and figure out how far you can push each of these tiny machines: https://www.elinux.org/RPiconfig
Really though, the RPi's config.txt is exactly this kind of rabbit hole. I just got a Zero W today and now I'm thinking about if it's possible to underclock it enough to power it with a lemon battery via GPIO.
Really though, the RPi's config.txt is exactly this kind of rabbit hole. I just got a Zero W today and now I'm thinking about if it's possible to underclock it enough to power it with a lemon battery via GPIO.
I have more fun with Arduino type boards than RPis. For me, RPis are just fun to see where you can put a little computer, but I like all of the soldering, bread boarding, wiring, etc of the various shields in the Arduino realm. I get the best of both worlds with the analog/digital inputs, plus the programming in a very limited (requires some creativity) fooprint type of challenge. I haven't messed with the GPIOs on a RPi though, but now we're back to just programming in whatever unsconstrained/unrestricted way of a desktop. ??? we all like different things.
The downside of embedded system is it eventually turns into enterprise hardware. A RPi is just a small cheap PC now.
If you don't step away from it everything eventually becomes enterprise software.
It ever wasn't?
It used to have significantly more performance problems, but it's always followed the basic form of "tiny PC with IO pins and overbearing GPU".
It used to have significantly more performance problems, but it's always followed the basic form of "tiny PC with IO pins and overbearing GPU".
If you do the latter, will you please write about it and share here?
That was a joke. Was.
According to this video I’d need a wall of lemons to get 5V with support for 300mA of current: https://youtu.be/a1D-fZP8qJk?t=205
So it may take some... adjustments... to get something like this to work, but I’ll see what I can do.
According to this video I’d need a wall of lemons to get 5V with support for 300mA of current: https://youtu.be/a1D-fZP8qJk?t=205
So it may take some... adjustments... to get something like this to work, but I’ll see what I can do.
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Just install some Linux distro (preferably not something like Ubuntu but something more "bare"/"raw") and start tinkering. I feel there are more tinkers into Linux nowadays than there were PC/Mac tinkers regardless of OS back in the 90s.
Of course computers (including mobiles and tablets) became widely mainstream over the years so the percentage of tinkers dropped but the absolute numbers increased.
Of course computers (including mobiles and tablets) became widely mainstream over the years so the percentage of tinkers dropped but the absolute numbers increased.
but it’s not as cheesy for sure, everything is all slick and polished and minimalistic, no doubt nostalgia is at play, but there was definitely a “Wild West” of computing back then that in my opinion has only been matched by the emergence of crypto, and an example of the difference might be like, now you can download unity for free and download a sample project and go to town, but back then having Qbasic hidden on your windows 3.1 install and finding the source code for a local multiplayer game ready to run, it’s just like... going to your local farmers market versus going to Whole Foods kind of feel, doesn’t feel like the makers are throwing in any hidden fun stuff anymore, everything is all corporate and streamlined rather than having a handmade feel lurking just under the hood
Except for the car crash and the "menacing" one, none of them evoke the feeling of "something wrong", but then again I'm more familiar with PCs, which are less musical in the sense that the normal startup "chime" is actually a beep, but more informational since BIOSes will output different sequences of beeps depending on the exact error.
However, some BIOS authors had a similar sense of humour to Apple: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2500363 (the referenced article is now archived at https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/261/Q261186/ )
...and I also have a prerelease Pentium II motherboard that plays (a rough approximation of) the "Intel sound" instead of the usual POST beep.
Edit: here's a video of the BIOS "fan failure warning" sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcoxNp9T1k8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrYK7eOE5R8
I can't find the "it's a small world" one, however.
However, some BIOS authors had a similar sense of humour to Apple: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2500363 (the referenced article is now archived at https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/261/Q261186/ )
...and I also have a prerelease Pentium II motherboard that plays (a rough approximation of) the "Intel sound" instead of the usual POST beep.
Edit: here's a video of the BIOS "fan failure warning" sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcoxNp9T1k8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrYK7eOE5R8
I can't find the "it's a small world" one, however.
Of all of the "things just went wrong" sounds, the one that gets me is the After Effects error sheep sound. Mainly because I'm usually in an edit session, and the sound tends to be turned up when this happens.
https://youtu.be/Z-rvcp68mbM?t=13
https://youtu.be/Z-rvcp68mbM?t=13
Haha. I work at a VFX studio and it used to be that the AE rendering machine was the same as the online/finishing machine (the one we'd watch for final approval with clients). Anyway, it was very normal for clients to come in, watch the final version of a music video / commercial and turn the volume WAY up, then leave, and no one would think to turn that machine's volume down. So it was not uncommon to be working late at night and - out of nowhere - the entire office would be filled with the deafening sound of a sheep. Absolutely terrifying.
This list is missing many these with the second part: https://youtu.be/n23dp8caq9A?t=66
When I saw this headline, I immediately hummed the three tone do-dee-duhhh to myself, snorted as I realized I still knew it, and then was surprised to find it missing from the article. It's shown for the first 3-4 computers in this video :) Thank you!
Here's a video with all the Mac startup sounds and chimes of death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTwmtvrdJlQ
I've gotta say, I like the Performa startup sound best, and the later Chimes of Death are pretty amusing. :)
I've gotta say, I like the Performa startup sound best, and the later Chimes of Death are pretty amusing. :)
The Mac LC chime brings back memories from dumpster diving for discarded PowerBook Duos and DuoDocks in the late 90s.
The Quadra AV death chime is outstanding. It will make a nice addition to my ringtones collection.
I had it set to the alert sound on one of my OS 9 and early OS X machines for several years. It was so well suited for the random trivial error messages encountered in day to day computing in that era.
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The car crash one is terrible, I bet you'd want to throw your computer out the window after hearing that!
the MAC was normally a write off if you got that sound
Still can't get over the car crash one, can't really imagine anything worse.
The earlier ones that sound like subway tones are much more on point.
The earlier ones that sound like subway tones are much more on point.
in my first software job in the mid 90s, we made client software that ran on windows, mac and a handful of unix (linux, sgi, sun, dec). we outsourced the mac port to a contractor who would come on site every so often. you always knew when he was working in the office as you'd hear the mac startup chimes several times an hour. (no memory protection in the pre os x days)
it was always fun as a linux/sgi guy to stop by and comment on how well his debugging was going based on chime frequency with occasional jabs about the absurdity of cooperative multitasking mixed in. :)
it was always fun as a linux/sgi guy to stop by and comment on how well his debugging was going based on chime frequency with occasional jabs about the absurdity of cooperative multitasking mixed in. :)
speaking of computer sounds, no other sound burned into a prom beats the startup stinger of an sgi indy.
bum bah dum dum... yowww!
bum bah dum dum... yowww!
"The LC, short for “low cost,” was designed to get the Mac into more homes than ever before. The Macintosh II line ran circles around it, but it was how many people experienced the Macintosh for the first time."
I believe the chime sound listed under this category was also played by the Mac Centris 610 which our family owned. The Centris 610 had a Motorola 68040 chip that definitely ran circles around the Macintosh II. Although I might be getting my wires crossed because we also owned a Macintosh LC at one point that I used once in a while.
I believe the chime sound listed under this category was also played by the Mac Centris 610 which our family owned. The Centris 610 had a Motorola 68040 chip that definitely ran circles around the Macintosh II. Although I might be getting my wires crossed because we also owned a Macintosh LC at one point that I used once in a while.
After many decades, you can finally turn off the startup chime. It's in Sound options -> play sound on startup. Was recently delighted to discover that.
Now, if only I could turn on the crash chimes...
Now, if only I could turn on the crash chimes...
Or you could go the other way with it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt1bgsvsWms
My Intel MBP 13" does blow out a lot of air when it panics, which is quite strange. It feels very organic, like someone blowing with their mouth.
A lot of laptops have software-controlled cooling and power management, but also a hardware override. If you lose the software control the processor won't downclock when idle and will instead stay at full speed, causing it to heat up and the fans to also run faster. Given that a lot of laptops have barely adequate cooling in the first place, it's not surprising that it'll be stuck throttling at the maximum regulated temperature with the fans at full speed.
A few years (more like a decade now) ago, there were some laptops (not Apple) infamous for overheating to the point of shutting down if you left them in the BIOS setup for too long, or used Linux.
A few years (more like a decade now) ago, there were some laptops (not Apple) infamous for overheating to the point of shutting down if you left them in the BIOS setup for too long, or used Linux.
I've noticed this with quite a few devices I own - they ramp their fans to 100% presumably as a safety mechanism to try to ensure there won't be overheating while normal systems may be non-operational.
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I just wish there was a way to turn OFF the startup chime on a mac. There are many situations where I DON'T want it to make its loud (and recently bass-amplified) "HEY EVERYONE IN THE ROOM! I'M STARTING UP!" noise (like when someone is sleeping nearby). In fact, I can't think of any situation where the chime makes things better than no chime.
Ahh disagree! When your Mac goes wrong / displays aren’t working or connecting, it’s the only easy way to know the thing has actually rebooted. No lights, HDD clicking noise, nothing like in the olden days.
Actually if it were a quiet chime I wouldn't mind. But the 60db bass-enhanced obnoxious chime they chose is too much.
Most wintel laptops do a quiet beep (which you can also disable easily from the BIOS).
Most wintel laptops do a quiet beep (which you can also disable easily from the BIOS).
It's pretty easy. System Preferences - Sound, it's right there.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211996
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211996
Well, it's there now. :) Notice that article says "With macOS Big Sur 11 or later..."; that checkbox they show for the startup sound isn't available in earlier versions.
There is, however, a hidden "StartupMute" preference. If StartupMute is enabled, the chime is turned off, and vice-versa.
There is, however, a hidden "StartupMute" preference. If StartupMute is enabled, the chime is turned off, and vice-versa.
sudo nvram StartupMute=%00 # turn on the startup chime
sudo nvram StartupMute=%01 # turn off the startup chime
Ah perfect! Thanks!!!
Only way I know of is to mute your speakers before shutdown/restart
I like, how every one is different.
- Maxintosh II (and LC) sounds like train departure announcement - Quadra AV sounds like beginning of some 90s jugnle track - car crash sounds like a car crash in DOS game - "Some Random Performas" is bad guy coming to the scene in B-movie - this is my favourite - PCI based macs is plain boring sound
- Maxintosh II (and LC) sounds like train departure announcement - Quadra AV sounds like beginning of some 90s jugnle track - car crash sounds like a car crash in DOS game - "Some Random Performas" is bad guy coming to the scene in B-movie - this is my favourite - PCI based macs is plain boring sound
Brings back some memories. On a similar note, does anyone remember the "earthquake screen" on the early Macs?
Some ASUS motherboards (a feature of some WinBond chip iirc) would play actual (pre-recorded) voice messages such as "All tests passed, the computer is now booting" in Engrish.
The LC sound certainly brings back some horrifying memories. I recall the sound looping on our family computer (a chunky all-in-one from about 1995) when the hard drive failed.
The sound from the Mac LC, complete with the ominous interval it ends on, has been burnt into my mind since I first heard it in primary school in the computer lab.
Wow the Macintosh LC sounds like zelda. Makes sense, as it's the same era
Love the Quadra AV, and I think the PCI-based Power Macs is hilarious.
Love the Quadra AV, and I think the PCI-based Power Macs is hilarious.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Is that a Darth Vader no or a Boondocks drop the soap no
imagine hearing one of those clown tunes just as you lost hours of work. I'd be livid.
I loved my Mac at the time! But it was an abusive relationship. Crashes weren't constant, exactly, but they were random and pervasive.
I got trained to automatically save my file at every single pause in my typing. Finish a sentence? Command-S. Minor edit? Command-S. Paste? Command-V, Command-S. I only noticed when I moved to another computer and muscle memory stopped working.
I got trained to automatically save my file at every single pause in my typing. Finish a sentence? Command-S. Minor edit? Command-S. Paste? Command-V, Command-S. I only noticed when I moved to another computer and muscle memory stopped working.
I remember playing with 3D Studio Max on windows 95 I think as a teenager after waiting for it to download over dialup for days. Windows 95 was generally sort of OK but it only ran on 95 in theory as it was designed for windows NT. Under 95 it crashed every 30 minutes so after every step I did I compulsively hit save. I don't think I have even really broken that habit at this point. Thus began the multi day wait to download windows NT as well.
> I got trained to automatically save my file at every single pause in my typing.
Growing up with home computers in the 80s, I still have this habit. I suspect (without evidence) that it's pretty common. :)
Growing up with home computers in the 80s, I still have this habit. I suspect (without evidence) that it's pretty common. :)
Same here, though replace "Command+S" with "F2"(DOS)/"Ctrl+S"(Win). Also counting to 10 before turning off the PC because of software-based disk write cache :-P
> software-based disk write cache
Linux users of a certain era had to overcome compulsive use of 'sync ; sync ; sync' for much the same reason.
Linux users of a certain era had to overcome compulsive use of 'sync ; sync ; sync' for much the same reason.
I used to do the same on our Windows 95 box, and later 98 and 2000s. Hard habit to break to be honest. 3DS Max, Photoshop, Word, they'd all randomly crash on me for various reasons!
sometimes the crash would happen during the save. then the file was corrupted
These chimes only happened if the device failed the power on self test. These weren't heard in cases similar to what Windows experiences with a BSOD.
You'll never hear them while doing work on the machine (unless you had it opened up and trying to figure out why it wasn't booting).
You'll never hear them while doing work on the machine (unless you had it opened up and trying to figure out why it wasn't booting).
I completely disagree. These tunes made computer failure a fun and enjoyable experience for the whole family!
so just as bad - hours of work you cannot get to
My Mac's drive died on me during finals crunch in school one semester. I lost a long paper I'd finished the night before - was going to proof it before running over to the lab to print it - and had almost 100 more pages to write.
This was early-90s, maybe 1/4 of the folks in my dorm had personal computers. I spent 4 days using other people's machines while they weren't, because the labs was already booked solid, and still had to take an extension on one paper.
In conclusion, I like preemptive multitasking.
This was early-90s, maybe 1/4 of the folks in my dorm had personal computers. I spent 4 days using other people's machines while they weren't, because the labs was already booked solid, and still had to take an extension on one paper.
In conclusion, I like preemptive multitasking.
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Ugly and obnoxious.
I don’t think that’s correct. Those sounds played when the power on self test failed, not when the machine crashed (if the machine gets as far as playing that sound, it won’t crash, but very likely will come to an ordinary halt)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_startup: “The classic Macintosh startup sequence includes hardware tests which may trigger the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death.”