Macintosh startup

The classic Macintosh startup sequence included the startup chime, Happy Mac, Sad Mac, and Chimes of Death. These had all been done away with over time, and the release of the 2016 MacBook Pro eliminated the final remaining startup feature: the startup chime, in favor of a more discrete sequence with a black background and no audible indicators, despite its use as a security feature that provided a user-friendly, audible verification that a computer's NVRAM configuration is authentic. Apple added the startup chime back for the release of the 2017 MacBook Air. 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 code for the arpeggiated chord used on the Macintosh II. Variations of this sound were used until Jim Reekes created the startup chime used for the Quadra 700 through the Quadra 800. 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 as he felt 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 found out about this, he refused to change it, using various claims in order to keep the new sound intact. He was also the creator of the iconic (or 'earconic', as he calls it) 'bong' startup chime used in most Macintoshes since the Quadra 840AV. A slightly lower-pitched version of this chime was used on all PCI-based Power Macs until the iMac G3. The Macintosh LC, LC II, and Macintosh Classic II 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 12-string acoustic guitar by jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan. Further, the Power Macintosh 5200–6300 computers (excluding the 5400 and 5500, which have the 'bong' chime like the one used for the PCI-based Power Macs) use a unique chime, which was also used for 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, a Sad Mac icon, an error code, and distinctive sounds, are displayed on failure of initial self-diagnostic tests. This phenomenon is referred to as the 'Chimes of Death'. The chime for all Mac computers from 1998-2016 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. The Mac startup chime is now a registered trademark in the United States, and is featured in the 2008 film WALL-E when the titular robot character is fully recharged by solar panels as well as in the 2007 Brad Paisley song 'Online'.' As of 2016, Apple has removed the startup chime starting with the late 2016 MacBook Pro. Apple has since updated its support documentation to reflect this change, removing references to the startup chime from the NVRAM reset instructions for this model. A Happy Mac is the normal bootup (startup) icon of an Apple Macintosh computer running older versions of the Mac operating system. It was designed by Susan Kare in the 1980s, drawing inspiration from the design of the Compact Macintosh series and from the Batman character Two-Face. The icon remained unchanged until the introduction of New World ROM Macs, when it was updated to 8-bit color. The Happy Mac indicates that booting has successfully begun, whereas a Sad Mac (along with the 'Chimes of Death' melody or one or more beeps) indicates a hardware problem. When a Macintosh boots into 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 (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').