Can start-up chime be changed?

[slrman]

Can a different sound file be substituted for the start-up chime? On a PC I had a nice French woman saying "Hello Jim, how are you today, I am at your service." and when I shut down, she says, "Thank you Jim, that was wonderful. Was it good for you, too?"

Even though I just put the Mac to sleep, the messages would be very nice to hear.

 

[jcooke]

Like the main start-up chime right when you turn the computer on? If you want to change that, I don't think that is possible. It is most likely on the motherboard because it will play that sound even if you have no system. However, I have heard of people who have sounds when the start up the system.

 

[slrman]

Thanks for the reply. It's what I suspected because this seems to be a tone played when the self-check runs OK and before system start-up. But you did make another good suggestion. I would be happy to be able to have a selected sound file play after system start-up. That would be about the same thing, I think.

 

[fryke]

Well, you could write a simple AppleScript that plays a sound, then quits, - and put that in your Login Items. (Account preferences.) The actual start-sound can't be changed. It really _is_ part of the Power On Self Test (POST). If you want to hear a different sound there, you can use faulty RAM in order to produce one, two or three beeps. (I keep forgetting how many beeps for which error.)

 

[slrman]

Fryke, thanks for that confirmation. Thanks also for the suggestions. But if it's all the same to you, I'll go with the AppleScript route. I just installed a 4GB RAM upgrade and I don't think a faulty RAM card would be my best solution. Besides, I had enough bad RAM problems in the six years I only had a PC.