boot up volume loud despite settings
 

I tried everything to change my boot volume/sound to a lower setting and I have no luck. When ever I boot up my PowerMac G4 dual 1.25 silver door I get my computer booting up with sound at maximum setting. I have a few programs to control it like PHTVolume and StartupSound.prefPane, but the programs still start up loud even though StartupSound.prefPane makes them silent. But if a have EyeTV on start up, any sounds on like email notification or any other system sound, it is at max volume until I adjust it down. StartupSound.prefPane on mutes the start up chime. PHTVolume allow me to control volume from the menu bar. I have tried to boot my system with the sound/volumed down with out both of them programs and it has no affect on the problem. When I boot my computer despite what settings I set it at or shut down it with... or what programs I have installed, the sound start at max volume. Sometimes I have to rush to silence it if any email dings in. Normally I just shut down my speakers and then go through the same procedure to get everything normal before I start my day. I am running OS X 10.4.7. Thanks for all you help in advance.

In general, as you already seem to know, the startup volume is determined by the sound preference settings at shut-down time. Obviously you're having a problem with that so my guess would be that you probably have a problem with the system saving your sound settings... and therefore your problem is with a corrupted sound settings preference file.

So a check for a corrupted preference file is to boot into a new user account and see if the problem is still there. So my advice would be to 1) create a new user, 2) make sure the system is set to boot into the new user account, 3) in the new user account set the volume low or to zero, and 4) reboot and see what happens. Let me know.

That sounds like a good idea. I do have a another test admin user so I will give it a try. Thanks.

I did reboot and restart as a different user account and I had the same sound volume problem. No matter how many times I lowered the volume restarted the volume restarted at the maximum. Does that mean it is a system pref problem?

It could be a system preferences problem or an nvRAM problem. You could reset nvRAM from OpenFirmware (> reset-nvram). If that doesn't work, install and run AppleJack, which will, among other things, check and remove any corrupt System Prefs.

sorry to bug but what do you mean by "You could reset nvRAM from OpenFirmware (> reset-nvram)." is that from terminal??

In this older thread:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...t=55743&page=2
post #60 showed that you had some sort of audio-related kernel extension as well as something that might be related to PRAM.
These non-standard things might be affecting your current problem.

Please show us the results of the following command (in a Terminal window) so we can see if these kernel extensions are still there:

kextstat | grep -v com.apple

[Marshalls-Mac:~] marshall% kextstat | grep -v com.apple
Index Refs Address Size Wired Name (Version) <Linked Against>
62 0 0x814000 0x6000 0x5000 com.AmbrosiaSW.AudioSupport (1.0.8) <61 11>
76 0 0x81e000 0x17000 0x16000 at.obdev.KUC (1.2.52) <6 5 4 3 2>
77 0 0x83a000 0x9000 0x8000 net.pocketmac.driver.PocketMacKSerial (1.0.0) <58 11>
94 0 0x44e5d000 0x3000 0x2000 arcana.PRAM (6.0) <11>
[Marshalls-Mac:~] marshall%


ARCANA is the mute chime sound preference.

Well it doesn't seem to be working all that well does it? So I'd remove it.
And maybe the Ambrosia one as well since that relates to audio.
In fact, if you really want to be efficient in troubleshooting this, I'd remove all of the above 3rd-party kernel extensions.
You can always put them back later if you need them.
Kernel extensions are in the folder /System/Library/Extensions
Just move them to the Desktop and then restart your Mac.

actually acana.PRAM does do it's job - the computer starts up with out the chime . My extensions on desktop now and rebooting - will l keep you posted.

well i removed ambrosia and pocketmac extens. and no difference. same problem exists. are all this extensions listed above 3rd party as you say i should remove?

Yes - the command I gave specifically excludes any extensions provided by Apple.

Another thing to try (not sure if you've tried this yet) would be to start up in "Safe Mode":
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
Does the problem exist there?

It would be best to create a fresh new, uncustomized user account, and then log in as that user to see if the problem exists there.

I will try the other solutions but my second admin user account has no customization and was designed only to be a problem admin account. and the problem exists there - I will try safe mode next.

Yeah - but it might have gotten corrupted somehow. Still best to create a fresh new user and try that.

well I did create a fresh user. The only program that opened was Timbuktu which resides on my menu bar. here's what I do: I start up the new user, the volume which in shown on the menu bar is at max volume. I manually lower it and restart, and the volume/sound restarts again at max volume.

I don't understand how a freshly created user account will have any programs that will start up automatically (except for Finder).
Does Timbuktu have some system-wide configuration that makes it affect even newly created users? Or otherwise stated, does Timbuktu appear in all user accounts whether you want it or not?
Maybe the problem is with Timbuktu. In any case, you should disable all non-Apple software that has system-wide effect.

Any item in the global Library's StartupItems (/Library/StartupItems) could act to start an application in all accounts automatically. This is unrelated to and independent of the Login Items settings.

This question never seems to have been answered. Resetting nvRAM is another name for Resetting Open Firmware. Directions for that can be found here.

Trevor

how do I do this?

reset nvRAM from OpenFirmware (> reset-nvram).

opps I see how in the above thread - sorry have to get my mac keyboard to do this.

1. Restart your Mac. Hold down Command-Option-O-F at chime to enter OpenFirmware.

2. At prompt, type:3. Allow to restart normally.

I got the keyboard down from the rafters and am ready to reset
Do I type in the right arrow and space before each command?
> set-defaults
> reset-nvram
> reset-allafter

No. They are there for reference.

OK this is really frustrating. I 've done all above plus a few more. This is what I've tried.:
Reset PRAM, Zapped PRAM Reset Defaults
Turned off log in items
unplugged my speakers
started in safe mode
repaired my persmissions
moved fonts to my desktop
and many more...

No matter what I do, when lower my sound volume and restart my computer. these three things happen no matter what I do.
1. Volume sound start at max volume and I have to quickly lower it.
2. If I have mail or ichat as a log in item, the mail window opens even though it is set to hide and the bonjour window opens with ichat even though it is set to hide.

I don't really mind clsing windows and turning down volume but it is frusrtating that what ever fix I try to do nothing changes. What is controlling these errors. It seems that when I upgraded to 10.4.6 is when most of these problems began. Is is possible that I could create an automator action that would do all these things I manually do and be put in the start up items at the bottom as a workaround? I'm at the point where I think a workaround is the best option.

It isn't clear to me why you need to "quickly lower it". Earlier I thought you were talking about the startup chime.
But now it seems that you are talking about some sounds that come from some program that you have set up to run at login.

Note by the way that login is different from startup. First your system starts up and then the login happens. If you turn off auto-login (in Accounts prefs) then you will be presented with the login window after start up.

Do you have this same problem with the sound volume if you just log out and then in again? (as opposed to restarting the Mac)

The second problem with the Mail window showing up even though you have it set to hide is just a bug (which I think happens for everyone, not just you) and there is nothing you can do about it.

The chime is gone with a start up sound pref that I have. I have to quickly lower it in case a onther program sound starts like mail, an EyeTV scheduled recording that turns my computer on, an ichat chime, and many other programs that use sound. I will try the log in log out but I think I have tried that before with no change. Will let you know. Yes mail and ichat do seem to be bugs as they do it on all the other macs we have here.

when I log in as another user and the volume before I switch is at max, it stays at max - when lower it and then log out and log in as a different user, it stay's at the level I lowered it to.

That's a bit strange - I would have expected the volume setting to be a per-user preference.
But in any case, from what you have said above, it seems that the problem is just with your usual user account.
Thus I present to you my generic prescription for user-specific problems:
-------------------------------------
You have determined that the problem is only with the one user account.
The problem thus is almost certainly due to something under your home folder.
And it likely is something under ~/Library
( ~ = your home folder)
The most likely thing is a bad preference file under ~/Library/Preferences
You could start by removing the preference files for the apps you are having trouble with.
If the problem persists, you need to narrow the problem down - you could start by moving (via drag & drop) the whole "Preferences" folder that is under ~/Library to the Desktop, then log out and log in again. A default copy of the Preferences folder will have been recreated. Does that improve things? If so, you could use a divide & conquer approach to figure out which of the preference files is causing the problem - move half of the preference files back into the Preferences folder, log out & in again, etc.
Note that several preference files are in the sub-folder "ByHost".

If the problem persists, try the same thing with the other sub-folders of ~/Library. E.g. with ~/Library/Caches, ~/Library/InputManagers, ~/Library/Fonts, ~/Library/PreferencePanes, ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Application Enhancers, contents of ~/Desktop, etc.
Also remove any files owned by your user in /Library/Caches (the Library folder at the top-level of the drive)

Hayne, before I start this process please note: if I log in as a new user or fresh new user and restart or boot up, the problem still exists. That means if I switch to another user, lower the volume and restart or boot as an auto log in into that new user the volume still goes up to max despite what is was when I restarted or shut down. It only stay where I left it when I log out and then log back in.

Oh and also when I log out and log in to the main user, the usual user account, I do not have the problem , the voume stays at where I left it before loging out. Just a test I just tried.

I see - so the problem is with restarting the Mac - that it seems to lose the volume setting that had been previously set when you shutdown the Mac and restart.

It isn't clear yet whether you have tried it after removing all 3rd-party kernel extensions and startup items - including the one that mutes the startup chime.

In the end, you may need to reinstall OS X if this problem is bothering you enough. I'm pretty sure that will fix the problem. After that you should reinstall 3rd-party stuff one thing at a time and test (with a restart after each).

I did remove all 3rd party and the chime mute pref pane... still no change. My guess is around xmas, I'll be getting a new mac. Hayne, I know this is not the forum for this question but I'll give it a try. My current desktop mac is a silver door g4 dual 1.25 PowerMac. Two things really bother me about this computer. One is it is loud and is a wind tunnel. The other is if you put your hand in the back, hot air is pumping out of it. Do any of the new PowerMac duals (dual core or G5 non dual core) have these issues. Now hopefully this is not interepreted as "does it run hot." That is not the question. It can run hot as long as it does not pump it out into the room and is loud. Of the new Mac Desktops, which ones are the quitest and the least likely to pump hot air out into the room. Thanks.

You are right that this is not the right forum section for this - please ask in the hardware & peripherals section. But note that all info about desktop Macs is expected to be obsolete very soon with the release of the Intel desktop Macs - they will definitely be here before the end of the year and likely much sooner.

Run a Permissions Repair from Disk Utility
Restart and zap the PRAM again: press and hold apple+option+P+R until you hear the second boot chine