The Startup Pane

Startup Options

Mac OS X supports different startup modes that can be selected with TinkerTool System:

• Standard is the normal setting.
• When Start with diagnostic messages is selected, Mac OS X will stay in a terminal-like text mode when the startup procedure is running. The text output reflects each single step of the start phase with detailed diagnostic messages, so it becomes easy to diagnose problems that occur during the startup of the OS.
• Start in safe mode causes Mac OS X to only activate a reduced set of features when the operating system is started. Specifically, the OS will ignore any third-party device drivers or system extensions. If you have accidentally installed a defective or incorrect driver that crashes the system upon startup, you can easily resolve this issue by starting in safe mode.

Additional options are available for diagnostic purposes:

• Use single processor only causes the operating system to only use one CPU in case more than one processor is available in the system.
• If a serious error in the operating system core itself occurs, the system is immediately halted for safety reasons. This error condition is called a "kernel panic". To diagnose the nature of such a problem, Mac OS X will automatically try to record a panic report which is saved to the file /Library/Logs/panic.log after the system has been restarted. In a few cases, the panic state is so serious that the system is unable to store and later recover this panic report. For those cases, you can force the system to write the report directly to screen when a kernel panic occurs. You can then photograph the messages off the screen to report them to Apple. To switch from standard to screen-based reports, check the option Write kernel panic messages directly to screen.
• Some older Macintosh models were equipped with a special button at their front panel, known as "programmer's switch". Pressing this button causes the Mac to generate an NMI signal (Non-Maskable Interrupt) which would activate certain diagnostic or debugger features needed by software developers. Current Macintosh systems however, no longer have this switch. When activating the option Use power button as programmer's switch (NMI), pressing the power button will be reinterpreted by Mac OS X as if the programmer's switch were pressed.
• For diagnostic purposes Mac OS X can be forced to use less memory than is actually built into your Macintosh. To do this, check the option Limit memory size to… MB and enter a desired memory value in Megabytes.

Startup Language

Users can individually select the language in which applications are displayed by moving the entries in the Language list of the International pane in System Preferences into the desired order. However, this language preference only affects applications started by each user, it does not apply to the startup phase of the operating system and its login window. Under normal circumstances, this kind of language preference can only be set when installing or reinstalling the operating system.

TinkerTool System allows you to modify this language preference without having to reinstall the system. Just select the desired language using the item Startup and Login Language.

This will also change the keyboard layout used when running the login window. If you don't own the keyboard type typically used for the selected startup language, it may become difficult to enter user name and password correctly.

Under certain circumstances, the startup language setting of Mac OS X can be damaged, e.g. when you have restored your system from a Time Machine backup. In this case the pop-up menu cannot be selected, but TinkerTool System can resolve the problem when you press the button Repair setting….

Startup Chime

Upon startup, all Macintosh systems use a chime signal to acoustically reflect if the computer is running normally. Because the sound signal can be extremely loud and is not really needed in most cases, many users want to disable this feature.

TinkerTool System can mute the startup chime to solve this problem. To do this, set a checkmark at Mute the startup chime.

If you have multiple operating systems installed on your computer, this feature may not work correctly because the other systems may reset the sound settings when they are started or shut down.

Unfortunately, some third-party vendors of audio hardware ship their products with defective drivers. Because TinkerTool System has to use certain audio features to control the startup sound, it is dependent on the audio subsystem. If the audio drivers are not working correctly, TinkerTool System might fail in controlling the startup sound. As of version 1.5, TinkerTool System can detect some of the defective drivers and will display a warning message if a problem is found. In this case, all features to control the startup chime will be disabled until the broken drivers have been deactivated or deleted.

The function to switch off the startup chime is a feature of TinkerTool System, not a preference setting of the operating system. For this reason, the checkmark only reflects the current status of TinkerTool System's function, not that of other applications which might offer a similar functionality. It is not recommend to use two or more different programs to control the startup chime. The applications could conflict with each other, creating unpredictable results.

Table of Contents