Big Sur 11.5.1: Missing startup screen and startup chime

[thebig93]

I updated to 11.5.1 the other day on a 2017 iMac Pro. The first attempt failed but installed on a second try. Now the startup screen does not appear and the startup chime is silent. When starting up it's just a black screen with the Apple logo and progress bar. It eventually ends up at the desktop picture and password box.

I've done the SMC and NVRAM resets. SMC did nothing. On the NVRAM reset, the startup chime sounds and the startup screen appears on the second restart with the keys depressed. But it doesn't stick. Starting up normally after that brings back the black screen with logo and no startup chime.

I don't really mind the missing startup screen as I dislike that thing. However, it also indicates that something isn't right. Anybody else have any problems along these lines? I'd rather not go thru trying to reinstall the OS if I don't have to.

 

[thebig93]

Well, I reinstalled the OS from Recovery. It fixed the problem with the startup screen but the startup chime is still a no go. Tried turning it on/off via Terminal. No go. Wonderful.

I hate these Apple updates. Something always seems to break. The only reason I'm running Big Sur is because the last update I applied to Mojave broke that. Half of the time I would get the circle with slash at startup. Apple says that means "your startup disk contains a Mac operating system, but it's not a version or build of macOS that your Mac can use." What a bunch of rubbish. I've been using Macs since 6.0.7 and have never seen such poor quality control.

 

[Unsupported]

Well, I reinstalled the OS from Recovery. It fixed the problem with the startup screen but the startup chime is still a no go. Tried turning it on/off via Terminal. No go. Wonderful.

Have you tried System Preferences -> Sound -> Play Sound On Startup?

 

[thebig93]

Yes, I have tried that. No help. In fact using the Terminal commands "sudo nvram StartupMute=%00" and "sudo nvram StartupMute=%01" will cause the Play Sound On Startup checkbox to toggle on and off. It doesn't work if I change it manually or with the Terminal commands. The only time I hear the startup chime is when I do a NVRAM reset but it doesn't stick. All subsequent startups are silent.

I've seen a few threads on the Apple Support forums where others have this problem but there haven't been any definitive solutions offered. Just the usual "try SMC reset" or "try NVRAM reset."

 

[thebig93]

Big Sur 11.5.2 fixed the startup chime problem on my machine.