Someone added the Windows XP startup sound to their Mac mini and now I need to bleach my ears

By Oliver Haslam
published

Photo is of a Mac mini (2018) taken for iMore Mac mini review
Photo is of a Mac mini (2018) taken for iMore Mac mini review (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Someone was able to make their Mac play the Windows XP startup chime when turned on.
  • It's all thanks to the T2 Checkra1n jailbreak.
  • Don't try this a home, kids.

Some people just want to watch the world burn and I'm now putting YouTuber Martin Nobel into that category. I'm sure you'll agree after you watch his Mac mini play the Windows XP startup chime when powered on.

Is nothing sacred anymore?

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Nobel says that the startup chime was made possible by the Checkra1n jailbreak. That's the T2 thing we've spoken about before. And it seems like a lot of work to make your Mac sound like a PC from the early 2000s.

Still, life would be boring if we were all the same wouldn't it?

Regardless, Apple might have a problem on its hands if it wants to try and stop this from happening. We're told that the vulnerability that makes this possible isn't fixable without swapping out some hardware.

Apple uses SecureROM in the early stages of boot. ROM cannot be altered after fabrication and is done so to prevent modifications. This usually prevents an attacker from placing malware at the beginning of the boot chain, but in this case also prevents Apple from fixing the SecureROM. The net effect is Apple cannot fix this problem without replacing the T2 chip, but as long as a machine is bootable into DFU, it can be "repaired" by a trustworthy second machine.

Hopefully the worst thing people do is make their Macs sound like PCs.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.