Sad Mac
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A Sad Mac is an iconic symbol used by older-generation Apple Macintosh computers (hardware using the Old World ROM) to indicate a severe hardware or software problem that prevented startup from occurring successfully. The Sad Mac icon was displayed, along with a set of hexadecimal codes that indicated the type of problem at startup. This was used in place of the normal Happy Mac icon, which indicated that the startup-time hardware tests were successful. In earlier models, a tune (Chimes of Death) was played, and later models featured a digitized sound of a car crash. In the MC68000-based machines (those models earlier than the Macintosh II as well as the original Macintosh Classic), all it did was crash silently, without playing any music.
It is noted that the right side of the frown extends down one additional pixel.
A Sad Mac may be deliberately generated at startup by pressing the interrupt switch on Macintoshes that had one installed, or by pressing Command and Power keys shortly after the startup chime.
On the iPod, if damage or an error occurs to the hardware or the firmware, a Sad iPod appears, much in the same way as the Sad Mac.[citation needed]
- See also: Bomb (symbol)
