Windows Neptune Startup Sound
Colby DuLin
The Windows 95 startup sound is something special. The first time it was not just a simple signal, but a jingle. The story behind it is something with Brian Eno, on aseparate page . Duration: about 6 seconds.
In the year 2000, at the depths of the technological realm, a mysterious and new operating system called Windows Codename Neptune has emerged from the depths of the unknown technological realm. Today I am going to test out this enigmatic operating system.
Like Codename Uranus, its supposed predecessor, it was a project at Microsoft that was supposed to become released to the public in late-2000, only for it to be cancelled due to it developing strange bugs that were too dangerous to fix right away. It was also said to have been named after Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun. It was the next one on the line of planet-codenamed operating systems, after the tales of Windows Codenames Moon, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.
As the rumors of the operating system's own existence spread throughout the technological community, I decided to test the operating system on my computer, but whatever I did, I was greeted with a user interface far off of what an ordinary operating system should have in general.
The boot screen showed planet Neptune with the Windows logo next to it. Like almost always, the startup sound was the same one used in Windows 2000, as with the other operating systems with planet-themed codenames. Everything was normal at first until strange things began to happen within minutes after the booting process began.
A strange luminescent aura was illuminating my whole room. Within the computer itself, files would disappear before reappearing in the most unexpected possible places. Cryptic messages would often display, strange whispers were heard emanating from the speakers, the screen would often flicker, distorted figures of familiar characters would often appear and disappear at times, the video player would sometimes open by itself and disturbing alternate and deleted versions of scenes from familiar movies would often play on the video player.
And so, I had already been spooked by the glitches in this operating system so much, that I tried to uninstall the system, but it kept sending out cryptic error messages telling me to stop, until then, I managed to successfully uninstall the operating system without crashing my computer screen or ruining it, just with a sigh of relief.
To this day, the nightmare of the Windows Codename Neptune continues to haunt some people to this day. Even people to dared to install it on their computers would never feel comfortable to install it again. Even the memory they had would appear in their very own nightmares soon. If you dare come across with Windows Codename Neptune, beware of its own superpowers. It can take you to places where there may be no escape.
Background: Microsoft Chicago is the development codename for Windows 95. This operating system introduced one of the most iconic desktop interface designs, including the introduction of the Start menu (created by Danny Oran), which allows easier access to desktop applications and settings. This UI is still used in current Windows builds.
Background: "Windows NT 5.0" was the original in-development name for Windows 2000. The name was changed to "Windows 2000" in Beta 3 (around version 5.00.1946 to be specific). While early test builds of Windows NT 5 were very similar to Windows NT 4, they gradually began to develop their own visual and sound elements.
Screen: On the Windows 95 desktop background, there is the Windows logo on a nighttime background like the one in the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 startup. The text on the top right says "Windows NT Workstation", and the text on the bottom right says "5.0". In this screen, "Beta 1/2/3 etc." and "Evaluation Copy" are placed on the left side, alongside the protection notice from Windows NT 4.0.
Availability: Extremely rare. Windows NT 5 releases were originally only available to participants of Microsoft's beta testing programs, but copies of certain builds have since leaked to the beta community. Builds known to be available of NT 5 are build 1729 (the Interim Developer's Release), build 1877 (Beta 2), build 1902 (Beta 2), and build 1906 (Beta 2), among other earlier and later builds that may or may not have this specific startup.
Underneath the graphics is a gradient blue bar that continually moves to the right. Still underneath that are the words "Starting up..." To the right of the words is the all-too-familiar "download bar." This entire box is surrounded by a black border.
Shutdown Variant: A dialog box, with a slightly somewhat rearranged positioning of the above elements. The Microsoft logo is absent from the upper right corner, replacing it with a navy blue bar. Underneath the now-still gradient bar, the words "It is now safe to turn off your computer." appear in a gray area.
Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): For the startup The same beeping arpeggio from Windows NT 5.0's The Microsoft Sound, but faster and high-pitched, and backed by a chorus pad. Much more pleasant than the original startup sound, and its shutdown sound. This was originally going to be used for the Beta 1 shutdown sound.
Other sounds (Music/Sounds): As these builds began to further resemble the final version of Windows 2000, the sounds were official changed to the Windows 98 sounds, just shortly after Windows 98 was official released. This saw an end to the 3.1 sounds for subsequent Windows versions in both the NT and 9x line.
Scare Factor: None for the start-up version, as it is very soothing and very tame, compared to its shutdown counterpart. Low to High for the shutdown version, as most would not likely be expecting the sudden whoosh, which is re-used, however if you're used to it, the rating might be lower.
Background: Neptune was to be Microsoft's next-generation operating system targeted at home users. It differed from previous consumer-oriented Windows versions in that it was built on the Windows NT code base. However, Neptune was shelved and home users were treated to Windows ME instead.
Screen: Same as the Windows 2000 startup, but the Windows logo is removed and the dots to the left of it, in rainbow colors, appears to the left of the text, now grey and changed to: "Microsoft Neptune". Below the text says "under construction".
Availability: Near extinction, as it is only available on Neptune build 5.50.5111. Other builds may exist, but only the existence of this one has been proven. 5111 is the only leaked build, and it's NOT easy to find, however you can find it in software preservation sites like WinWorld. Earlier builds might contain the Windows 2000 boot screen, but there's no info (at least yet).
Music/Sounds: Early Betas/Builds until build 2481 used the Windows 2000/ME sounds, while Build 2481 introduced the Windows XP sounds. Build 2485 is the first build to use Windows XP sounds by default. The fake startup is a reverse Windows 98 shutdown sound ending in a ascending vibraphone melody (taken from Windows CE, however it has been slowed down) and ends with the Windows 2000 startup sound from beta 3 reversed. The fake shut down is a descending guitar melody ending with a few twinkling notes.
Logo: On a black background, near the bottom we see a white Windows XP logo. To the right of it is the text "Microsoft" in a weight of Franklin Gothic, following a trademark sign at the top right of the text, and below said text is "Longhorn", in the same weight of Franklin Gothic. Below all of that is the Windows XP progress bar.
Variant: In build 4042, there is a small version of the Windows XP logo; below is the text "Microsoft Windows Code Name" and below aforementioned text is "Longhorn". Also, the progress bar is orange. In build 5048, there is also a screen with the white Windows XP logo at the bottom with the text "Windows Code Name" followed by the text "Longhorn" below that, and the progress bar is white.
Logo: Against a black background, we see a fish on an aqua square. Around the fish is 2 bubbles connected to each other (which look like an 8). There are the circular dots spinning around as the screen loads.
I have rEFit on my iMac to swtich between OSX and Windows 7 and it has all sorts of tools for boot options and partitioning. I think you might be able to do it through it since it uses the EFI or "BIOS" directly and you should be able to install it through Ubuntu according to the site. I'll do some more searching around and testing if I can and edit my answer as it applies, but for now here is the link for rEFit:
Well, normally, on a PC, you would have BIOS, but on Apple you have that EFI which is their equivalent. The Extensible Firmware Interface can be opened by: press Command-Option-O-F keys during startup. If there is no way to disable the sound there, well, not much else I can offer in terms of assistance. Would state that the issue is a Mac hardware issue with EFI, not so much of an Ubuntu issue.
He battles with Windows 3.1. In the episode, Windows 3.1 says that he doesn't have a startup sound which he proceeds to show to him. Windows 3.1 blares the sound so loud, that it causes Windows 1.0 to fly into the abyss.
In short: even with only system processes running, directly from a boot, the hard drive usage goes to 100% and remains like that for an excessive amount of time. By that I mean, roughly 30 minutes before it drops back to 0%, and then any usage (eg: opening chrome) sends it back up to 100% for a long time.
During this time, the computer is entirely unusable. Going back to the classic desktop can take minutes. Trying to launch (not actually launching, but just typing the name of a program to launch) can take minutes. Even booting and shutting down can take 5-10 minutes.
This just started happening about a month ago, where it would be very slow for < 1 minute and then would work fine. And then in the last week, just using the computer at all has become impossible. Prior to this, the computer would boot and be ready to go in about 10-15 seconds.
c80f0f1006