Unwanted daily alarm

Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
OS X 10.13.6: My 2011 27" iMac is suddenly producing and alarm sound every evening at 9:05 that seems unstoppable. It stops by itself after a while. How do I discover what's producing it.
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
Hello and welcome.

It could be a couple of things - you have installed an alarm clock application, or there is a repeating calendar event every day with an alert set.

Check your Applications folder for an alarm clock application. And, check your calendar for a repeating daily event.

Let us know how it goes.

C
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
I have an iOS Alarm on my iPhone 6s+, but none on the iMac. I don't have any repeating daily events on either Calendar.app or BusyCal.App
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
OK, thanks.

Do you get a notification on your screen when the alarm goes off?

C
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
No, just the sound. 3 beeps, pause, 3 beeps, for 5 seconds then repeat. Finally get insistent. Goes away about an hour later. Not responsive to volume control or mute.
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
Hmmm...that's not something I have heard of.

That pattern, and the fact that volume/mute don't affect it, makes me think of a hardware issue. When you have failing RAM or other logic board issues, you will get a repeating pattern of three beeps.

Does it sound like the beeps in this video at the 1:25 mark:


C
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
No, much higher pitch and much faster pace. I own TechTool Pro 9 but it doesn't show any way to examine that kind of thing.

I don't see anything in Crontab or agents in Lingon.
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
OK, good that it's not that. ;)

Will have to think on it for a while...not sure what else it could be.

Will get back to you,

C
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
A couple more things to check - look at the  > System Preferences... > Notifications and see if there is anything possibly related there. Also, do you happen to have Microsoft Outlook installed?

C
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
I've searched through iCloud stuff and don't see anything there either. I don't think it's any kind of hardware warning because it happens a few minutes after 9 PM every night and goes on for an hour. Fortunately it's not very loud (I'm deaf at those high frequencies) and I can continue to work. Thanks for what you've done so far.

I don't have Outlook and don't have any daily notifications. In the preferences of apps that post notifications I've turned off sound.
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Let me simplify: where are the places I might look to see if daily alarm is stored in OS X? I don't mind using the Terminal to look at them if necessary.
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Thanks -- I've looked at them. None of them say how alerts or alarm times are stored on a Mac.
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
That's the thing...there aren't any alarms other than what we've discussed that I know of.

You could try looking with the Console app at the logs.

C
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Yes, I did, but of course not knowing exactly what to search for makes that tough. Tonight when it goes off I'll be able to look at the bottom of most of them.
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
I found a Calendar alarm in ~/Library Calendars and set its action to None. Hopefully that's it. I don't use Calendar any more, I use BusyCal
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top