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I've always liked the fact that when you plug headphones into the headphone jack of my laptop, the laptop will not make a sound. For example, if I'm in a class and I need to restart my computer, I'll first reach into my bag, pull out the 3.5mm plug end of my headphones, and stick it in the computer. This prevents any boot sounds from going off, which inevitably happen at full volume and don't respond to the hardware mute button.

Rather than using headphones, I've been wondering if there is any device made for this purpose. I imagine a little 3.5mm jack which sticks out of the computer a tiny bit when plugged in (just enough for you to pull it out), something which can stay in the computer.

Does such a thing exist?

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Have you tried buying a pair of el-cheapo headphones and cutting off everything after the jack? I'm unsure if it'll work, but I don't think it'll hurt anything.

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  • To be safe you could just solder in an appropriate resistor (or 2 for stereo) in place of the speaker elements. Jul 27, 2010 at 18:56
  • I haven't, but I was hoping for a better-looking solution. Though that will probably work, and I think a dab of hot glue on the end would keep the ends from being shorted.
    – Ricket
    Jul 27, 2010 at 19:00
  • But if the ends aren't shorted, will the sound-card know that there is something plugged? I think that you'll need the resistors.
    – AndrejaKo
    Jul 27, 2010 at 19:07
  • Something tells me it actually wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not certain.
    – Ricket
    Jul 27, 2010 at 19:24
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    By the way, if anyone is interested in doing this and finds that a resistor is needed, I believe the average cheapo earbuds are around 16 ohms (and headphones are typically 32, though I have a nice pair of 64ohm headphones). Just thought I'd note it here for the record.
    – Ricket
    Jul 27, 2010 at 19:28
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1) Your motherboard will still beep.

2) You can disable windows start up sound by following the instructions here

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    Not true. Nearly all of the new mobos and laptops (with integrated sound) I've been dealing with pipe the console beep through the sound card now. Jul 27, 2010 at 18:55
  • I disable beeps in my OSes; it doesn't beep any other time (unlike Thinkpads which beep when you plug and unplug and other random times). So that's not an issue. And like Brian said, many sound cards do pipe a beep through headphones (such as my work Thinkpad), though I'm not sure if my personal computer does. Again, not an issue though.
    – Ricket
    Jul 27, 2010 at 18:57

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