3.5mm nub to insert into computer for easy mute?

2

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?

Ricket

Posted 2010-07-27T18:24:46.653

Reputation: 1 406

Answers

3

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.

Babu

Posted 2010-07-27T18:24:46.653

Reputation: 1 297

I did something like that: Took an audio cable, chopped it, twisted all the cables together, and electrical taped the thing. It works perfectly on every machine I've tried, although I don't know if there ought to be a resistor. I am no EE major! – Aviator45003 – 2014-07-23T16:33:28.243

To be safe you could just solder in an appropriate resistor (or 2 for stereo) in place of the speaker elements. – Brian Knoblauch – 2010-07-27T18:56:15.480

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 – 2010-07-27T19:00:26.777

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 – 2010-07-27T19:07:45.670

Something tells me it actually wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not certain. – Ricket – 2010-07-27T19:24:59.513

1By 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 – 2010-07-27T19:28:13.993

1

1) Your motherboard will still beep.

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

jer.salamon

Posted 2010-07-27T18:24:46.653

Reputation: 758

3Not 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. – Brian Knoblauch – 2010-07-27T18:55:22.640

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 – 2010-07-27T18:57:56.043