Volume control before Windows startup

Question

Hi, I have an Inspiron 640m and I have noticed that before the startup of Windows (probably before QuickSet is started) I can not control the volume, neither with the front panel (MediaDirect) buttons nor with the Fn+PgUp/Dn button (the mute buttons don't work either). This can be really annoying in a situation when I turn the computer on in a class or conference, and I can not silence the Windows startup sound!! The weird thing is that screen brightness can be changed with Fn+arrows just after the computer is turned on. Does anybody know how to control the volume before or while the OS is being loaded?   Thanks.

Hilmar · Answer

E1505 here. I can verify your problem and feel with you. It's plain annoying and it would be nice if there was a fix.

Jim Coates · Answer

A few workarounds:

Before shutting down computer, go to audio properties 'Audio' tab and lower the volume on the 'wave' control or check 'mute', or

go to the 'Sounds' tab and change 'sound scheme' to 'no sounds', or

under 'program events' select 'start windows' (I think) and then under 'sounds' select 'none'.

Then when starting Windows you won't hear the startup sound.

Jim

porio · Answer

jimco wrote:
A few workarounds:

Before shutting down computer, go to audio properties 'Audio' tab and lower the volume on the 'wave' control or check 'mute'....

Well, that's exactly what I do now... when I remember to. Besides, I usually put the laptop to hibernate rather than switch it off, so it's not that common to hear the Windows sound.

But I still think that I'm asking for a reasonable thing, specially when it's something you can do with the screen brightness (and it's something you can do with volume in other laptops)... I admit that my request has some ideological part in it.

How it comes that there is no setting/update/hack/patch/whatever to enable this?

Regards.

Rollie_R · Answer

All,

The buttons to control the sound, both the Fn keys and the front buttons require the driver. Without the correct sound driver the buttons do not work. If you ever have to reinstall Windows XP, you will understand. The default Windows drivers will give you sound on many systems, but the buttons do not work.

Unfortunately, this means that the volume controls, and this includes mute, do not work until Windows finishes loading the sound driver, which, as I understand it is at virtually the exact moment when the sound plays. If it can be muted before that sound, I have never figured out how to do it on my Inspiron 9100.

The LCD brightness controls are different, they are controlled by the BIOS. You can test this by booting to the BIOS setup (F2 on boot) and then trying those keys.

I wish I had a solution for you, but the only ones I can offer are the same ones offered by Jim.

Message Edited by DELL-Rollie on 02-26-2007 03:00 PM

pjreid · Answer

Another workaround to this problem is to have an 1/8' adapter or spare set of headphones available; then you plug them into the headphone jack just before starting up the machine. This will disable the internal speakers for startup. Not a satisfactory solution I know, but it will work 100% of the time.

porio · Answer

Thank you all for the answers, I already thought about most of the workarounds.

In the practice, the problem is only a small bother, I'm usually aware of it when turning the computer on. However, what annoys me a little more is the fact that some wise guy designed it to be so. I guess that there must some good reason for allowing the BIOS to control the screen brightness but not the speaker volume (mmm... perhaps because of the front buttons? because that's the only thing I see different from other laptops I have seen that CAN be muted at any time).

Regards.

Message Edited by porio on 03-13-2007 11:27 AM

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Volume control before Windows startup

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