How do I eliminate the beep tones that my portable system emits during the boot process?

Enter the System Setup (BIOS) and enable the Quiet Boot function.
 

The first beep tone your portable system emits is from the power-on self test (POST). To disable the POST beep tone, you will need to enter the System Setup (BIOS) and enable the Quiet Boot function.

Solution

1. Enter System Setup (BIOS).
2. If you have an Inspiron™ portable computer, press the <Down Arrow> key to highlight the Quiet Boot option.
   
   NOTE: The Quiet Boot function may not exist in your system BIOS. If this option is not present, it may not be possible to disable the POST beep tone.
3. Change the status to Enabled.
4. Press the <F10> key to save and exit.
   The computer will reboot.
5. Click the Start button, click Shut Down, click Shut Down, and OK.
6. Power the system back on and the POST beep tone should not emit.
   
   NOTE: If you have PC Cards installed, you may hear a double set of beep tones during boot as Windows detects each card. This is not a function of the BIOS, but can be disabled. Proceed to section PC Card Beep Tones.

PC Card Beep Tones

To disable PC Card beep tones, perform the following:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   The Control Panel window appears.
2. Double-click the PC Card (PCMCIA) icon.
3. Click the Global Settings tab.
4. Place a check mark next to Disable PC card sound effects.
5. Click Apply and click OK.
   The next time your computer starts, you will no longer hear the PC Cards detection beeps.