Mute Plug

I have a laptop that happens to make a LOT of noise when it boots up. That horrible system beep unfortunately can't be turned off on in my BIOS. So, I came up with a solution that works nicely for this situation and others like it.

Mute Plug:

What I made is simply a phono plug that does nothing. As it turns out, most devices that allow earphones to be plugged into them will turn off their internal speakers when this is done. So, plugging anything into the earphone jack will mute the speakers. This could be used for situations like mine or for more devious things... like making a friend think their television is malfunctioning.

Phono Plug:

To make your own phono mute plug, first find a phono plug. This could be on the end of an old audio cable, broken pair of headphones, etc... The next step is to saw/cut the end off of it using some sort blade or of power tool of your choice. You must wear safety goggles! Cutting away at metal can be a very dangerous thing so be very careful.

Guts from the plug:

Once we have the basic plug isolated, we will need to coat the back in something to stabilize the plug. Epoxy could be good for this but I used Sculpty III, a compound that turns to plastic when baked. You want something that will be very ridged and permanent. That's pretty much it. Just plug it in and you won't hear from your speaker again... until you unplug it anyway.