Startup Chime always on internal speakers

I just got my first Mac (Intel chipset), and I am very pleased with it (well, I had used a PowerBook G5 for a year+ at my previous job, but it was the company's).

I have just one problem -- I was setting up bootcamp this morning (so I can load Linux and Winblows to continue development on some of my projects) while my wife was asleep, and the darn boot chime kept coming from the internal speakers and waking her up. Good thing she can sleep in after I leave -- I will have to do something nice for her since she was very nice about being woken up (and only gave me one black eye... kidding).

I have tried multiple things (many google searches) including plugging in headphones to the headphone jack in the front as well as plugging in speakers to the back (and both at the same time) with no change. I also tried a program called Psst which didn't do anything at all.

I would rather have the chime re-routed to headphones if at all possible rather than disabling or muting it since I hear it is often used for boot-up diagnosis.

any help from ye OS X gurus would be welcome

btw, moderators... I was pretty sure this was a software issue and should go under this forum, but I was not positive. Please move if necessary.

If you press the key(mute key) right of the Volume Up key before you shutdown/restart your Mac, it wont produce the startup chime.

Took me a while to learn that one too.

I was at work when I originally posted it and had to wait till I got home to be able to try it. Unfortunately, it did not work.

I hit the mute button, and the sound were muted. I then restarted, the bootup chime sounded on the internal speakers, and then when the system loaded the sound was mute again.

Maybe a firmware glitch?

It's a quirk with the new intel chips. It happens on my iMac Core Duo, but nt my PowerBook G4 12 inch.

iRye, are there any known fixes/workarounds?

I was bored at work, and decided to scroll through every post on the Apple Support Discussions. I haven't tried it yet, but the guy in this thread claims to have fixed his chime with a firmware upgrade: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=737973&tstart=90

Just thought I'd update the thread -- I did try updating my software/firmware as the other Apple support discussion had suggested solved the other guy's problem, and it did not help. I updated software, but the firmware upgrades had apparently already been applied since my Mac is a bit newer.

I might be calling Apple up for more info soon.

On my G5, I use a program called TinkerTool System to set the startup chime to "mute". Demo/Shareware TinkerToolSystem is 7EU/9.85US, and it is Universal Binary, so it seems that it should know about the intel chip system.

As well, Mac Pilot, also shareware, includes a Mute startupchime function.

I think it is normal for chime to sound even with earphone plugged in. Though i usually have mine muted, or remember to press the speaker off button before I shutdown or restart, so I do not hear it as often. Re hearing the chimes for system hardware issues, in the dozen or more years I have been using many Macs, only the very oldest of my 68000 model macs ever had a condition in which the chime sounded different (knock on plastic...) -- so I do not think it a loss to have the chime set to mute.