Maximum volume on startup on laptop

[Cameron Hutchison]

Steve <yorvik.ubunto at googlemail.com> writes:
>On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:27:22 -0000, Cameron Hutchison <lists at xdna.net>  
>wrote:

>> I have just installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my Dell inspirion 8500, and when it
>> start up and shows the login screen, it plays a short sound. This is
>> played at maximum volume, and I can't find any way to make it play at a
>> lower volume or not at all.
>>
>> How can I make Ubuntu 9.10 remember a decent volume on startup?
>>
>I have Alert volume muted and Sound theme set to No sounds in Sound  
>Preferences and don’t get the drum roll at the beginning.

I had the Alert volume at one notch above minimum, but I'm at a loss to
see how that would apply anyway, since these are per-user settings and
are not applied until after login.

I guess I'll have to delve into how the sound system is set up in
Ubuntu. I know it uses pulseaudio, but that is usually started as a user
level daemon - so what does gdm do before login? Maybe next weekend I'll
get some time to look into it.