it ought to be a simple On/Off option in the phone settings, but No, that would be too easy.

My phone plays a startup sound every time I turn it on. I actually enjoy the sound, but at work, I don't want everyone else to hear it. The startup sound plays regardless if I put the phone in silent or vibrate mode before turning it off, and it still plays at a normal volume, even if I have turned down all the phone volumes to the lowest settings. It's insane.

From what I read, renaming the sound file will get rid of the problem.
It's a system file, so to rename it requires the phone to be rooted, and super user access.

Luckily, my phone is already rooted, and I can install the super user app.

I decided to try avoiding installing an app like Root Explorer for renaming the file.

It seems that using "adb" (Android Debug Bridge) via the computer should let me rename the file.

For that, it seems that all I needed to do was
- download and install the Android SDK
- download and install JDK v6, which is a requirement for the Android SDK
- create an Oracle account, as JDK v6 is not the latest version, and Oracle doesn't let you download old versions without you having an account.
- download and install the phone's USB drivers (not only the default ones I had which already let me access the SD card)

- run adb, etc.

It's insane.

But I'm still waiting for the super user app to get downloaded to the phone from the Google Play site. Why isn't it downloading? It's almost 4am! Grrrrr.

I suppose Google expects me to leave my phone on while I go to sleep. Pfah. Fat chance. If I were the kind of person to leave my phone on all the time, I wouldn't be having this adventure to begin with, now would I?

On Monday I installed/downloaded an app with no problem! Why isn't it working today?

Oh, it was because I had disabled Background Data... Now it finally installed.

no root

It seems my phone isn't even rooted. When I bought it, the description said "stock and rooted". I wonder if that was wrong, or if I somehow accidentally un-rooted it when doing factory resets and such. But at least this gives me the opportunity to learn how to root it. Hopefully, I won't accidentally destroy it.

I feel sort of pig-headed, going through all this trouble just to remove the phone's start-up sound. After all, I could just turn the phone on before going into the office, and then leave it in sleep mode until I need to use it.

But I want the phone rooted anyway. And having the Android SDK might be useful - maybe someday I'll learn how to create an app myself.

I feel like my posts lately are boring and uninspired. I have various things I want to post, but by the time I get around to posting anything, it's either a rant, or I'm so tired that what I write ends up being dull and emotionless.

rooted!

And able to list and copy the system files to my computer.

Oh neat! I could make my own startup animation!