Power-savings mode is a great clue! I noticed this loop produces _one_ beep when it is the only sound stream on the laptop: for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) { Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep(); try { Thread.sleep(200); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} } If I play a song (ABBA's Dancing Queen :-) I hear all four beebs every time. Can power savings be disabled as a further experiment? Ole