yes, I edited the new blacklist file - I did everything from
removing the line, saving, restarting computer, then adding in
blacklist pcspkr back into the file- no change

I tried the sound preferences from "Settings Manager"=> Sound
in Xubuntu, but that control is very limited- it only brings up a
long list of sound devices that I can either "check" or "uncheck"
and I was unsure of which device name is the PC speaker, if it's there at all...