-Jordan-

Hey.

Sorry if this has been covered before, I searched and couldn't find anything that helped. Or if this is the right section to post in, sorry if it isn't.

Problem started yesterday afternoon, I had the computer on and walked out for about 10 or so minutes. I came back, and the computer was off, which I thought was weird, but needed to get back on the computer so I went to turn it back on. When I did, the screen was black, there was no normal noises. Instead, I can hear the fan going (but not like it usually does, this sounds more like someone revving a car - like full speed, then slow down and so on). It does that for about 10 seconds, and then I get this really annoying beaping. The lights are also still on.

I know about the BIOS beep codes (vaguely) - this one is a repeative short beep. So just beeps very fast basically. I've been told that this either means the power supply or motherboard is rooted.

So, I took the power supply out of the computer I'm using now, and put it in the broken computer. Same thing happened. I've also tried removing the RAM, switching them around, and also removing other things (sound card, cd-rom etc). Still, same annoying beeping.

I'm guessing (by the beeping) that this means that the motherboard is gone. However, before I go off to the shops to buy a new one, I wanted to know if it could be anything else? If it is, how much would I be looking at for a half decent one? And also, if I was to get a computer store to do it all for me (I would have no worries doing it, but, I would feel much better them doing it), am I going to be paying a whole lot? The reason I wanted to know is because if its going to be too much, I would rather just buy a new computer (a pretty decent one, unlike my current one) and just move the files from my hardrive to it... maybe the sound card etc. which I've recently upgraded.

Any ideas how to fix my current computer or what it could be - or a price / whether its worth it would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a vague spec list on it:

Windows XP5.1 Service Pack 2
Seagate 250GB hard drive
256MB RAM
Intel Celeron CPU 2.66GHz
Motherboard (no idea, it won't come up in any program - too late to find out now)
Good sound card
**** onboard video card
DVD Burner
3 /12 floppy drive
(about a month ago I replaced the HD and the RAM, working fine up until yesterday)

I apologize for the long and noob-ish question, but can't seem to find anythign to help me.

Thanks,

Jordan.

(by the way - I know it would be easier to just buy a new computer, but I don't have a whole lot of money to spend on things like this at the moment, so if I don't have to, I would rather not).

Edit: Looks like I didn't post in the right section - sorry.

dai

blow the dust out of the computer with a can of air
redo the paste on the cpu with some arctic silver
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

Done_Fishin

What other components can you "swap" between PC's in order to see if they work or not?
Memory?
CPU?
HArd disk , you won't be able to boot but you could add it as a second drive (SLAVE) to see whether it can be accessed. To boot you'd need to a repair install (help available if required)
Graphics card ?

we'd need a lot more info too about what is salvagable and what would be compatable with current mobo's on the market.

To see whether you have a power supply or mobo problem, try removing memory and see if the beeping changes "tune". Try the memory in the other PC if it's compatable. It could be that your memory has failed and the mobo is fine