Computer working fine for past two years. Last week upgraded to cable modem (yeah!), installed ethernet card. Everything going good. Yesterday, get home from work and daughter tells me computer not working. Push power button, hear things whirring inside but no beeps or boot stuff on screen. Computer makes rude noise at me, sounds like foghorn, still nothing on screen. Turn off power, open case, wiggle things - no good, situation unchanged. Remove and replace RAM, still no good. Remove and replace CPU (Celeron), still nothing but the rude noise. Try old RAM stick, no change. I think is mobo or CPU. Is rude noise big clue?

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The rude noise sounds like something a bad hard drive or some other spinning equipment would make, it doesn't sound like a CPU or mobo problem. However, the no boot, no beep sounds like a major failure. Given that you just added equipment, a couple of questions. Do things light up when you turn the power on, does it sound like fans are spinning? Do you smell anything that could be burnt in the area?

Possibilities include: bad CPU, bad mobo, bad power supply, overheated system with dead mobo/CPU, or a short circuit related to the new install. Have you tried taking the new card out and booting without it? The main way to test out problems is swapping in working parts to see if it will run.

It would be helpful if you could post more details about your system and what you are using for Windoze.

Good luck,
Budfred

Thanks Bud, I will try to add more detail. Not hard drive, took that out and put it in another computer that works. Not fans, all are spinning. Various other lights are on. Removed ethernet card and put into other computer, it works too. Starting to fear it is CPU, just don't know why worked fine for a week with no symptoms. Except for the rude noise I would suspect video card as absolutely nothing is showing on screen. Removed RAM and got a different high pitched long beep, so I am thinking this happens after checking RAM. Would swap CPU's but this is one of those Celeron plug in boards and there is no socket I could plug a Pentium into. I have an old pentium 1 computer that i am now operating off of, was actually suprised that the 20 gig HDD picked up. Still kind of slow though.

Was not planning on getting a new computer this Christmas.

Thank you for your quick response.

Ok, that rude noise may be the BIOS beeping to tell you what the problem is. If you got a different noise at the same basic time with the RAM test, (that was your BIOS telling you that something was wrong with your RAM), it is likely that this is what you are hearing. To find out what it means, you need to find out what your BIOS is and check the code. You can find out about the codes here:

http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index-i.htm

It is also possible that you picked up something nasty from the internet that has attacked your system. When you installed the Cable modem, did you disable file sharing and do you have afirewall installed? With a cable modem, you can inadvertently open your computer up for a malicious person to get in and do pretty much whatever they want. It is possible that someone messed around with your BIOS. Hopefully one of the security experts will come by and give you more info about that.

What version of Windows are you running?

Budfred

Win 98. Filesharing disabled but not immediately (next day). No Firewall, just McAfee virus protection. Can't get to bios, as nothing shows on monitor.

Foghorn beep is a two toned noise. Medium frequency followed by low frequency. When I removed the RAM I got a single high pitched beep.

The beep codes occur before BIOS has a chance to activate the video card, so you have to use the sound to diagnose the problem. That is why they beep.

Budfred

Thanks, I'll look through the BIOS diagnostics link you provided and see if I get a match.

A two-tone warbling sound usually indicates a CPU fan failure.....shut down and make sure that the CPU fan is connected.

CPU fan is running. No help at the BIOS link, beep pattern doesn't match. It is AWARD BIOS on an ABIT BH6 mobo. No help from ABIT website either.

Not to close the barn door after the cows are out, but like Budfred said, get something like Norton Internet Security software. You would be amazed how many people are lurking just to mess a system up. I just turned my computer on an hour ago and I have had 4 intrusions and one attempted attack. Go buy something before you even get your computer up and running again. Wish I could help you get it fixed now though. But someone here can, I'm sure.

Thanks for the advice. Got Norton Firewall installed on "new" computer. Gave up on previously mentioned problem child. Could not figure out what was wrong so assumed the CPU was toast.

If you get the chance, you might consider dropping the CPU in a compatible board to see if it was the problem and if it could be used for something. I just had a CPU I thought was bad, but I bought a cheap mobo from eBay and it turns out it is ok, so I am guessing the other board is bad.

Budfred