P.C. deceased?

oldagetraveller

I suspect my old Windows XP desktop machine has died, but would like confirmation that I'm probably correct.
Recently, if it has been knocked, or the desk it's on has been knocked, with a knee, foot etc., it shut down then restart immediately. It even restarted the other day when I commenced a print job, lowering the paper exit tray possibly did that.
I checked all the rear connections were good, they are, but this morning it froze and would only switch off with the power button. When I restarted it there was a "beep" which continued every couple of seconds. It powered up and I could hear the HDD start spinning but the HDD l.e.d. just remained permanently illuminated and nothing happened - just the "beeping".
I'm assuming this is some kind of warning "beep" that all is not well.
I disconnected the power, removed the side cover, but could detect no loose plugs or things hanging off.
So, is it stuffed?
It's probably beyond economical repair anyway. About five years old now.
Fortunately I do back up to a Clickfree device which was last completed less than a week ago!

flexrider

oldagetraveller wrote: »

I suspect my old Windows XP desktop machine has died, but would like confirmation that I'm probably correct.
Recently, if it has been knocked, or the desk it's on has been knocked, it shut down then restart immediately. It even restarted the other day when I commenced a print job.
I checked all the rear connections were good, they are, but this morning it froze and would only switch off with the power button. When I restarted it there was a "beep" which continued every couple of seconds. It powered up and I could hear the HDD start spinning but the HDD l.e.d. just remained permanently illuminated and nothing happened - just the "beeping".
I'm assuming this is some kind of warning "beep" that all is not well.
I disconnected the power, removed the side cover, but could detect no loose plugs or things hanging off.
So, is it stuffed?
It's probably beyond economical repair anyway. About five years old now.
Fortunately I do back up to a Clickfree device which was last completed less than a week ago!

How many beeps do you receive, If you have a 2nd machine just take the HDD out and get a usb enclosure case via ebay or amazon and connect it to (if you have 1) another machine you can create a duel boot meaning you can choose on boot up on menu xp or other operating system

oldagetraveller

:)Thanks for that. It's a short beep at switch on which carries on indefinitely every couple of seconds - well it probably would if I left it!
How would I know which HDD enclosure to purchase?
So, if I did connect a usb enclosure to another machine, yes I do have one, would there be a choice at start up as to which HDD it boots from? Would a "dual boot" need to be set up on the other p.c.? If so, how?
I don't want to "wreck" a perfectly good p.c. (Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit)
Edit to add - I've removed the HDD and it's a Western Digital WD1600JS with a bit of searching comes up as a 3.5" SATA drive, this one is 160GB.
So would any enclosure suitable for a 3.5" SATA drive be o.k.?

flexrider

oldagetraveller wrote: »

:)Thanks for that. It's a short beep at switch on which carries on indefinitely every couple of seconds - well it probably would if I left it!
How would I know which HDD enclosure to purchase?
So, if I did connect a usb enclosure to another machine, yes I do have one, would there be a choice at start up as to which HDD it boots from? Would a "dual boot" need to be set up on the other p.c.? If so, how?
I don't want to "wreck" a perfectly good p.c. (Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit)

I see well you got 2 options which is with the Usb Enclosure you can add it to win 7 and use it as a following

1. spare drive-get your stuff back
2. duel boot

Duel boot is quite simple to set up but be very careful there is software you can use to help u do all the work online, it wont wreck your machine if you system restore beforehand and commonly back up


i'll try and find the tool i use and pass you the link

cheers

UPdate: for the enclosure here you go from amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumvision-Apex-II-inch-Enclosure/dp/B004LX186C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341320621&sr=8-1 for duel you would use the softwre and set the menu in xp leaving your machine alone so when you plug in it will provide you with a menu

more can be read here on the subject
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

closed

reseat the ram

if that doesn't work, remove the connectors to hard disk and cd rom, and see if anything comes on screen

Yut_Man

It sounds like a ram coming loose to me also. As already stated remove all the devices. HDD etc and just leave on the graphics card (if its got one) and try reseating the memory. if all is well then slowly add different components until the problem occurs again. This is quite a common problem thats caused my heat and time. The bleep gives it away.

oldagetraveller

Thanks all.
I did remove and refit one RAM card but not the other! I'll try the second of both, refit the HDD (the plug for that will then have been removed and refitted), check both CD/DVD drive connectors. No separate graphics card.
As I mentioned previously, if there's no apparent bad/loose/dirty connector, then it's not really an economical option to get it looked at and possibly repaired (over 5 years old).

Lifeforms

If you can work out what your mother board is (check on the board itself for ID numbers/model number/make) then find the manual online, and check out warning beeps. That might give you a clue as to the problem itself.