Loud, long beep when computer is switched on.

Hi. again.

here's a problem regarding my old computer before i changed to this new one.
all i ever did to it was to pluck out the graphic card and Ram chip and pluck them back in.

THATS ALL.

when i changed into this new computer,
i placed my old comp aside. because i don't have a monitor, wires, keyboard, mouse, etc.

then a friend gave them to me.
and i replucked everything back in.

and walah. when i switch the computer on, a loud beep was heard.
a rather long few seconds beep.
i looked into the cpu case(part of it is transparent) there was a red light somewhere on the mainboard.

the last time this happened was when my ram chip wasn't placed properly.
so i opened up the casing and replucked everything i adjusted,
making 100% sure that everything's plucked properly. i switched it on again..
the same problem occurs..
I've opened the casing to check the pluckings for almost 3-4 times already.
but still the problem still occurs.
anyone know what's wrong?

my old files are in there and i need to get them back!
and FAST!!!

please help me! thanks alot geekpolice residents.

It's most probably loose RAM if it were only one beep. Check that it is placed properly in the RAM slot or give it a little nudge.

hmm.. i pushed my ram as hard as possible already. and i already checked it's at the right slot, right way of placing it, (when plucked the other way around it cant be plucked in) [obviously]

like i said i checked again and again and it still beeps. the beep continues for a few seconds, then pause in a 0.5seconds interval before the next same long beep alarms again.

How many beeps are there? e.g. 1 long 2 short.

erm.. i'm not too sure myself. as soon as the 2nd beep comes in i already switched off the power...

i'll monitor the beeps tomorrow.

Also check that the CPU is seated correctly, heatsink in place etc!

Did you ground yourself to discharge any static Electricity before you touched the CPU?

Regards

well.. sorry for the late reply.

erm. obviously not. why would i think of grounding myself in the first place.
hahaz.
btw my old computer has crashed. it can't even be on.
when i switch on the power and press the ON button. nothing comes out.
no light, no sound. all there is, is a light on the motherboard. a red light on that edge of the motherboard.

sighhz.. just so unpredicted...
it's working fine at first, and when i take the computer away from it's "sofa" it falls and is in emergency status... sighhz. this sucks...
do i have to send it to the seller and ask him to fix it? or check what's wrong? after all.. i bought it from that particular shop.

dropleague wrote:

well.. sorry for the late reply.

erm. obviously not. why would i think of grounding myself in the first place.
hahaz.

ESD is simply the discharge of built up static electricity. Electrostatic discharge however, should not be taken lightly when working with computers. ESD has the capability of causing enough damage to the components inside your computer to render it completely inoperable.

Most techy's will recommend that you use a 'static strap' when working inside your system with hardware components, however, i have found that touching an unpainted surface of your metal case before touching any internal components is sufficient to discharge any ESD, and i have built many systems over the years and yet to have a problem.

dropleague wrote:

do i have to send it to the seller and ask him to fix it? or check what's wrong? after all.. i bought it from that particular shop.

You can do a bit of troubleshooting yourself in an attempt to discover the cause of your issue.

It sounds as though it is a hardware issue from what you have told me, so the first thing i would do is to remove all peripherals and power up the system 'barebones'.

Disconnect and remove (after grounding) all hard drives, expansion cards (graphics, sound, network etc) and only use the minimum required for power up. (Power supply, processor, heat sink & fan, a single memory stick).

If the system powers up (all fans operating etc) then we can work from there.......if it doesnt, we know we have a problem with one of these 3 components (PSU, chip or memory module) or infact the motherboard itself.

Let us know what you decide to do!

Regards