My roomate has an old clunker of a computer.

She hands this to me and asks me to make it work. So i do my best, and try to boot it up. HD spinds, CPU fan hums, Floppy flops, and CD cd's, but there is no POST beep. ********...

So i stick my head in and make sure that the CPU is seated properly, and that all the cables and what not are connected. all is good.

NOW when i try to boot, i get an unfriendly sounding BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP,.... ad infinitum. Accompanied by an equaly unfriendly red LED lit on the MB, jsut next to the RAM.

I have not managed to find any POST beep codes for this particular beeping.

Have i cooked the CPU? I fear i may have... but i tried to ground myself as best i could

cpu shouldnt be cooked. i would recommend using only 1 stick of ram installed in slot 1. than find the CMOS batter and clear the cmos.

Thanks for Reply Spiked

It looks like the CMOS battery prcedure worked. The damndable beeping is gone. But the box still does not boot. I get no monitor signal, i get no POST, i get both power and HD LED coninuously lit at the front.

Any thoughts?

try a different video card if you have one lying around than get back to me.

will do, but i would have expected that if it was a video card problem that the box would still be going through the boot up motions, and just not being able to send out a video signal? or is the video card part of the post procedure?

remove Video Card, RAM you should get a POST beep error code

I don't know whether this will help in any way, but when I first tried to network my two desktop machines, one accepted the LAN card without problems. The other behaved exactly like this. No POST bleep. No video output. I bought yet another LAN card for the non-working machine, a different make this time, and the problem was solved.

The only difference I could see what that the edge connector on the one that screwed things up was the full length of the slot, and the new one was shorter by perhaps 2 to 4 contacts. Funny how it worked in one and not the other when they're both about the same age.

Could it be that the hardware has been changed in some way? If so, try putting it back the way it was and see what happens.

Just a thought.

To expand a bit on the two previous posts, there are many things which can prevent a POST. An IDE device (hard disk, CDROM, etc) gone bad, any plug in card either gone bad or loose/dirty, RAM bad/loose/dirty, power supply failing (delivering below tolerance voltages), etc.

If the machine is getting power to the motherboard, but won't post, remove everything (including the cmos battery) but the CPU, one stick of RAM (ensure it's in slot 1, inserting it two or three times to help clean oxides from the contacts), and the video card if so equipped (seat this two or three times as well). Remove the floppy and IDE data cables from the motherboard. Remove power to any disconnected devices.

Insert the cmos battery. Try to boot the machine. If it POSTs, (power down) add your next RAM stick(s), one at a time with a boot between every add. Power down during and between every item addition.

IMPORTANT: Depending on your bios, you may have to enter the bios setup and reset the NVRAM and/or "Update Configuration" switches at each boot.

If it doesn't POST with the bare minimum components, it's one of those components. Depending on the age/use of the machine, the logical place to start would be the power supply (and video card). Testers for PS's can be obtained for little money. After that, if you don't have the equipment to test motherboards, CPU's etc, or, a supply of extra compatable components laying around, it's best to take it to a reputable repair shop for testing.

Next add the floppy data cable (align red/blue stripe/Pin1 correctly) and power to the drive. Try to boot with a floppy boot disk. If successful, (power down) and add IDE #1, with master disk only connected to the data cable. Connect drive power cable. Boot without a floppy bootdisk this time. Because the bios was reset (battery removal) the disk should be automatically detected. If everything is OK, power down and add the slave device/cabling to IDE #1. Repeat the boot process.

Connect/test IDE #2 next, in the same manner, one device at a time. Get the IDE devices running first then go on to any plug in cards. Continue this way until you encounter the POST fail again. If you do, the last device is the cause. If you don't, you've successfully cleaned/reseated all your connections and the machine should be OK unless there is an intermittent failing device.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. It turns out that the video card did it.

I would have posted sooner, but i have been derailed for the last few days.