Zombie PC

[AJM8125]

Strange problem I'm encountering. I semi-retired a PC a few months ago. I powered it down, took its peripherals off and stored it under my desk, whrere it's always been.

Today I went to revive it and it won't boot. It powers on, the fans come up and after that I hear one short beep followed by one long "beeeeeeeeeep". Asking some friends and investigoogling leads me to believe that the motherboard is shot, but how can that be? Nothing happened to it while it was idle and it ran like a champ prior to that.

Just throwing this out there before I scrap what was once a very decent machine.

Particulars that I know of:

HP Pavilion model a1710n
AMD athlon 64 dual core
1 gig of ram (upgraded from 512 by previous owner)
250 gig HD
After market DVI video card added by previous owner
Vista Home Premium

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[arthwollipot]

The beeps are a secret code. Search Google for your CPU model and the words "beep code".

[GreNME]

Sounds like a RAM beep. Try removing and re-seating the RAM and giving it a go.

[AJM8125]

The beeps are a secret code. Search Google for your CPU model and the words "beep code".

Yup. Part of the aforementioned investigoogle, which unfortunately led me to a whole bunch of conflicting opinions. Gave me a brain freeze, it did. ;)

Sounds like a RAM beep. Try removing and re-seating the RAM and giving it a go.

Thanks, I'll give that a whirl.

[Ysidro]

The beeps are a secret code. Search Google for your CPU model and the words "beep code".

The beeps are determined by the bios on the motherboard, not the CPU.

That said, one short and one long on an HP will usually mean a memory problem.

Try reseating the RAM. Even better, try it with one stick at a time if you have multiple. Even even better, use different slots on the MB if the configuration will let you (most will, but there are some wacked out boards that get picky on how you install RAM).

[AJM8125]

You. Guys. ROCK.

:j2::j1::j2::th::yahoo:wave1:bounce2:goat

Reseated all three - machine booted right up.

Thank you ever so much. The machine is being donated my deprived 5 year-old nephew. He thanks you from the bottom of his "footsies" - what ever that means. Seriously, thanks again.

That goes for you too arthwollipot: Thanks for your help

[arthwollipot]

The beeps are determined by the bios on the motherboard, not the CPU. Motherboard. Did I say CPU? I meant motherboard.

[GreNME]

Motherboard. Did I say CPU? I meant motherboard.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y277/nethermouse/lold.jpg