I've been trying to decide for months whether to go Mac and buy a whole new system because I really like the big monitors, and I finally opted to just get a new Samsung 27-inch monitor - because my PC is still working very good and I don't want to spend all that dough if I don't have to.

I get the new monitor, and a week later my PC starts beeping - likely meaning there is some critical problem with my mother board.

So, I had to run down to Best Buy and grab the best deal I could find (no-interest financing) - getting a new bare-bones HP.

Now I'm $1,100 dollars into a new system - within striking distance of the Mac, which I won't see for another three years or so.

Oh well, at least I'm done with Vista!

quote:

I get the new monitor, and a week later my PC starts beeping - likely meaning there is some critical problem with my mother board.

Chango...

I've hung around the hem of Jeff's robe long enough to know that what we mere mortals "think" is happening/about to happen isn't necessarily anywhere near what WILL or IS happening.

Next time... consider calling a local university's computer science department and ask where THEY take their personal computers when glitchy things start to happen... likely you'll get the name of a small, non-franchise shop with an EXCELLENT reputation who can run some diagnostics (bench/diagnostic charge ~ $50-$150) and then give you more options than just picking up a new system.

And yes, sorry... there will be a next time.

*CJ

If it's beeping out a code number, you can look up "beep codes" online for your manufacturer. For example, 1-3-3-1 on IBM/Lenovo machines means a memory problem, iirc.
--
Stephen

If you have a nice big monitor, buy a Mac Mini for $500.

Macs aren't just Macs any longer--they're also full-fledged PCs. Partition the hard drive with the included Boot Camp Assistant and install any flavor of Windows you like, including Windows7. Run in the Mac OS when you wish; run in the PC OS when you wish. In either OS, you can use any of your files from the other OS without rebooting.

Jeff/CompGuy

I looked up the beep code, and it indicated mother board failure. I might be able to get it fixed, but I'd always worry about it, so I'm putting it down like a good old dog.

The poor thing was struggling so hard that it went to black and white. Now I've got it disconnected and sitting in a closet, where it's still beeping ever so often on battery power.

Anyhow, I've got a new HP tower for $700 - quad core AMD, and I guess it's OK. I didn't want to shell out cash right now, so I got stuck with the selection at Best Buy, where I can stretch it out with no interest for 18 months.

Some day we should have a discussion here about buying at best prices.

Here's how I buy at BestBuy this month. I have a credit card that pays me 6% cash back. I use it to buy an American Express gift card through a site that pays me an additional 1.35% cashback. Then I use that American Express gift card to buy at BestBuy through a site that gives me an additional 10% back (until 3/31) on BestBuy purchases--and I can choose to pick up the computer in a local BestBuy store when I order online too. Net result is a 17.35% cash saving on anything I buy at BestBuy.

Keeping track of these methods requires a bit of work, of course, but it's a lot of fun for me!

Jeff/CompGuy

Uh, oh. This is getting weird.

I'm not sure now if my first computer was beeping. I've got it stuffed in a closet in another part of the house, and the beep is still here in my bedroom/computer station.

Thinking back to how my monitor image degraded to black & white before I pulled the plug, I got to thinking perhaps the new PC is beeping for the same problem, and perhaps it's asking for a driver or some such thing - being that the new monitor is the only change. So I reinstalled that whole thing, and there is still a beep.

But I'm not even sure it's the computer. It could be something else here in the room, but I CAN'T FIND IT. I even took out the bathroom scale and alarm clock. Now I'm reconnecting the printer that was unhooked while changing PC's.

Hopefully nobody's slipped you one of these:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/
--
Stephen

Road Runner? Nah.

My guess--it's the UPS device that's supposed to protect you against a power failure by providing battery power to continue to let you operate. They beep when the power goes out...or in my experience when they themselves go bad.

Or you've got a smoke detector that's reporting its battery is low...

Jeff/CompGuy

Chango,
Is there a smoke detector in your bedroom?
Seán

I hate to admit it, but yes I have a smoke detector in here somewhere. I took it out of the ceiling years ago and stuck it away in some hidey hole. I think that's it, but I can't find it.

Looks like the only computer problem I had was a faulty installation of the new monitor.

Hey, now I have a spare PC! And a place in the annals of bonehead computing.

No, that won't even get you a nomination into the annals of bonehead computing. To get nominated, you'd have to write the word 'Click' on your computer screen and think it was a right click.

 
Or take your CPU for service after trying to use the mug holder* and having it spill your coffee 'cause it kept trying to close with your coffee mug in it.



*CJ



*- The CD holder, of course.

Well, I located both of the two smoke alarms I had disabled and stowed away. Neither of them have any batteries, but just on the possibility there might be some internal emergency power beeping them, I put them out on the patio last night.

There's still a danged beep in here somewhere!

Could it be some other electronic junk like an old, disconnected peripheral, camera or hard drive or something?

 
Could be.

Or something that has a viable battery has a button that's being inadvertently pushed on by another component, a function of cramming electronics together.

I'd ask ya' how big a pile of 'stuff' ya' have to go through, but it doesn't matter... your sanity requires you to track it down.

1) Divvy up the pile of "schtuff." Put half the number of electronic items in your kitchen, and half in your guest bathroom. Clear the pile of electronics in your bedroom entirely.

2) Do you still hear the beep in your bedroom?
        If YES, then it's something STILL in your bedroom OR, if you live in a shared-wall building, something in your neighbor's unit.
        If NO, go to Step #3.

3) Check the items in your [room containing old electronics]... do you hear the beep in there?
                If YES, the beep is associated with one of the electronics you placed in that room... divide the electronics in that room into separate rooms and loop on step #3 until you find the culprit.
                If NO, it's possible that relocating the electronics stopped Electronic-A from pushing Electronic-B's button and that's the end of it.

The last time I had a strange beeping going in my house, it turned out to be my fancy-schmancy microwave/vent fan's filter needed changing. Only took me 10 days to discover that.

*CJ

Somebody should invent a gadget for detecting sounds from particular directions, or that tells you what direction it came from. Too many of these "modern" things beep, without giving any indication as to why (or if there's lots of gadgets in the room, any indication as to which of them needs to be hit with a sledge hammer).

You should be able to buy a gadget that tells you what's beeping based on the "music" of the beep.

There's an app for the iPhone which will identify music being played. You simply hold it up to, say, the radio speaker and in 45 seconds it tells you the song and who is singing it!

Jeff/CompGuy

That would require every device to have a distinct tune to its beep; I suspect that a large percentage of them don't have a distinct sound pattern.

Henry

Ta da!

Verizon Fios controller in my hallway furnace box! Low battery.

Some friends came over for corned beef and cabbage tonight, and after dinner we tracked it down with multi-ear triangulation.

multi-ear triangulation? Is that some kind of newfangled gadget?

 
So wha'cha gonna do, Chango...?

Keep the big ol' snazzy monitor, return the HP system and go for the Mac system?

Or somethin' else...?

*CJ

Keep the HP and big monitor. Reload the old PC and give it to a poor friend.

 
Good solution, Chango... excellent, even.

*CJ