Problems with computer

[yog]

Sorry about the broad subject heading but I'm not quite sure what to do.

About two weeks ago my IBM 45 Gig. HD failed so I sent it in the be RMA'd, haven't recieved it back and I needed to use my computer. I have a Maxtor 80 Gig. HD installed so I just installed Win98SE and got going with it. When going through the install I noticed that after the computer had been on for about 2 minutes it would quickly beep three times and then the monitor would turn off and then on again, after the first time it did this it did it about every 30 seconds after that. Everything keeps running, but it is just annoying. So I finally got through the install and when in Win98 it doesn't do it. However now when it computer goes into sleep mode the monitor doesn't turn off (no picture) and when I come back it will not wake up. If I press two keys (doesn't matter which two) it will restart. Then since it has to go through scandisk it once again does the three beep thing until it is all the way into Windows. Now the last time I restarted it I escaped out of scandisk and it hung on the desktop before all the icon's appear, it did this twice. Now I'm afraid to leave the computer becuase it will go into sleep mode and I'll have to start all over. I was wondering if it was my motherboard or maybe even my power supply. The power supply is a 350W AMD approved one. I am running a CD-RW, a DVD, 5 internal fans, CPU fan, sound card, LAN, Video, 3.5 floppy, and that is it. I have taken out my modem and TV tuner card, and also 256mb of memory.

Any ideas on what is happening or why? What piece is to blame? Or is it operator error? Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Krusty]

First thing to check: general hardware forum or motherboards forum. Since you don't know what the problem is, I guess you can get away with posting here

Second thign to check: The beep codes for your particular motherboard. Those 3 short beeps mean somethign specific. Check your motherboard manual (or a pdf online if you dont have it) to find out what the problem is.

It sounds to me like a messed up power supply. Not much else aside from heat could do random restarting and such that I know of.

What brand psu do you have and how much juice does the 5v line handle? Check the voltage level in the bios if you can. I couldn't give you the answer as to how little juice is safe, but the guys in the cases/psus section can.

[jw50]

During POST, one long beep followed by 3 short beeps indicates a problem with the video card memory. Based on the rest of your post it looks like your problem may be the video card. You might want to try removing and reseating the card to see if that helps any. If you have another video card you could try it and see if the problem goes away. I think that there are also probably some utility programs that will check at least some aspects of the video card and video RAM, maybe someone can point you to some that would help in troubleshooting the problem.