what the heck just happened?

[h20link]

okay so i'm sitting here perusing the forums, typing in a response when for some odd reason my speakers start crackling just a little bit. this goes on for about two minutes, when all of the sudden my computer locks up....can't esc, can't ctr alt del, can't alt f4 and it's beeping like crazy, not from the speakers but from inside the case just "bee bee bee bee bee bee" so at this point I have no idea what's going on, this happened twice yesterday and once today......i've never had this problem before and now it's makin me PO'ed.

Upon reboot i checked my temps, 43C which ain't great i know but it's not overheating (and i've already ordered a glaciator to bring those temps down).

oh yeah and the red hard drive read light was flashing in sync with the beeping of the mobo.

So, any of you guys ever encountered a problem like this? yesterday was the first time it's ever happened. I've had infinite loop type problems before but only during gaming. during this last lockup i could still move the mouse cursor around though.

This is a wierd problem, maybe you guys know something i don't. anyways, thanks in advance if you can help.

PS this was all on comp #2 in my sig.

 

[dreadlord79]

What sound card are you using? Have you OC'ed it? Is your #2 rig Oc'ed? Have you opened the case to see if there is anything scorched on any of the boards? How about wires that might have shorted out mgiht have been cut or rubbed in half or split? Have you tried unplugging the speakers from the wall and letting them charge down for like 5 min and then tried them again? Sorry, but I can't think of what it would be right off the top of my head.

 

[h20link]

sb xgamer, gone through the basic stuff, looked it over, etc. nothing's oc'ed.

 

[stool]

Check your motherboard manual, and see if there is a code for the beeps. Might give you an indication of your problem

 

[h20link]

Check your motherboard manual, and see if there is a code for the beeps. Might give you an indication of your problem

well, checked the manual. chere's what it says about continuous beeps :"Continuous beeps – One or more of the memory modules is not seated correctly in its socket." but i think it's talking about this happening upon boot.......anybody know if this could happen while the machine is on? could bad RAM cause this to happen during use?

 

[Mpegger]

If your hard drive light is in sync with the beeps, and the sounds is not coming from the pc speaker, I'd take a guess that your hard drive is failing. When my WD failed, it would cause the whole computer to lock up and the hard drive itself(!) was beeping, not my motherboard. I didn't take notice of my hd light, so I'm unsure, but put a ear to your hd the next time it happens.
Oh, and I'd backup everything quick.

 

[h20link]

okay two other things:

1: my sys info lists my ram as 267mb of DDR, shouldn't it show up as 256? could this be a symptom of bad RAM?

2: i have an extra 80 gb HD laying around.....how would i go about transfering my info? my mobo has 2 IDE ports, can I hook the second HD up and transfer everything (OS included) to it and then remove the faulty drive?

 

[stool]

Go here and download Doc Memory. Run it and see if your memory modules are okay. You always show more RAM than your modules. If you have more than 1 stick check them out separately.

You can transfer most of your stuff to the second hard drive with no trouble, but without some third-party software you usually can't completely copy drives over. Windows sucks at this. Norton's "Ghost" is a good one to try. Also, some new hard drive driver disks contain programs to migrate 1 drive's contents to another. Worth your checking out.

 

[h20link]

ghost came in a bonus pack w/ my mobo so i guess i'll give it a shot. thanks for the info though....

 

[h20link]

shoot now i gotta dig up a floppy.....i don't keep those things around anymore, lol.

 

[Iron Hawk]

I keep a floppy in my FDD. Its the only Floppy in the house that does not belong to one of my fathers "Backup" disks. I find that the safest place for a floppie is in the Drive, where it cant get stepped on.