Power unit.

We've got an old pc that my wife just uses for word processing etc, so
don't really want to spend too much money on it. Switched it on a few
days ago, the lights flicked on, and it went dead! Checked and there
was a burning smell coming from the power unit. We had a spare power
unit, so plugged that in, and it fires up ok. However, after a couple
of seconds, a continous audible alarm sounds, bit like a police siren.
I spoke with a computer guy and he assures mem that if it sounds 3
times and stops, it's one thing (can't remember what he said!), but if
it's continous, it's connected with a memory card. I hadn't touched
that, but just in case, I took it out and refitted it, but still the
same. Any kind soul any idea what the problem may be? Could it have
been a power surge and have damaged the card?
Thanks
Frank

frank

re-seat the RAM chips... is the spare power supply the same as the dead
one?


"frank" <> wrote in message
news:...
> We've got an old pc that my wife just uses for word processing etc, so
> don't really want to spend too much money on it. Switched it on a few
> days ago, the lights flicked on, and it went dead! Checked and there
> was a burning smell coming from the power unit. We had a spare power
> unit, so plugged that in, and it fires up ok. However, after a couple
> of seconds, a continous audible alarm sounds, bit like a police siren.
> I spoke with a computer guy and he assures mem that if it sounds 3
> times and stops, it's one thing (can't remember what he said!), but if
> it's continous, it's connected with a memory card. I hadn't touched
> that, but just in case, I took it out and refitted it, but still the
> same. Any kind soul any idea what the problem may be? Could it have
> been a power surge and have damaged the card?
> Thanks
> Frank

frank wrote:
>
> We've got an old pc that my wife just uses for word processing etc, so
> don't really want to spend too much money on it. Switched it on a few
> days ago, the lights flicked on, and it went dead! Checked and there
> was a burning smell coming from the power unit. We had a spare power
> unit, so plugged that in, and it fires up ok. However, after a couple

Makes sense.


> of seconds, a continous audible alarm sounds, bit like a police siren.

Then its really not that old of a pc.


> I spoke with a computer guy and he assures mem that if it sounds 3
> times and stops, it's one thing (can't remember what he said!), but if
> it's continous, it's connected with a memory card. I hadn't touched


After you go into a system, its usually the agp card that gets
mis-seated causing the beeps.



--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 11:56:23 -0600, "Cory Lechner"
<> wrote:

>re-seat the RAM chips... is the spare power supply the same as the dead
>one?
>
I'm pretty sure it was. However, the old one has now been thrown out.
If it were different, would that account for the audio alarm? I'm
pretty much a newbie when it comes to what goes on under the bonnet!

Thanks



>
>"frank" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> We've got an old pc that my wife just uses for word processing etc, so
>> don't really want to spend too much money on it. Switched it on a few
>> days ago, the lights flicked on, and it went dead! Checked and there
>> was a burning smell coming from the power unit. We had a spare power
>> unit, so plugged that in, and it fires up ok. However, after a couple
>> of seconds, a continous audible alarm sounds, bit like a police siren.
>> I spoke with a computer guy and he assures mem that if it sounds 3
>> times and stops, it's one thing (can't remember what he said!), but if
>> it's continous, it's connected with a memory card. I hadn't touched
>> that, but just in case, I took it out and refitted it, but still the
>> same. Any kind soul any idea what the problem may be? Could it have
>> been a power surge and have damaged the card?
>> Thanks
>> Frank
>