computer won't turn on

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I have a computer problem.
some days my computer won't even send
a signal to the monitor
When I hit the power button
it just beeps

pattern:

1 long
8 short
pause
1 short

also, today it got to the dogin screen an froze
btw i'm dual booting xp/ubuntu

If its an AMI BIOS then isplay / retrace test failed. Reseat the video card.

probably somthing has become unseated while the cover is off check every card and connector is pushed in properly.

how can you tell
btw sometimes its 1-9-1 instead
of 1-8-1

had xp going for 5 minutes but it froze


low on memory too

Two reasons for any beep. VGA problem, not seated, monitor not plugged in, or dead card. Second would be complete memory failure. Come loose, etc. Or Dead

What's a VGA
Monitor is plugged in because it says its in power save mode
How can I tell which of the other ones it is

VGA = Video Graphics Array - or Video Card.

Remove the memory and hear for a new beep, if it remains the same, it's the memory. If it's different it's the VGA Adaptor at fault

First off, if you're not sure what you're doing, I'd advise against opening up your computer. If you do open up your PC, understand that you are doing it at your own risk and we can't be held responsible if bad stuff happens.

VGA stands for Video Graphics Adapter, and is simply the circuit board that controls the display. If you look inside your computer, the monitor is almost always plugged into the display adapter. On some lower end machines, the video adapter is integrated into the motherboard (the large square board at the back of the case), in which case, you probably would need to replace the entire motherboard.

If it's the memory that is a problem, the memory may need to be re-seated or replaced. I don't know what sort of memory is in your computer, but you may have one or more "sticks" plugged into the motherboard, usually located near the CPU (the large chip with a large heatsink and fan attached).

In any case, you may also want to use some compressed air to evict any dust bunnies from your system. This allows air to circulate more effectively, preventing the system from overheating

If aj2500 doesn't know what a vga card is, it might be better to take the computer in for repair

I tried turning it on today and it successfully booted into xp, but I thought I overused my memory so i tried to delete a few programs. It froze up while deleting one of them so I tried ctrl-alt-delete
nothing happened so I hit the reset button.

If it went into the gui doesn't that rule out my graphics card?

btw it's Nvida GeForce. Not sure what number though

Now you're losing me. Are you deleting stuff from memory or the hard disk? Memory and hard disk space are not the same. All your documents, music, games, software, etc. are stored on the hard disk. The memory is space where the computer stores information that it is working with. When you launch a program, for example, Windows will load it into memory so that the CPU can run it. Hitting Ctr+Alt+Delete will bring up the task manager, which allows you to close programs and free up memory. Deleting stuff from the hard drive will free up disk space.

If it's still beeping on boot-up, it's a hardware problem and messing around in Windows won't do a thing to fix it.

It's common to assume VGA is short for adaptor but the A = Array VGA plus Wiki

There is no such thing as a Memory Stick© it's a copyrighted name by Sony. Motherboards use memory modules.

If you have no experience with computers, I would advise against opening up the computer and take it to a computer repair shop.

The process of "Deleting programs and files" is just cleaning the hard drive a storage medium like a CD except more advanced, etc

The process of "closing actively running programs" is just clearing up the memory that the processor may use. The CPU has it's own RAM .... I think I should stop here

I tried again today but now it won't event boot anymore

when it did boot there were no beeps

I just had the power supply replaced , but now its using an older one
could that cause beeping?

Technically yes as it gives the internal speaker power to utilise it. If your knowledge of computers is very scarce I would suggest taking it into a computer shop. Everyone here can give multiple suggestions but at the end of the day a slight mis-touch can cause a 12,000v static electric to kill that device you just picked up with your bare hands.

New problem


System booting but unstable

or
Same problem as before


I can now make it boot, but it freezes and crashes often


I need to back my hdd up, but I dont have a floppy drive

How can I put it on a cd,dvd ect.?

How long does it stay turned on?
The files will take more than a floppy drive, you'll need at least a cd.

You can
1.- unplug the hard drive and connect it as a slave in another computer, or
2.- Just select the important documents and burn them to a cd

How can I put the hdd in another computer without losing the data on it.


I have several licenced programs on it that wont burn to cd and their activation codes were only good for 1 use and I only have NtBackup which cant span over multiple cd's