my computer is sounding an alarm bell ?

[dweller]

on boot up. Never did this before, so not sure what it's about.

i followed a link here today (i think) and my browser started acting fritzy, opened about 20 new browsers before i shut off the program (mozilla) and ended that nonsense. Opened again without a problem other than slow opening. Then i shut it off and went to work.

came home for lunch and booted up and got the alarm bell, didn't log on w/ my password, but then rebooted, and alarm again. Turned it off and booted up again, same alarm.

now, i haven't started scanning for virus/spyware etc. Will do that shortly, but curious about the bell ringing. I don't know that i have something set for it to do that as a warning,or if it's default, or why it would do it, or what it means.

Dell Optiplex GX1 w/ win2k ... no other problems i'm aware of at the moment.

any ideas?

thanks
dp

[hobbit709]

1. what kind of alarm?

Fast beeps, high pitched beep or what. How many beeps. These all mean different things. The problem could be memory-3 fast beeps, overheating-loud siren like beep, other beep codes mean other things.

[dweller]

2. a bell

like an alarm, tin sounding, i thought it was an alarm clock from another room, looked around and realized it was the cpu.

almost faint, but loud enough to hear it in the other room. I mean, not like a firehouse bell, more like a cellphone that has a ringer like a regular phone turned down some. And it's constant 'dingadingadinga' not 'ring ring' ..... 'ring ring'.

:shrug:

it always beeps once or so on bootup, this was a bell sound.
dp

[hobbit709]

3. Could be overheating

Check to see if the fan on the cpu is turning. Might want to blow out the dust on the heat sink.

[dweller]

4. i'll check that

running spybot now.

will clean it up tonite, lunch is about over.

thanks
dp

[Jazzgirl]

5. What hobbit said.

Often on bootup this indicates CPU overheating. The CPU fan could be malfunctioning. Might be a good time to replace it.

[dweller]

6. okay, spring cleaned the box

man, it does collect the dust. Both fans were fairly hairy w/ dust.
Took some time to blow it out and suck it up w/ a vac. My daughters left behind some makeup brushes that work really well to dislodge the fine coating that had collected (i guess the same way they were designed to lay it on) on all surfaces.

on boot up, not a beep, bell, nada. I can hear the fans again. They are just silent enough that unless you are listening for them, you don't notice them.

what is it w/ the wires, cables, etc? Everytime i go into the box, on hooking it back up, i take my time to carefully lay out the wires so nothing is tangled/binding etc, and everytime i go back into it, they are tangled all up like snakes in mating season. Gremlins?

thanks for the tips and timely responses. I guess i'm good to go, will check out a new fan to have on hand anyway.

peace
dp

[hobbit709]

7. The wiring tangle is caused by gremlins!

I've put everything in place, never moved or touched anything and 6 months later everything is all tangled up. It has to be gremlins.

[MyNameGoesHere]

8. I used to have that problem

then i bought rounded custom length cables and those little plastic fastener thingies. It added more room and better air flow and looks marvelous. Also for extreme customizations I got my eye on an external power supply with a quick disconnect. Yeah i got to much time on my hands.

[amerikat]

9. Google Dell beep codes

Get a list of beep sequences and what they are trying to tell you