Loud beeping, flashing red light, loud fan comes on at startup, I think I broke my puter! Help!

[TY965]

HP Compaq 6000 Pro MicroTower Win 7 64bit refurbished 

Had trouble with graphics about 8 months ago, support forum advised that I didn't need  a graphics card, that my computer had internal graphics and would work without it, and it DID! It was recommended that I purchase a new graphic card, PCI Amd radeon, and I did, but never got around to installing it.  PC still worked fine all this time.

I purchased a refurbished HP Monitor 32's 31.5 in Mfg date 2020.   Both PC & Monitor have worked fine for last 4 months.  Turned PC on 3 days ago, and Monitor said "no signal."  At first i assumed problem was with the monitor, so I switched VGA to an older 18" HP Monitor which DID receive a signal and was able to watch videos and carry on as usual.

I researched the newer monitor, and after some time, I thought that maybe my PC might have been too weak for big screen monitor & eventually stopped functioning (I remember a few times, recently, that the screen went black, when trying to enlarge maps on a certain site, and the error message was "graphics card stopped working" but then the screen came back on)

I wanted to use my big screen and finally decided to install the recommended AMD Radeon PCI card and insert the two new 4GB Memory cards I had at the same time.

Stupid me, I thought I would try to see if the failed NVIDIA Graphics card might still work and that perhaps it had just been jostled and unseated during a recent apt move.  It did not work and now there was "no signal" on both Monitors!

I removed the NVIDIA and installed the AMD Card and two 4GB Memory cards, filling up all the slots.  Turned on PC and got a loud beeping sound, & flashing red light coming from the starburst icon directly under the start button, and a fan came on really loud (I had never heard the fan before).  that continued for several seconds while I tried to catch my thoughts about what to do, so I tried to turn PC off manually at the stat button.  THAT did not work, so I could think of nothing else but to pull the power cord.

I removed the PCI card AND the new memory cards, plugged power cord back in, and connected the VGA  cord to both PC and older Monitor.  Pushed start button and the loud beeping, flashing red light and loud fan all started up again.  The Computer did not function in any other way than just those 3 things.

Is there any hope for me, my PC and all the stored information on it??

I tried to give you as much information as possible that I thought my be relevant to the experts here on this forum., to be able to form an opinion.

Thank you for any advise you may choose to share...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You will need to count the number of beeps and flashing red light sequences and consult the troubleshooting guide, at the link below, appendix A, starting on page 57 for how to troubleshoot the applicable beep code.

c01516072.pdf (hp.com)

[TY965]

Paul,

I am using a laptop that I have seldom used in the past for anything except videos.  I have had extreme trouble today, logging into long standing sites, so...perhaps that the reason that the link you sent me to access the applicable beeping code, doesn't work?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

I have attached the troubleshooting guide below...

[TY965]

Thank you, so much, Paul!!

I will wait on "accepting as a solution" until after I read the pdf.  That will have to wait for a while, as I have been sitting for far too long already today.

I will get back to you later.

Thanks, again,

Taylor

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Taylor. 

[itsmyname]

@TY965 -- since your computer has integrated video, remove the add-in video-card, and connect the cable from your monitor to the port on your computer. When you power-on your computer, does it still do those "alarms" ?

Also, remove all 4 sticks of RAM, and then put 1 of the original sticks into the "DIMM1" socket -- probably closest to the processor/heat-sink/fan.  Then, power-on your computer. Still "alarming" ?

[TY965]

Thank you, I have done all that you suggested.  I think I broke it.

[TY965]

I read the guide and discovered that I get a series of 5 Beeps then a 2 second pause while the light still flashes  The series of 5 beeps happen 5 times.  The guide said it had to do with memory.  I opened her up again and I noticed that there wasn't a OIMM in the designated Black slot? I must have taken them out of order the last time.  There is always supposed to be a DIMM in the black slot. so I thought, Yay, but after I changed the order to first and third, the beeping continued.  I tried the Graphics card again, but still nothing.  I am very tired today.  Did not sleep last night.

Maybe I should have waited until I was a little more refreshed to work on it.

I am sure I broke it this time.

Thank you, again, Paul

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Take a break and try it again.  You have nothing to lose.

Just try one memory chip in the black slot and see what happens.

If you have two, try each one.

It is possible one of the chips is defective.

Also you have to really firmly seat that memory in the slot.