long sustained beep on win98 system

[npoon]

when i power up my win98 system, i get a long sustained beep. this only happens sometimes when i power up, the steady long beep. if i change the power supply, will that fix the problem?
another problem i am having with this system is when i switched the system from dial up internet to hi speed (via linksys wrt router), the dial up adapter keeps "reinstalling" itself. for example, when i go to network, properties, configuration, and i remove the dial up adapter, and tcp/ip dial up adapter (because i do not require it since i now am on high speed). when i reboot the system...there they are again. ?????

[Kwirky]

I'd say the most likely culprit is the PSU, but the problem is that if the system is old enough to still have Windows 98, it's probably not worth enough to put money into to fix it, especially if it's only an occasional problem. Also, modern power supplies don't might not work with that PC if it needs the -5V line. You'll probably be better off if you back up all your stuff & migrate to another, newer, PC.

As for the dialup adapter, why not just physically remove it from the PC?

[npoon]

i would love to just toss it but for i have some critcal files on it and i can't seem to get it back on my network. i mean the cat5 cables and switch lightup but it just doesn't show up in my network places. i can ping the other computers but i can't map the drives.....?

[hagbard]

That's your computer begging you to put it out of its misery.

[audit13]

Do you have the motherboard manual? The long beeps could indicate a memory problem.

[Kwirky]

i would love to just toss it but for i have some critcal files on it and i can't seem to get it back on my network. i mean the cat5 cables and switch lightup but it just doesn't show up in my network places. i can ping the other computers but i can't map the drives.....?

If you want to dump it but need those files (itself a bad situation - keeping critical files on a single old machine could spell trouble), here's some ideas:

- Be sure that client for microsoft networks and file & printer sharing is installed in the network properties screen
- Check for any firewalls blocking it, and shut down any unused PCs with firewalls installed (I've seen some weird behaviour where ZoneAlarm on one PC affects the whole network).
- Failing that, you could buy a USB stick to move everything over OR just move the hard drive into a better PC, even temporarily, to copy the files off of the drive.