Linux killed my machine???

[Sandy Sanderson]

I have an old Packard Bell which has sat in the corner and been played with from time to time by my grand-children. It has XP Professional loaded and has never given any trouble.
The other day I decided to try a live CD with a small Linux.(DSL)
For a while I was feeling my way around Linux and enjoying myself.

And then it died.

Symptoms are a repeated long beep and no output to the screen. CPY fan is running.

Now did Linux do something? Or was that just a coincidence.

Either way around it would be nice to get the machine back to life.

[jbennet]

most likely a coincidence

you will need to find out what model it is, specifically what motherboard/bios it has. The beep is called a POST signal and somewhere in the motehrboard/bios manual there is a list of what different beep sequences mean.

how old is the pc too?

[cguan_77]

hi try to take out the HDD check if it helps...

[Sandy Sanderson]

hi try to take out the HDD check if it helps...

Please clarify what you mean by 'Try HDD check'

[cguan_77]

just take out the HDD ..check if you will be able to get a POST.. normally if the MOBO is working fine.. even though the HDD is not connected you should be able to get a display...then if you will be able to have a display then it could be the HDD need to change or re-partition..just try.. it doesn't hurt.. gets what i mean?

[Sandy Sanderson]

I have now disconnected the hard drive and the CD and DVD

On switching on power I get a brief flash on the keyboard, nothing on the screen and a long Beep which is repeated

Where do I go now?

Regards Sandy.

[caperjack]

I think coincidence also ,you don't need to take the hdd out ,just unplug it .the long beep is either ram or video ,i think ,maybe ram
try putting live Linux back and booting to it .if it doesn't work, then try the ram ,if you have more than one ram chip ,try it with one and then the other .