Limewire is very bad...

Well my optiplex gx 150 is shot at the moment. My room mate who recently moved out left the computer completely useless. It won't even boot up through POST. No screen comes up, it just beeps consecutively in intervals of half seconds, continuously beeping. Apparently he downloaded limewire, that's all i need t know as to why it's messed up. I tried switching it's hard drive with another one and it still does the same thing. At this point I have no idea if my computer can still be fixed or is a done deal. Some one please help me out here. Thanks. Chris

You may be able to research "beep codes" to determine the specific message attached to beep tone codes (long and short beeps) for your particular machine. However, in most all instances, a pattern of continuous repeating short beeps at boot time, indicates a hardware problem that usually relates to HEAT. I would open up that case to see if the fans are running correctly and to assure that there is not a clog of debris and dust bunnies preventing the machine cooling setup from doing it's job. (Have a professional do this procedure for you if you are not familiar and comfortable with appropriate electrical and static electricity precautions) Please note that computers (especially the CPU and Video Chips) "get hot" almost instantly when you turn on the machine. Therefore, do not discount the importance of this "beep warning". I would also inspect all of the power and ide connections to assure that something hasn't been jiggled loose. While making that inspection, I would inspect to assure that all PCI cards are firmly inserted, and that your RAM is firmly seated in its slots. I would also inspect the capacitors on the motherboard to assure that none are split or leaking. ___________ Putting a different Hard Drive into the machine will not correct the machine's functioning if it is a hardware failing or is related to HEAT. Further, you would have to install your Windows operating system onto any new Hard Drive, before you could expect the machine to Run. Even if the Hard Drive already has a Windows Operating System installed onto it, it will not boot a different machine just by plugging it into the different machine. Each installation of Windows takes into account the specific configuration of Hardware, firmware, chips, and BIOS of the machine.

Well turns out i ended up removing the original hard drive, i put in a 40gig hard drive i got as a hand me down as well. Now the computer is working fine. So i guess it must have been a hardware issue all along and nothing really having to do with heat as you mentioned. what my question is, the hard drive i removed, can it still be used? I mean, the fact that i can't even boot up the computer with it makes me wonder if what ever viruses were able to corrupt it that much to the point i can't even use it. Just still on the learning path to becoming a tech By the way, Thanks again doug for all your help. If i ever have any PC questions, I know who to go to. Thanks! Chris

OK Chris,

You have a fresh and functional HD.
Presumably you installed XP freshly?
Presumably you ran MS Updates, and installed an antivirus, antispyware, and firewall?

We just don't know about the old apparently dysfunctional HD yet, at this point.

So what's to do?

If you have installed updates and protection as listed above…..

Install that "dysfunctional" HD as a secondary "slave" hard drive.

If it is recognized by your current operating system, there are several things you can do:

• Scan the "dysfunctional" HD using the utilities that you've installed on the fresh HD (to remove malware).
• Copy/Paste any documents, tunes, pics that you wish you had been able to save.
• Run CHECKDISK upon the dysfunctional to identify and attempt repair of any bad sectors.
• Completely Reformat the dysfunctional hard drive.
• Run Disk Health software from the dysfunctional HD's manufacturer website.

Lotsa options… Hope you end up with a good spare HD.