Impossible to boot. Bios keeps on restarting

[camste]

Hi everybody,
I'm having a problem. Starting from this morning my computer won't start up anymore. It goes into the bios, giving off that common startup bip, shows the screen with the Energy star logo, gives me information about the CPU (2.8 ghz etc), and then the next line is simply "Mem". Afterwards it powers down, and starts the same procedure over again. (But there are no other bios beeps, just that short startup one in the beginning.) So I guess the graphics card is ok, and the cpu is ok, but that the memory fails..? I have two sets of 2 gig, and tried removing one and booting, same issue. Tried putting it in again and removing the other, same issue. (But it wouldn't make sense that both of the memory sets would be broken?) What could be the problem then??

Overnight the computer was in sleep mode, and waking it this morning was no problem. I pressed enter, the screen turned on and everything looked normal. I tried opening the folder with my videos through a key on my keyboard, but nothing happened. So I tried opening my documents through the start menu, but nothing happened. I tried starting firefox, but nothing happened. Tried using the reboot option on the start menu, but nothing happened. So I powered it off, and when I then wanted to boot this problem arised.

I have been hearing noises from it lately, and I guess I've waited too long, not doing anything about it (yes, I know it's stupid... ) When I've been using the computer, (typically while playing games, so I guess it's had to work a bit harder,) it has given off these beeping noises. No steady pattern, just coming and going, "beep beeeeeeep bep beeeeeeeeeeeeep". There could also be hours between them, so I have no idea what was going on, Sometimes one of the beeps could last for minutes, and I'd shut down the game. At times also my games have suddenly stopped working, and quit on me. I don't know if it's related though, because the noises haven't come at the same time.

Any ideas anyone?
Thank you.

 

[Slaymate]

How clean is the PC and how old is it? It sounds like the memory but the cpu could be getting hot causing it to shutdown and restart. The random beeping, sounds like a possible cpu overheat warning. And it could be a power supply issue as your voltages could be fluctuating.

 

[camste]

The PC is a little bit more than two years old (so no warranty). I have cleaned the fans a little bit, but I guess I'll need some compressed air to get out everything from the CPU fan. (or is it possible to unscrew it to try to clean it a little?)

I found the most likely cause for the boot issue though. Switched off my external hard drive, and then it boots.. So I guess that's the one which is burned out. Turned it on again once the computer was up and running, and it installed the drivers, but still the drive didn't show up in "my computer". Rebooted again with the drive turned on, and still the same problem, so it only boots without this drive. Maybe that's what caused everything to crash this morning, because the folder with the videos I wanted to open were on this external drive. The problem now is just all of the stuff I've lost I tried connecting it to my laptop as well, and it doesn't work, so it's definitely broken.

This doesn't explain the beeps though, because they were coming from the computer itself rather than the external drive. Could it beep like that if trying to read something from the USB and not getting a response? (These games I were playing weren't on that drive though, and it hasn't beeped when I've watched video or played music from the drive.) So I guess that might be it overheating then as you say. And there are some problems with the power in this building as well. My stereo makes a noise every time the freezer in the kitchen turns on.