What does this mean? (computer tech related)
 

My computer seems to like to crash and then oscillate 2 tones until I turn the power supply off.

Hmm, that's very unusual. Have you tried reinstalling your operating system? You can see if it's the software or hardware by putting a boot CD in usually, like the Windows XP install CD or a linux Live boot.

No, but I am overdue for a reinstall.

Yeah it's a drag when it gets loaded up with shit and starts getting bad. Reinstall and see how it goes for sure!

It could very well be that your harddrive has seen it's days. If those sounds are coming from the drive, and not the speakers, I suggest making a backup of all your stuff as soon as you can.

A continuous beeping alarm after you've had the computer on for a while very often indicates that your CPU is overheating. Download EVEREST or some other diagnostic tool to check the temperature of your CPU and the rpm of the fan that is supposed to be cooling it (maybe it's broken?).


Unless you mean the beeping sounds occur during startup after it crashed and you've restarted it. In that case you should look up the exact beep codes of your BIOS to find out what it means.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test

Yeah, I figured that out, went to my BIOS and turned down the CPU speed.

I should probably also turn my computer off once in awhile :rolleyes:

Our school's computers did that. Reformat your harddrive.

unless the overheating alarm rarely happened, that's not the ideal solution though. it makes your computer slower and you still may meet the same problems in future (unless you were overclocking it previously?)
i'd still try to monitor the fan speed and replace it if it turns out to be running slow/irregular. a new fan doesn't cost much.

ooohhh, I thought you meant COLOR tones. Stupid me.

Well, I had it running Turbo, I set it to BIOS default now.