OK, this happened for the second time in 2 weeks:

The desktop lost power, but everything else (modem,monitor) is OK. Then a 2 pitched siren sounds comes out from the back of the computer. I unplug it and the sound still continues for 4-5 seconds.

Then I plug it back and everything is fine.

I am guessing that maybe the fan stopped working and the computer was overheating and shut itself down? And the sound is made, so it would give a warning that something is seriously wrong and needs attention???

OK, this happened for the second time in 2 weeks:

The desktop lost power, but everything else (modem,monitor) is OK. Then a 2 pitched siren sounds comes out from the back of the computer. I unplug it and the sound still continues for 4-5 seconds.

Then I plug it back and everything is fine.

I am guessing that maybe the fan stopped working and the computer was overheating and shut itself down? And the sound is made, so it would give a warning that something is seriously wrong and needs attention???

it would be wise to either have it fixed in a shop or to buy another computer and sell this one on ebay.

OK, this happened for the second time in 2 weeks:

The desktop lost power, but everything else (modem,monitor) is OK. Then a 2 pitched siren sounds comes out from the back of the computer. I unplug it and the sound still continues for 4-5 seconds.

Then I plug it back and everything is fine.

I am guessing that maybe the fan stopped working and the computer was overheating and shut itself down? And the sound is made, so it would give a warning that something is seriously wrong and needs attention???

Question 1: You on an HP machine?

Question 2: Is the siren sound a series of beeps, or something else?


Yes, motherboards are set up to report warning alarms whenever stuff goes wrong. Some motherboards will monitor the fan speed, and will play an alarm if the RPM is too low. Some have temperature alarms which sound when the CPU temp reaches a certain threshold. I built a computer once, and forgot to put any compound between the heat sink and the CPU...... the computer ran for about 5 minutes before it started going "beep! beep! beep! beep!"

There are also series of beeps whenever things fail during POST (IE-- video card failure may signal a morse code-ish sounding "beeeeeep beep beeeeeeeep beep beep". If there are problems with ram (--for example-- you forgot to install the ram), the motherboard sometimes signals an alarm.


You can try going into BIOS to see how yours is set up. Mine at home has a series of settings under the category "Hardware monitor".

1. It is an Emachine.
2. The sound is an alternating 2 pitched siren, like an emergency car's.

It just happened again, this time I didn't unplug it immediatelly, and the sound kept going on, until I unplugged it. I am going to the Emachine website to see what they say...

erm, sorry, a little info for the clueless one here: wtf is an emachine?

It's a brand of computer you want to avoid at all costs.

Syzygys, check your BIOS manual and look up the beep codes. Or else find the manual for your motherboard online.

I just talked to the costumer service, I don't think the guy had any idea, he gave me instructions how to reset the RAM...

This is my 3rd Emachine and I never had any problems with them, also my friend has like 4, again no problem.

Siren sound from the unplugged computer

maybe it's stolen.

reset your ram, good one i will note it down in my book of crazy reasons why

It's a brand of computer you want to avoid at all costs.
emachines is a fine brand. mine hasn't given me any problems

Then a 2 pitched siren sounds comes out from the back of the computer. I unplug it and the sound still continues for 4-5 seconds.

sounds like a fan bearing is beginning to fail, possibly a power supply fan.
as it gets worse it will start to squeal when you turn it on too.
eventually it won't shut up, it will soun off untill you replace it or power down.

i advise to replace both the supply fan and the CPU fan, unless of course you can narrow it down.

if you think its the fans just put a finger on/in it to stop it, if the sound stops you found your problem.

oh, real good advice, and who's gona donate the spare finger? :D

Don't listen to the sirens! They will lure you into their realm and enslave you!

This is my 3rd Emachine and I never had any problems with them, also my friend has like 4, again no problem.Maybe I'm just unlucky. Everyone I know who has had an emachine ended up having huge problems with it. I think I've had to fix more emachines than anything else.

buy a new computer

sounds like a fan bearing is beginning to fail, possibly a power supply fan.
as it gets worse it will start to squeal when you turn it on too.

It is not a squiking sound, it is a BIOS sound like 1-2-1-2

The reason I am surprized is because :

1. I never heard this kind before.
2. It continues AFTER unpluging it for a few seconds. If machine stays pluged, it goes on forever?

I am pretty sure it is a fan problem, I am just not sure which one...

I took the cover off and vacuumed the machine, it was pretty dusty. Turned it on, both fans came on nicely...

Edit: I just found this online:

"Your cpu is overheating and the siren is the bios overheat warning. If you didn't shut down immediately you may have fried your cpu. The cpu cooling fan may have failed or become unplugged. If you built this pc yourself you may have misinstalled the heatsink. On amd cpus it is easy to put the heatsink on backward leaving the die unconnected to the heatsink."

Sounds a little odd that it still happens even though you've cleaned it all out. Usually when my computer complains, I hack out the fluff from the fans and everything's hunky-dory.

I wouldn't be too worried about having damaged your CPU. It's not that easy to destroy them. I've left the CPU unplugged by accident and wondered why the PC was screaming at me for a minute, then I sussed it and pulled the power cable out.

Could be your cpu fan bearings, in which case you'll need to replace it. If you do replace it, make sure you get a decent fan online - make sure it's compatible with your cpu/socket. Get some thermal paste - decent stuff like Arctic Silver.

you can just take the craooy fan off the heatsink and find someplace to screw a 120mm fan, let it blow cool air over cpu + chipst +RAM simultaneouslyy.

Maybe I'm just unlucky. Everyone I know who has had an emachine ended up having huge problems with it. I think I've had to fix more emachines than anything else.
you need to edit post 14 of this thread.
i never said ANYWHERE that i owned 3 emachines.

Sounds a little odd that it still happens even though you've cleaned it all out. Usually when my computer complains, I hack out the fluff from the fans and everything's hunky-dory.

I cleaned it after the sound and so far everything is OK. But thanks for the advice.

I will report back if it happens again...

I cleaned it after the sound and so far everything is OK.
Did you give it a good scrub with soap and water?

Did you give it a good scrub with soap and water?

Nah, just hosed it down. It is amazing how much these Emachines can withstand...

you need to edit post 14 of this thread.
i never said ANYWHERE that i owned 3 emachines.Haha. I meant to type Syzygys, but I accidentally typed leopold. It's fixed now.

Today it happened again, so I am going to get a new CPU fan. It costs under $20....

Today it happened again, so I am going to get a new CPU fan. It costs under $20....

trust me.

sell this comPuter
buy a new one

trust me.

sell this comPuter
buy a new one

stfu Dragon. Your advice is worthless as ever.

stfu Dragon. Your advice is worthless as ever.

thats what I do. I sell it on ebay and buy a new one much better, just 250$ more.

Anyways in his case, just by telling us that its beeping, will not solve much, there are like so many things that can go wrong. including wrong dos configuration, some malfunctioning in hardware, overheating, anything really.

so many things that can go wrong. including wrong dos configuration, .

DOS?

FFS.

FFS.
so I looked up your FFS in urban dictionary online and its yet another curse from you.

DOS is a bigger insult.

DOS is a bigger insult.

how am I wrong? :shrug:
when I press F8 and go to that dos configuration mode thing there are so many things to mess with, including assigning the drives for disks and such...if its assigned a wrong name and windows does get to start up even with a mislabeled drive and everytime that dvd is accessed an error comes out, maybe its not a siren sound but whatever.

Of course after countless readings on the issue, I realized that its an issue of overheating of CPU.
1) remove the heatsink/fan assembly
2) clean it, as well as the proscessor
3) clean and replace the old heat paste
4) put it back together making sure it's all properly seated.

But phlogistian has got it going against me for some reason. well screw him.

Hitting F8 during startup doesn't take you into "DOS configuration mode". BIOS configuration is what you're talking about. Very different.

I agree with the rest, though. If you're going to get a new fan, I'd clean and re-apply the thermal paste as well. I use Arctic Silver, but I've read that most of the cheaper brands work just as well.

I googled "replacing CPU fan" and look what I have found, and this is from Emachines:

http://downloads.emachines.com/service_docs/nexgen2_CPUFan_a.pdf

This is a cool little freeware to monitor your fans and speeds called Speedfan:

http://www.almico.com/sfscreenshots.php

Hitting F8 during startup doesn't take you into "DOS configuration mode". BIOS configuration is what you're talking about. Very different.

He means the startup options in Windows 2000 onwards. There are options to start in 'Safe Mode' and one to start a command line interface. It certainly isn't DOS. It does everything that DOS did, but it is not DOS.

Nowhere has it been mentioned that before the sound started after F8 was pressed, Dragon just throws in an unhelpful post, just like he did on the 'finding a short' thread.

But phlogistian has got it going against me for some reason. well screw him.

Dragon, yes I have an issue with you, you talk rubbish. If you have nothing helpful or relevant to post, STFU.

This is a cool little freeware to monitor your fans and speeds called Speedfan:

http://www.almico.com/sfscreenshots.php

Does it use 100% of the CPU while running?

Speedfan? No.

This exercise was interesting. The powersaver is set up that after 15 mins it goes to Standby. Now it looks like the temperature jumps up when coming back quickly from Standby mode, I guess because the fan was stopped while in Standby.

It went up as high as 80C although currently is at 18C and the normal would be around 30-35C. So my guess is that this overheating occurs when the computer is coming out of Standby 2-3 times in a row...
So as a precaution, I changed the setting, and now it doesn't go to Standby. Left the computer alone for 3 hours, temp stayed under 20C...