Can someone help me out please?

[Randy-Darkshade]

I have my younger brothers old computer, when you turn it on, all that happens is, you get a long single beep and it shuts off again. It's an old p4 processor and it's on XP. Can someone shed some light on the problem?

[Kit H. Ruppell]

That long 'beep' is its cry of 'just let me die'. You should do the right thing.

[Mxpklx]

The power core is probably shot. To replace one is costly, so just get a new computer.

[Randy-Darkshade]

The power core is probably shot. To replace one is costly, so just get a new computer.

Power core? The part the power connecter from the PSU plugs into on the mobo?

[Mxpklx]

Power core? The part the power connecter from the PSU plugs into on the mobo?

Yeah. I just call it the power core. It's actually called a power supply.
That's what happened to my old mac, but replacing it was $300.

[Onnes]

Hm, it's possible that the CPU fan isn't coming on. Make sure it's actually getting up to speed on bootup.

[Randy-Darkshade]

Hm, it's possible that the CPU fan isn't coming on. Make sure it's actually getting up to speed on bootup.

It wasn't, but I replaced it.

Might try another one just to be sure.

[Onnes]

Replaced it. Did you redo the thermal paste?

[Randy-Darkshade]

Replaced it. Did you redo the thermal paste?

No cause I replaced the fan, not the heat sink.

I did change processors too so I did redo the thermal paste.

[Elim Garak]

Could be memory, though memory is usually 3 beeps but beep codes are dependent on the bios chip.
Try removing all the memory except one DIMM and try another one in its place if it doesn't work. Also unplug the machine first and pull out the CMOS RAM battery to full reset the bios settings.
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

[AshleyAshes]

As Dax said, the beep code is telling you what's wrong but the beep's meaning varies often by motherboard, even if there's a generalized method to them.

Determine what the motherboard model is, find the manual PDF online, find out what the code is... And then there's the worst part. Whatever is on that thing that's broken, the cost of replacing it would probably be higher than the value of the entire computer itself.

[shteev]

Yeah. I just call it the power core. It's actually called a power supply.
That's what happened to my old mac, but replacing it was $300.

PC power supplies are usually cheap and easy to install. There's no need to replace the computer if this is the problem.
However, I think it's safe to assume that this beep means that something is fatally wrong with the motherboard or another vital component.

[Elim Garak]

PC power supplies are usually cheap and easy to install. There's no need to replace the computer if this is the problem.
However, I think it's safe to assume that this beep means that something is fatally wrong with the motherboard or another vital component.

Correct, if its ram, you can get ram on the cheap at times. Motherboard broken, replace the damn thing.

[AshleyAshes]

Correct, if its ram, you can get ram on the cheap at times. Motherboard broken, replace the damn thing.

Well, not quite so much in this case. This machine is a P4, so it likely uses DDR1 RAM or, worse, RDRAM if it's an older P4. That stuff is like $25/GB if you get the cheaper stuff. Meanwhile that can get you 4GB of DDR3 easily.

[Randy-Darkshade]

Correct, if its ram, you can get ram on the cheap at times. Motherboard broken, replace the damn thing.

Can get motherboards fairly cheap on ebuyer.com. But with a machine of this age where it uses RAM previous to DDR1 it isn't worth it.

It also helps that I have a draw full of assorted RAM from computers I've junked.

[I Am That Is]

Do you have the name of the motherboard? Something similar happened to an old of I've got, but I never bothered to fix it, the things so old.

[shteev]

TBH the machine isn't really something you should dump a lot of money in. I'd recommend getting important files off the drive and investing in a new computer.