boot up

Hello
can someone help me please
during boot up i get a black screen which has a small flashing white line in the top left corner then it wont go any futher. i press f8 but all i get is a beeping noise & nothing happens.
can anybody help?
thanks

First. In what order does the beeping goes. Like is it short long short or... you get the picture.

Whit is your OS.

Second. Post this in Windows Forum. You will get better replies there.

Beeping noises during bootup are likely hardware issues.

Anyone able to help is going to need to know what type of computer you have, include any numbers you see on the case, on stickers, on parts inside the case.

They'll need to know if you've upgraded a video card, memory, or any other part in the computer lately.

They'll also need to know how many beeps it is & whether they're long or short beeps.
For instance, some systems may make 2 short beeps, followed by one long beep to let you know the memory is dead.

Include as much information about your computer as you can.

Doesn't sound like he's getting hardware/POST errors, but rather that annoying beep when the system won't accept any keyboard input. Sounds like a hard drive problem, but like joebert said, it's impossible to determine what's wrong without a lot more information.

the beep is one long beep.
computer details are as follows:
windows XP
pentium 4
1.6mhz
720 meg ram
320 gb maxtor hd
ibm cd burner
i have not installed any new hardware or software. 1 day it was fine, the day this happened.
any help would be great
thanks

Does the beep occur on it's own or only when you press a key?

only when i press the key