cleaned pc now it won't boot

hi
i was having a freezing problem: my cursor would freeze if the dell was on and inactive for over 15 or so minutes. I cleaned it - carefully with canned air. it was filled with dust. when i plugged it back in, it won't work. it's giving me a beep error - and the monitor won't turn on. it does not read the drive. the power lights are all on - it's properly connected - i push the on button - it begins to light up and then it beeps 3 times.
any ideas?
thanks
ps. the monitor power light is on but the monitor screen remains black.

nevermind it's fixed

Welcome to Ozzu victoriasky
Glad to see you got your problem fixed.
Care to share how you fixed it ?

hi
the dell started freezing up a couple of weeks ago when left on and not used. i took it apart today and blew tons of dust out! unbelieveable. when reconnected it was powered up but wouldn't boot and monitor screen was black:
opened case - removed memory cards snapped them back in.
at this point - when i turned it on it was dead! lol
soooo - i then unplugged the power plugs (2) from the mother board - and plugged them back in - and it worked!
so then - i ran msconfig to remove all programs that were running in the background - restarted and the pc has been on now for about an hour - inactive - and it's not freezing.
fingers crossed

you must have loosened your cords when you were cleaning. ive done that before when i added ram i loosened the Rom drive connection to the motherboard. i must have just bumped into it with my hand.

Yep sounds like a case of loose connections.
Thanks for sharing victoriasky

If you haven't allready, you should check that all your system fans are running smoothly.(no funny noises)
After that turn the system off & turn the fans with your fingers, If they feel "scratchy" or don't continue to spin by themselves after a quick flick you should replace them.

When systems get as dusty as you described, fans tend to get damaged and may burn out soon after cleaning if they haven't allready.

hi
i thought it was fixed but when i left it on today for 1.5 hours, came home and it was frozen again. the fans are both running fine - smooth and it's cool.
what now?

make sure you dont have a virus or lots of spyware.

this pc never goes online. it's my data back up computer (has not been online for over a year). but i'll run a virus check now anyway and spyware. thanks

I'm no hardware expert but I think the processor has been damaged from dust buildup keeping the fan from working the way it should & may or may not be saved by replacing the thermal compound between it & a new cpu fan.



Is the data being backed up from a computer that does go online ?
If a computer ever gets connected to another be it home network or putting a floppy disk with files from another computer in it, then it might as well be online

hi
that's my old (er) pc, so i take data off there - on cd or floppy - and transfer it to this one. (i never do the reverse) it's just holding my files until i can someday get them on here. i can't network: that's ME - this is xp.
i am thinking about taking those 2 memory cards out and putting in one new one. seems to me, there could be a connection. process of elimination: it' s not overheating, not dusty now, but there was a memory issue when i cleaned it - so maybe one of the cards is bad?
i'll try it and post back.

Just a shot in the dark!!!! But, try taking the case apart and examining the heatsink for your processor. Eventually dust will build up over the entire heatsink preventing airflow from cooling your processor.

This will cause your system to reboot, or freeze, depending on make and model of components

Oh, I usually use a vacuum to suck the dust out of the heatsink instead of blowing dust between the heatsink.

Just noticed your comment about ME and XP and networking. For what it's worth for future reference you can network the two. This article details one of the common problems and how to overcome it:
http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/xprouter98.htm