A computer problem I guarentee you won't be able to solve

[Goldom]

For about a month now, every time I turn on my computer, about 40 seconds after it has finished booting, it will play the error noise, the one that sounds like a thunk. That's it. No error messages, no other problems. Just an error noise a minute after booting every time.

And there you have it. When I realized it was doing this every time, I thought to myself, "Yeah, I'm going to be living with that for the rest of this computer's lifespan." Some program, windows error, faulty driver, hardware, who knows. Certainly not you, from that little information. What a shame.

[alfredo]

1. did you install any new software around the time the

sound started?

[Berserker]

2. There could be lots

of reasons for this. Tell us about your computer. Like what OS are you using? Do you have a popup blocker installed? Do you run any anti-spyware programs? Tell us everything you can.

[alfredo]

3. Do you have a console that will show any events at boot

That would be helpful.

What would be the Windows equivalent?

[Osamasux]

4. Event Viewer

on XP Home, it's
Start | Program Files | Administrative Tools | Event Viewer

I use the snap-in in XP Pro, but I think it's in the the same location.

[alfredo]

5. Hey Goldum, read Osamasux's post, "Event Viewer"

Then let us see what it says right after you reboot. Just copy the whole thing and post it here.

Even if we don't know what it means, we can google the key words.

[trotsky]

6. What kind of USB devices do you have connected?

If it fails to initialize you might get an error noise. Try stripping off as much hardware as possible to see if the noise goes away.

[Berserker]

7. Bueller?............Bueller?

[democracyindanger]

8. I think Goldom's intention

was that he wasn't going to supply enough information...

[Goldom]

9. Pretty much. I don't have enough information to give.

I figure it's a lost cause at this point, but thanks for trying to help anyway. It's not much of a problem really. About the event viewer thing, I don't even have that folder in start menu (xp home?), but there is an event viewer control panel... but it just lists every system service, running or not, in a huge list, I don't think I could find one thing on it doing something in the 20 seconds after booting it takes to happen...

[NuttyFluffers]

10. : ) sounds like we are asking too much, our apologies.

yes, that event viewer in control panel should work. but perhaps because we aren't able to be in the same room and work with your machine we are at a serious disadvantage.

my suggestion to this, and pretty much all problems from now on, unless i can get more specifics, is computer hygiene. clean, clean, clean! if you really want to fix this issue you'd unplug all extraneous devices and leave a base system: cpu, monitor, kb/m. then you'd back up your system's current state. then run the cleaning programs to remove ads, spyware, glitches, viruses, cluttered space, etc. finish that, reboot, if problem is still there, then check add/remove programs to remove programs that are recent and questionable in reliability. then double check your start-up settings, blah blah blah... most people won't bother with the pc hygiene, at this point their eyes are glazing over.

either that or the simplest way is to restore to a previous point before the appearance of this problem. backup any important data between now and the restore point before going back to a restore point. restore points are your friend, just as much as regular pc hygiene.

ps: i love your dancing cow, i just had to get a copy of the image for me. i might consider using it for my avatar.... ahh, dancing cows.