Computer Help

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TorachiKatashi
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Computer Help

Postby TorachiKatashi » 22 Feb 2012, 19:42

A lot of you guys are pretty computer savvy, so maybe someone can help me out.

Right the hell out of the blue today, my computer tower suddenly decided to beep any time an error window pops up. Or if I backspace in an empty window. Or I guess just any time I piss it off.

It's getting really, really annoying, fast. I've tried Googling it but the only answers I'm finding are talking about beeps to warn about problems, like problems with the fans or whatever, which this isn't. It only beeps if I've done something to "make" it beep.

I can't imagine anything I could have done to make this start happening, I didn't change any settings anywhere or install anything or download anything or do, well, ANYTHING. It wasn't happening when I went to bed last night, and was happening when I woke up this morning.

I'm running Windows XP. The knowledge I have about computers is pretty slim so I wouldn't really know any other information to give you other than that.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
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gcninja
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Re: Computer Help

Postby gcninja » 22 Feb 2012, 19:44

If its what I think it is, check here http://bubble.ro/How_can_I_turn_off_system_beeps.html
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TorachiKatashi
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Re: Computer Help

Postby TorachiKatashi » 22 Feb 2012, 19:52

Thanks, but I don't think that could be it - the sound isn't coming from my speakers, it's coming from inside the tower. The article talks about speaker volume, but this is beep is the exact same volume regardless of it my speakers are even turned on, or if the volume is even muted.
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Re: Computer Help

Postby taza » 22 Feb 2012, 20:11

Just so you know, it's called a "PC Speaker".

I remember something like this... but I've been awake for far too long, thus cannot really recall what the cause was. Sorry.
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gcninja
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Re: Computer Help

Postby gcninja » 22 Feb 2012, 20:20

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/ ... tem-beeps/
I swear there's something in the BIOS for the PC Beep, but
1) Its been forever
2) I believe its also used for error codes so I wouldn't

Have you tried disabling it though from the hardware manager at least?
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theDreamer
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Re: Computer Help

Postby theDreamer » 22 Feb 2012, 20:21

Mine does that all the time.

I just unplugged the speaker.

Then one time it failed to POST and I had no idea why, and then I remembered I unplugged the speaker.

(so when I plugged in the speaker it could give me the beep code and I fixed it)
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Re: Computer Help

Postby gcninja » 22 Feb 2012, 20:23

theDreamer wrote:Mine does that all the time.

I just unplugged the speaker.

Then one time it failed to POST and I had no idea why, and then I remembered I unplugged the speaker.

(so when I plugged in the speaker it could give me the beep code and I fixed it)

That's why I would suggest not doing it..
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TorachiKatashi
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Re: Computer Help

Postby TorachiKatashi » 22 Feb 2012, 20:44

I guess my biggest question is, why is it suddenly doing this NOW when it's never done this before? If it had done this from the beginning I could accept "you need that beep for warnings so there's nothing you can do" as an answer, but this literally started happening fifteen hours ago. I've had this computer for three years, and it has never done it before now.

If it wasn't doing it before, and is now, there obviously has to be SOME way to make it stop again.

Like I said, I know nothing about computers, so I honestly don't know what the "hardware manager" is or how to get to it or what to do with it.

Edit: I started doing the stuff in that post, but it just ended up making more shit start beeping at me (it keeps asking me am I sure I want to do the stuff I'm doing and those little windows popping up makes it beep) and there are people sleeping so I'm just going to have to wait and try to tomorrow. Thanks for the link, though.
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Lorithad
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Re: Computer Help

Postby Lorithad » 22 Feb 2012, 20:49

I'm reasonably certain that that's just a windows sound setting. Go into control panel, go to sounds, and just disable them all for a test.
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empath
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Re: Computer Help

Postby empath » 22 Feb 2012, 23:14

Lorithad wrote:I'm reasonably certain that that's just a windows sound setting. Go into control panel, go to sounds, and just disable them all for a test.


Yep; that's what it almost certainly is - somehow Windows has gotten the idea to send any 'error' signal not to your sound card and fancy speaker system, but straight from the motherboard to the legacy Internal PC tweeter.

As others have stated, it's a really BAD idea to physically disconnect that old tweeter inside your tower, since it's a pretty vital 'insurance policy' if some critical fault occurs with your hardware.

If you (assuming you're using Window$) go into Control Panel, then Sound, and go to the "Sounds" tab, you can select one of the actions that Windows would notify you of some sort of action (take "Default Beep", say) and you can "> Test" it to - as Lorithad suggested - confirm that this triggers that cheap ol' tweeter inside your case.

As far as my Not-A-Licensed-Professional knowledge permits me at 3:30am, I'm guessing something changed the 'theme' of your O/S and it might be as easy to fix as going to the dropdown list under "Sound Scheme:" and choosing 'Windows Default'...YMMV, of course; second-hand troubleshooting is always speculative. Worst case scenario, you could always select the 'No Sounds' Scheme which would silence Windows from notifying you of anything aurally - like that two-tone indication that you've just unplugged your usb-key, or a system error dialog popped up...behind the full-screen application that is active... :?

Anyways, here's hoping it's just some game or app that pushed Windows to use some funky, custom Sound Scheme, and going back to 'Windows Default' sorts it all out! *crossing fingers*
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tamaness
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Re: Computer Help

Postby tamaness » 23 Feb 2012, 00:56

You might check to see if stickykeys is turned on. That sends a system beep when it acknowledges a keystroke.
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TorachiKatashi
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Re: Computer Help

Postby TorachiKatashi » 23 Feb 2012, 07:10

Well... I woke up again this morning (again, not having DONE anything, since I had to go to bed last night before getting to try any of your guys' advice) and now it's stopped. So while I'm so glad my computer has decided to stop screaming at me for backspacing one space too far, I'm now pretty sure my computer is in fact trying to troll me.

Thanks a ton for all your help, though, and I'm definitely keeping his page bookmarked in case it decides to come back.
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Re: Computer Help

Postby theDreamer » 23 Feb 2012, 09:34

Also, you have UAC on. Turn it off if you like a computer that doesn't fight you to do stuff.
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gcninja
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Re: Computer Help

Postby gcninja » 23 Feb 2012, 09:46

theDreamer wrote:Also, you have UAC on. Turn it off if you like a computer that doesn't fight you to do stuff.
TorachiKatashi wrote:I'm running Windows XP. The knowledge I have about computers is pretty slim so I wouldn't really know any other information to give you other than that.
EJ wrote:Lyinginbedmon, I'm looking forward to when Paul or Graham reset your & Elomin's post count back to zero. If you keep it up it's bound to happen =p

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Elomin Sha
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Re: Computer Help

Postby Elomin Sha » 23 Feb 2012, 09:51

Give it a reboot.

Step 1: Wear your boots;
Step 2: Give it a boot right in the keister.
Step 3: Kick it again in the same place.
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Re: Computer Help

Postby gcninja » 23 Feb 2012, 10:04

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Re: Computer Help

Postby empath » 23 Feb 2012, 14:46

TorachiKatashi wrote:...Thanks a ton for all your help, though, and I'm definitely keeping his page bookmarked in case it decides to come back.


For someone who professes to be ill-inclined to technical matters, that's very perspicacious and foresighted of you; one axiom I kept from my Help Desk days is "Problems that go away on their own, often come back on their own, too."

From looking closer to what you'd mentioned, it does sound entirely possible that Sticky Keys™ or another 'accessibility feature' (now called "Ease of Access Center") had been accidentally enabled (holding down the NUM LOCK key for 5 seconds is the default method of enabling Toggle Keys™, which plays a tone whenever any of the '...LOCK' keys are pressed - handy for the blind who can't see a keyboard light or monitor indicator saying whether CAPS IS ON or not, but potentially aggravating to someone who doesn't need it or WANT it enabled)

I remember a surreal experience when I accidentally discovered the keyboard shortcut to turn on Microsoft Narrator; all of a sudden my computer started spontaneously speaking what I'd written in a post back to me! :shock:

...turned out to be quite cool. (I still prefer M$ Sam to M$ Anna, more's the pity)
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Re: Computer Help

Postby Keab42 » 23 Feb 2012, 15:05

Fun fact I actually have toggle keys switched on because I have a habit of over-stretching when trying to touchtype and hitting CAPS instead of a. So the audible warning is useful to me, as it stops me from writing half a post in caps.
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theDreamer
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Re: Computer Help

Postby theDreamer » 23 Feb 2012, 15:10

gcninja wrote:
theDreamer wrote:Also, you have UAC on. Turn it off if you like a computer that doesn't fight you to do stuff.
TorachiKatashi wrote:I'm running Windows XP. The knowledge I have about computers is pretty slim so I wouldn't really know any other information to give you other than that.


This is what I get for skimming on my phone.

Seriously, I just hate UAC.
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taza
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Re: Computer Help

Postby taza » 23 Feb 2012, 15:22

UAC is pretty awesome. Keeps idiots from making mistakes.

Also, yeah, you probably had one of the accessibility features on. I turn off the autotoggle (Control Panel > Accessibility) as soon as I install an OS.
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Re: Computer Help

Postby Geoff_B » 23 Feb 2012, 15:41

*start a program* "are you sure you want to start this program?" *yes* "are you really sure?" *yes* "are you sure you're really sure?" etc...

Yeah it's awesome :P
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Re: Computer Help

Postby taza » 23 Feb 2012, 15:52

If UAC asks more than once, you probably have set it up wrong.
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Re: Computer Help

Postby Geoff_B » 24 Feb 2012, 00:13

It's been so long since I turned it off the memories may have become slightly more exaggerated than was actually the case.
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Re: Computer Help

Postby gcninja » 24 Feb 2012, 00:16

*looks at desktop*Oh yeah, I'm on linux. *Points and laughs*
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Re: Computer Help

Postby tamaness » 24 Feb 2012, 00:21

UAC is actually a good security feature. It's just that Windows did it differently than *nix did (including OSX). It was annoying and overbearing in Vista, but they dialed it back just a tad in 7 and it's nice. Also, I have WinVista Ultimate on my desktop. I've only ever gotten UAC prompts when installing/uninstalling software or changing system settings. The only other time I see it is when I call a program to start as Administrator.

Recommendation for Vista/7: Turn on UAC, set up an administrator account with a password, set up a limited user account (passworded or not), never log into the admin account. This ensures that if you manage to get a virus, it'll only affect the user profile of your limited account (as opposed to the whole freaking system), and makes it easy to repair ID-10-T issues that you've caused.

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