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Hi Jen,
This sounds to me (as I have had this happen a number of times myself) that the video card is faulty or not plugged in properly, or has dust in the slot (probable).
If you know how to take the case off (either the side panel or the whole thing) then do the following.
1) Unplug the power cord from the PC
2) Unscrew the screws holding the case on.
3) Take the case off.
4) Find the Video card (where the monitor plugs in to the main box).
5) Unplug the monitor cable from the back of the video card, you will need to unscrew the two side screws on the cable to unplug it.
6) Unscrew the retaining screw that holds it into the card slot.
7) Firmly grasp the card and pull it out of the slot that it is in. (Make sure you remember where you got it from)
8) Check to see if the card slot has dust or gunk in it and blow it away or use a paint brush to dust it off.
9) Plug the video card back into the slot, make sure that it "clicks" in and the card holder bracket lines up with the screw hole.
10) Screw the card back down with the screw you removed before.
11) Plug the monitor cord back in and lightly tighten the side screws.
12) Plug the power cord back in.
13) Before you put the case back on, turn on the PC and see if it boots up. If it doesn't, then I suspect that the video card is DEAD and you will need to buy a new one. If it DOES boot up, then GREAT!, wait for it to boot up, then shut it down again and put the case back on.
Take the video card with you to the computer shop / Harvey Norman etc. and but a new one that is the same type as the dead one. A similar one should probably be about $20-$60, depending on the type.
I hope this works for you, as I said, I have had a few older PC's with exactly the same problem and if the video card was dead, the PC would boot, cycle its drives and then go beep beep beep, beep beep beep, and there would be NO video display at all. This normally HALTS the boot up sequence and this sounds a lot like what you have.
Good luck, this is a quite simple thing to replace but if the new video card doesn't work, then it might be good to have bought the card from say, Harvey Norman who can refund it if this is not the problem.
Cheers
Chris
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