I started up the computer today and it started pinging furiously.

Closed down restarted, same thing.

Pressed control escape and it stopped. Windows started but with 4 to 5 short pings.

All programs seemed to work ok, but I cannot type a particular character.( the last char from the alphabet. This happens in every program I open.

AVG / oneAlarm / Adaware / a square don't find anything wrong.

What can be going on here?

Appreciate some ideas

Problem with your keyboard? Liquid? Stuck key?

Hi Erwin1011:

All computers "beep", usually once on startup and twice on shutdown (varies with make/model, etc.).

What your probably hearing are "error" tones a computer gives out, when a problem is encountered during the POST (Power-On-Self-Test) every computer goes through, at startup.

To determine the exact problem you system has encountered, it would be necessary to know the make/model of computer and the make/model of your BIOS, then to count the number of beeps and type of beeps (dots & dashes).

While a little technical, the following website gives you a good explanation of what many of these beeps mean, based on the computers make/model/bios: Beep Codes

If the above reads like a foreign language, it may be best for you to find a friend or good computer repair shop, for assistance.

good luck

cheers

waldwolf

I started up the computer today and it started pinging furiously.

Closed down restarted, same thing.

Pressed control escape and it stopped. Windows started but with 4 to 5 short pings.

All programs seemed to work ok, but I cannot type a particular character.( the last char from the alphabet. This happens in every program I open.

AVG / oneAlarm / Adaware /  a square don't find anything wrong.

What can be going on here?

Appreciate some ideas

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What's a "ping"? What made you decide to press "Ctrl-Esc"? (I'm just curious!)

As Endure wrote, you probably have a stuck key. Buy a can of compressed air, and try to remove any gunk you might have in the keyboard.

I had a similar problem recently. My screen started acting like it was controlled by ghosts or something with windows opening and closing and the mouse/cursor moving on its own.

I shut down and restart gave a long tone and the system would not come up.

Thank goodness for the Windows XP feature ... System Restore.

I brought it up in Safe Mode and selelcted the Restore option. The first restore point/date I chose did not work. The second time I picked an earlier date and then the system came up fine. I cannot tell you how relieved I was.

Four virus and malware programs never found a thing.

If you have a laptop, sometimes removing the battery and then reinserting it before doing a cold start works to clear some problems too.

Cheers

All programs seemed to work ok, but I cannot type a particular character.( the last char from the alphabet. This happens in every program I open.

Your keyboard is busted.

A new one should solve the problem.

As a free bonus: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Please feel free to use these until you get a new keyboard.

All programs seemed to work ok, but I cannot type a particular character.( the last char from the alphabet. This happens in every program I open.

Your keyboard is busted.

A new one should solve the problem.

As a free bonus: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Please feel free to use these until you get a new keyboard.

hi'

as far as I know a keyboard that does not work doesn't give any "bip" on boot, it's simply doesn't work or partly, some keys aren't working.

if this comes from motherboard, then you get a bip or some depends on which brand name you have(waldwolf explained this well).

so, it might be the ps2 for keyboard controler which had a fever

borrow a keyboard to a friend for a few minutes and try to boot, if you still have this 'bips", the MB is faulty.

you'll have to change for at least a usb keyboard(borrow one to try too), enabling usb keyboard in the bios.

if it doesn' t work, I'm afraid that you might have to change the MB ...

time to think about an upgrade, may be

francois