I have a computer in my office which was making a loud noise on occasion and was told it was the fan? I kept on using it and really didn't have a problem other than the occasional loud noise. Yesterday, I turned the CPU off so I could install my new Palm (which I was not able to do because I didn't have the right access) so I turned my CPU back on and it would not boot up! I got a message on my screen which said "check signal" then my screen would go off and the CPU would show a red light. After talking to a few people, I ended up buying and installing a new power supply and when that didn't make the light go green, I took my mother board in and found it was fried at the power capacitors! Now the green light goes on and it sounds like the CPU is powering up, the cd opens, but the screen still shows a "check signal" and then goes blank? Any suggestions?

If your computer was hot enough to actually "fry" or melt something, you have likely destroyed other components too. The "Check signal" is likely a problem with the graphics card. The loud noise you heard could have been the hard drive being thrashed - you'll want to do a thorough surface scan if you ever get the machine running again. Also, it's quite possible that the RAM, motherboard, and other parts are ruined too. Best Luck, Bob

The check signal is definatly a graphics card problem

I have already replaced the Power Supply and the Mother Board (which came with additional RAM) So you think I should now change the graphics card too? Is my hard drive going to be affected?

Your hard drive will not be affected by changing the graphics card. However, as I mentioned before you may have hard drive problems as well. Here's what I would do in your place: 1- remove hard drive. Place it in the "slave" slot on a different computer. Back up your personal files/work data to CD or the other computer's hard drive. Run a full surface scan of the hard drive. If the hard drive has serious errors or you can't recover your data, you'll need a new drive. A hard drive recovery service may be able to retrieve your data, but it's very expensive - just a warning. 2 - Take a known-working graphics card out of a different computer and try it in your fried machine. Don't spend $$ until you know if the rest of the computer is any good. It could be that by the time you finish replacing components you'll have a brand-new computer. You've already replaced the motherboard, RAM, and power supply?! Personally, I wouldn't have spent any money until I knew the full extent of the damage. It may be easier and cheaper to buy a used replacement, or even a new machine. Here is a good price reference for the value of your computer: I just bought a corporate salvage computer (400mhz IBM computer, keyboard, mouse) for $45, with short-term warantee. That's not a bargain, just the going rate. You indicate the computer in question is only 233mhz... Only the best wishes with sincere sympathy, -Bob