4 Beeps and HP computer won't boot when cold!

Hi. I have an HP Tower computer that's about 2 years old. When I first try to boot it up in the morning it makes a jumble of electrical noises followed by 4 short beeps. The computer then refuses to boot up and the light on the monitor doesn't even turn green. Having said that, two or three times the light on the monitor has gone green and the electrical noises are accompanied by red lines and squares on the monitor screen (and it still won't boot up when that happens).

To solve this problem I have to unplug the computer whilst it's trying to boot (and making the electrical noises) then plug it back in - it then boots up right away.

If the computer has only been off for a short while when I'm booting it up (say for instance half an hour - or if it is just a reboot) it will boot up fine without the error and without me having to unplug it. However if it is cold or has been off for the last two or three hours it won't boot up without the unplugging sequence.

I read that 4 beeps means a memory failure in the first 64kb of memory or (more likely) timer 1 on the baseboard not functioning.

Does this sound familiar to anyone here? Can you give me some advice regarding how to test where the actual fault is? I don't know much about motherboards.

Thanks,
Dan

 

This type of behavior usually means that a piece of hardware needs to warm up. Are the 4 beeps all the same length? For generally trouble shooting taking the RAM out and firmly push it back into its slot. Do the same for the video card if there is one.

 

Yes the beeps suggest video card or ram, but the behavior sounds like weak psu.

 

The 4 beeps are all the same and are 4 short beeps. I have not removed or replaced any hardware since this problem started, but I'll remove the ram and video cards and clean the connections then try reinstalling them and see if that helps. Thanks a bunch, will update, might be tomorrow before I know for sure if it works.

Thanks again,
Dan