Computer issues

[InuYasha]

Recently my pc has been acting up and beeping as soon as I turn the power on,for the record its an old machine running win98(yes i know i'm way behind the times) but it's basically used for basic stuff so theres been no reason to upgrade at this point,anyway usually after I have a look in the case and make sure everything is firmly connected and after a few attempts for whatever reason it magically decides to boot up(which is weird)my theory is maybe the power supply is about to die on me,is there any programs out there that can maybe tell me whats wrong with my computer if its my memory,bios,cpu etc etc.....

 

[prowler]

I think this will tell you http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/AIDA32/1033800563/1
If not, it just tells you everything about your computer.

 

[outgum]

The beeping noise... is it a solid one beep?
I know that on desktops (assuming its a desktop) Beeping is usually a normal sign of ageing , if its not affecting your PC at all, its just making a sound, i wouldnt take too much concern in it, but if performance is decreasing then let me know what and ill take a deeper look.
Under command prompt, theres a command called "chkdisk" You should google "How to run chkdisk" And follow what it tells you, it scans your Memory, Bios, and hardware sorta and looks for flaws or defragmented data and will attempt to fix it.
Could be handy.

 

[FAST6191]

Beeping is usually a simple code to indicate a problem. It varies by bios manufacturer:
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Usual guesses for a machine (after the usual no keyboard) this age are heat issues (thermal paste, if it was used is less than brilliant and the fans are not special either, especially seen as this was about the time we shifted to active cooling for most machines) or graphics card but as you mentioned it occasionally boots I am going with heat. I still look after legacy machines of this age and those are the big two.
PSU is next up but you will usually see better evidence of this (drives failing to power, fans failing to work properly).

 

[InuYasha]

It goes BEEEEEEEEP pause BEEEEEEEEP,so I guess thats one long beep,I don't think its a heat issue cause I don't have the case shut like it should be,basically theres about an inch or so on each side open to air.....


~Edit~

Hmm I might have found a lead to my problem,I just noticed my memory saying 128 mb but the computer has 160 so I might have a bad/loose memory stick somewhere and hopefully thats whats causing this problem and not something else.....