On Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:39:53 -0700 (PDT), Higgs Boson
wrote:

My guru is not here, so I don't know what to do! My computer (PC, 5+
years old; well-behaved), has started SCREAMING every few minutes.
It wants something, or is warning me of something.

Turning to knowledgeable NG members: Did you ever experience this?
What might it mean?

I just paid a consultant pretty fair bux about two months ago to
upgrade, so I'm tapped out, computer-wise, but
scared to death I might be hearing a death rattle.

If your computer guy upgraded the speed by putting in a faster CPU, it
may be that he did not use any thermal compound between the heat sink
and the chip. If he upgraded the memory, this would not cause
overheating, but it could be bad memory. You can set the bios to
check the memory on startup. It slows the boot down, but you only
need to do it for one boot. Memory and CPU are about the only thing
you can do to speed up the computer. Adding a graphics card will also
add heat and power consumption.

How long has your computer been screaming? You would notice any
problems with the CPU the first day.

Maybe the hard drive.