NOT a floosie: The battery idea isnt correct.. PC's only need batteries for keeping the clock going not the PC
If its a long series of beeps then it is major issues. My hubby is telling me what to write here..
You hadnt mentioned if when you turn it on if you see anything come up on the screen or not.. if it goes in to safe mode or anything like that..

Marfitalu: Youll have to explain BIOS I think as this is new to Flooz if Im not mistaken

Marfitalu:Also, it may be because in her bios it's already set a high level of security or health for PC.  For example they have chosen the CPU temperature to be 30 degrees o up for the PC to warn them.  She definitaly has to look in the bios.  

Marfitalu: I don't have any books on it. It was a computer that was given to me by someone that upgraded theirs. I was told it was working, and it seems to be...except for the beeping. The pc is several years old and has windows 98 and a pentium 3 processer. All of the lights and buttons seem to be working, I'm not having any trouble with windows or with accessing the web.

The beeping seems to be in two tones, both for the same amount of time. They are short beeps. It must be some sort of alarm, but I can't figure out what it is...or where to turn it off or reset it.

I don't know what the BIO is, but I do know that when the first screen comes up fast when you turn it on. It looks like it is checking the systems. It does say to push DEL to get information, which I'll try next time I have a few minutes.

At the moment, I'm on webtv. It's been a very busy week here, and I really haven't had much time to mess with it.

NOT a floosie:Yeah, press DEL and then you'll go to a page which is usually red or blue in most cases.  Then examin all the parts of it to find something that says your PC is supposed to warn you if the CPU temperature goes upper than a ceratin degree.  That temperature shouldn't normally be less than 70 degrees.

Marfitalu:You do.  In my BIOS settings, I can choose for my PC to warn me if the CPU temprature goes upper than a certain degree.