my family has a seven-ish year old windows 98 hewlett packard lying around the house. it hadn't been plugged in or used in about two years because it was full of viruses and dead flies and couldn't compete with the XP that we had recently purchased, but the other day, i plugged the 98 back in. it started whirring and humming as soon as the cord was in the plug-in, like it was on (but it wasn't!) then when i did turn it on, it started whirring and humming even more. when i turned it off, the noises quieted a little, but they're still there and the only way i can make it shuddup is if i unplug it from the wall entirely.

my question is. . . is that a sign that some of the hardware is failing? i can't remember if it always did that or not, its been so long since i used it.

also, another question. i remembered that when i used to use the windows 98 regularly, the time displayed would become less and less accurate. i had to reset the time every couple of weeks, because it was always fifteen or so minutes off. i heard that this is a sign of some battery - BIOS or CMOS, i don't remember - dying.

and i remember one time (several times, probably) when i would have to unplug my speakers from the 98 because they were making a loud screaming beep noise. not like POST beeps, because the computer had been on for a while and was just sitting there doing nothing. is that a short in the speakers, or something more?

are those sure signs that the computer won't be in use much longer, unless i replace parts of it? i don't think the computer is really worth saving. i remember wiping everything clean at least three or four times while i had it, because it would just get so slow so quickly. i used adaware and spybot and zonealarm, but my 98 didn't seem to be much of a match for the internet. it served us well (sometimes, haha) for five years but my family all have their own separate computers or laptops now, and it wouldn't do much use to keep it around, if it really is dying on us.

edit: i'm sorry if i was meant to post this in the windows 98 section, but i thought it was probably something more with the hardware than the operating system. . .

-The humming sounds don't sound like to much of a problem, i guess as long as they are not that loud.

-Yes it would be your CMOS battery that needs replaced, no big deal.

-You might want to check to make sure that your speakers are plugged in all the way and all of your conections are tight. Make sure that if you are -not using a microphone that it is put on mute, that seems to help sometimes.

I would not put to much money into this machine. But if you want something to play around with i would wipe the hard drive again install windows SE, install updates, get CCleaner, spybot, spyware blaster, AVG free, Adware SE, Kerio firewall. keep them updated.

-Then spend a few dollars on a memory upgrade. You can probably order what you need from newegg.com and install the memory your self.