BleepingComputer.com: Repeated Long B(l)eeping by PC

My PC repeats a long beep when I turn it on. Earlier, after installing a new RAM card, I was having repeated "Delayed Write Failures" and after googling that found that it's usually a sign of bad hard drive sectors. However, I installed the new RAM JUST before the "Delayed Write Failures" started popping up, so I am confused about what is really the problem. What do I do?

(moderator edit: moved to appropriate forum and added information to post's title. jgweed)

I would suspect that new memory, dbl check that it is seated properly and that it is not incompatible with your existing memory. [ check the FAQS for issues]

Also check your bios manufacturers home page for their beep codes and determine exactly what that code means.

If memory checks ok run a scan disk and defrag on the drive from safe mode

Let us know how ya get on.

The computer, when starting up, does not even get to the point of sending a signal to the monitor before beginning its beeping, which begins within about a second of startup. This means that I am unable to get into the BIOS and find out the manufacturer in order to identify the meaning of the code. Unfortunately, removing the new RAM Card has not changed the situation whatsoever.

If it were the hard drive that was the problem, then I am possibly in a quandary.. My computer came with a recovery partition on the hard drive rather than a set of recovery CDs, which, according to HP, have never been available anyway. So, if the hard drive is indeed the problem, how would I go about installing XP onto a new blank hard drive without paying for a new copy?