Hi! Ed,

In a message to All you wrote:

 EV> I noticed lately that I don't hear a BEEP when I turn on my
 EV> HP a1430n XP MCE IBM Compatable pc.
[ ...trimmed... ]
 EV> I can't remember if my XP box ever BEEPed on POST, but because I
 EV> started wondering if it ever did, I thought to ask here.

Initially I was tempted to say you ought to get your hearing checked.  ;-)

Then I did 'a Google' for "hp a1430n bios beep", and one of the
links I followed came up with this...

start up beeping sounds

1 short beep : Normal POST - system is ok
2 short beeps : POST Error - error code shown on screen
No beep : Power supply or system board problem
Continuous beep: Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem
Repeating short beeps: Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep : System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps: Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps: Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA)
3 long beeps : keyboard card

So, there should be a single short beep.  Something's up?  Does the machine
still work?

Cheers,
Paul.

... Ahh...hhh...hhh........ I forgot what I was going to say.
--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox