Computer keeps ringing...

[exradio]

My boss stumped me with this one this morning:

His computer (running XP Home) at home keeps ringing--playing a "telephone" sound file. He suspects that it stems from Messenger's alerts that his children use, and to that end, he has uninstalled Messenger. But the ringing has not stopped. Every twenty seconds or so, the computer rings. Makes it far too annoying to do anything with the speakers on.

I haven't been to the house to look at it yet, so I don't have a clue as to what other applications are in play...just wanted to know if anyone else had encountered this so I would know where to start looking. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Ex

 

[Zoron]

Netmeeting is the only app I can think of that used the telephone ring. I have not heard a telephone ring from MSN Messenger in all the years that I've used it. Tell him to check what he's running.

 

[marshahu]

MSN 7.5 now enables voice conversations, and when voice convo invitations are sent they usually follow a ringing sound

 

[darklegionca]

you are right but why would it keep going thats the odd thing

 

[jack445]

It could be a virus. To check goto start menu, click ruin, type msconfig, then click the startup tab. If you see anything that looks like a virus then either untick it or if you're worriesd it may be a driver or somthing then goto www.trendmicro.com to have your computer scanned.

(don't know why anyone would make a virus like this tho)

 

[zbik75]

I've also developed the same problem, both on my PC and my laptop since having installed the new MSN Messenger. Both keep ringing with no regular pattern whatsoever. Sometimes more often and at other times very rarely. It's a real pain in the ass! I've checked MSconfig, there are no weird things on startup. I'm firewalled and run constant virus checks with Norton. Any feedback appreciated, thanks.

Running Windows XP SP2; Pentium 4 3.2GHZ; 1GHz RAM; Norton Antivirus 2005

 

[Zoron]

Make sure you uninstall the old Messenger 4.7 before installing the new one. The old one can still run in the background and not even show up in the system tray.

Search the articles on TackTech.com... there is one there for removing Windows Messenger that is included with XP. I have a sneaky suspicion that's what's causing your problem.

 

[TacoBelle]

I came here to try to figure out why my computer was "ringing" and found this thread. Since then I figured out why my computer was "ringing." I don't know if this will solve your problem or if you already found the reason. I had checked all the sounds from my sound setup and none of them sounded quite like this. I have msn messenger turned off, so I knew it wasn't that. But it was quite irritating and made it impossible to listen to a CD while working.

So here's what I found my problem was from. I had recently reinstalled DU Meter. In the options you can turn the alert sounds on and off, but I guess the default was set on. When I clicked the test button, there was my ringing sound. So I turned it off and that seems to have taken care of the problem.

Had your boss installed something new previous to hearing this sound start? It might not be DU Meter, but if there is a sound option, it could be any program. And if it's a new sound, chances are it's something new, recently installed. Good luck. Hope you figure it out! It took me about a week!

 

[ezrabm]

The computer ringing an up/down continuous tone is my problem, which comes and goes.

It is not connected to a worm or Trojan Horse (avast! antivirus) and I am at aloss as to what causes it. I have plenty of RAM, showing over 250Mb free of 770.

Is it connected to a Power problem? There is no problem in using the computer and its many programs.

But the noise? A high pitched ringing ! Any ideas?
What can I check?
Thanks, ezrab

 

[Guest]

ringing - I was able to get rid of mine -
Go into the sound listing by going into Control Panel/ Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices / change the sound scheme. Pick a new sound scheme by
typing a name on the top (you can later ignore this if it does not work out),
then "save as." Now highlight any botton, let's say "Device Disconnect" as an example. Underneath you migth or might not see a sound listed. If a sound is listed, click the arrow on the right to the sound to hear what type of sound it is. If it has no sound; then this one is not the problem. Pick another device you want to test out. I had a phone like rinning sound as of late under Divice disconnect. The sound installed itself. It rings several seconds after I disconnected a plug and play item. Your rining might be connected to one or the other program. These things sometimes set themselves. You can also get rid of the nasty shut system down sound and other sounds you do not like.

 

[jrfox]

This is still driving me crazy. The ringing is a very good imitation of the old rotary phone ring, and it usually starts when I have a video on my (Firefox) browser. It is ringing right now and Firefox is the only running application. I do not use any chat or messaging system. The sound is not a Windows default sound scheme type of sound, and I have the no sounds scheme anyway.

 

[GreenJelloLand]

I bet it's the NetMeeting sound being randomly kicked off. We've seen that problem where I work.

http://greenjelloland.blogspot.com/2010/09/solution-my-computer-is-randomly.html

 

[aford10]

This topic has been closed by Aford10