3 beeps at start ups

When i turn my dads computer on sometimes i get 3 beeps and nothing at all displays on the monitor, now i understand that a computer will beep if theres an error before it has time to access the video card to display the error on screen?

The motherbord bios is BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG... i also understand that you can find the meaning of the beeps but i cannot for the life of me work it out...

also sometimes it the computer just crashes whilst on a game for instance has to be restarted or when it boots up and i get to the desktop the mouse dosnt work... I had replaced a stick of ram a while ago thinking that could be it, the problem seemed sorted up until recently.

 

Most likely RAM or base-memory related:

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

I'd try re-seating the memory, even replacing it, but if you continue to have RAM-related symptoms, you may be looking at a motherboard problem...

You might run a MemTest to check out your RAM, too...

 

I agree with Caliban, it's most-likely memory related. However, the brand of your BIOS manufacturer does matter. If you happen to know then the following may help:

1. Phoenix bios: 3 beeps means memory error (RAM is probably not seated correctly in the slots). Try either re-seating them or taking both of them out and putting them in one at a time.

2. Award BIOS: 3 back-to-back beeps was not really a toggle, however 1 Long and 2 brief beeps means the Video Card is not seated right.

3. for American Megatrends BIOS: Memory error. In this case, revert to the 1st and do the re-seating and refitting on the memory.

Good luck!