What are 'alarm bells' while restarting one's computer?

[charlesm]

I assume that they are trying to tell me that something is wrong with my system. If that is true, how does one determine what it is and how to fix it.

 

[Matt]

They are called POST beeps.

Sometimes a computer will beep once during startup, which generally indicates everything is OK.

However a combination of beeps can represent an error. The codes are specific to the motherboard, so look them up in a manual or troubleshooting guide for your computer.