Sounds like it may be overheating, fan goes into overdrive, and your computer sounds the alarm.

Ya if you computer is making beeping noises it has something to do with the hardware. atleast most of the time. To find out what the beeping noises mean search for something like beeping noises (manufactures name). If it's custom built, try hte mobo maker.

How many fans does it have? Use a small paintbrush to brush out and dust that may be causing your fan and other parts damage.

How much google have you done

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... tshoot.htm

Hope you find the problem....

Try getting updates for all your components/drivers....

Try CPU-Z and GPU-Z to see what your system is running with
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/97 ... 0.1.7.html
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/C ... -6980.html

Crack it open and clean the case. Get a can of compressed air and do short bursts of air through the power supply, all fans and just the case in general. If the can gets cold, stop and leave the can alone for ~30 minutes (when it's cold it'll actually shoot out frost along with the air - not a good thing). Secondly if it's on the floor move it up somewhere nice and open.

Hope for the best, but typically if you're getting the overheat beeps it's too late to save your comp from damage. It might not ruin a piece of hardware to the point of failure, but it'll probably cripple it at least some.

Definitely don't do any gaming until you get it diagnosed and fixed. That'd be like driving a car cross country that's overheats constantly.

Took it into tech support today- swapped out the power supply, since it was acting strange on bootup.

I don't have it back yet, but when I do, hopefully it'll work.

I hope it all works out for you.