Macbook won't start and continuously beeps

does it beep three times, pause for 5 seconds, and beep again three times? If so, that is an indication that you ram has come loose or is defective and needs to be replaced.

I have the same problem but it beeps for less than a second every five seconds or so.

Before that it froze while trying to connect to the Apple store via iTunes.

Keyboard, mouse and pad were all useless.

A long press on the power button switched it off

I reset the SMC but it had no effect. (Removed battery and power cable. Pressed power button for 5 seconds.)

Now it has a black screen and the recurring beep.

That says there is a problem with the memory so the system can't start. First thing to do is to reseat the memory by removing and reinstalling the memory. See this Apple note on how to do that. If that doesn't do it, try replacing the memory with known working memory. If that doesn't work, take it to an Apple store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for service.

Perfect!

Worked first try. The wife is delightd to be back online.

Many thanks, BGreg!

P.S. Sorry, I don't seem to be able to give you the "This solved my problem" bonus.

Message was edited by: Simon Varnam

I have upgraded the memory (trying to remember if this was happening before the memory upgrade) and I am going to open it up to make sure that it is well seated, but I wonder this: when it does this on occasion all I have to do is "turn it off" (not that it ever actually came on, but it stops the beeping) and then turn it back on again and usually it works. I have heard that it could be a hard drive issue. Is there any merit to this?