General PC Question - PC hangs on boot and beeps incessantly

The sort of beep gives some indication as to what's up:

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

ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry
Also make sure the CPU fan is spinning.

+1, heh. The beep codes will tell the story. It could be just about anything that plugs into the computer (CPU, video card, memory). Be sure that you work with the components in your computer using static-safe techniques. Ideally, you have a grounded static mat. If you pull something out and touch the contacts or put it on a charged surface, you can fry components. There's no flash of light or explosion. A small amount of static electricity can do the job (just rubbing your fingers together).

One way to track down the problem is to pull all of the cards out of the computer except the video card, pull out all of the memory except one stick, disconnect all drives except the boot drive and unplug anything else in the computer. Reseat the memory and the video card. Turn it on and see if it boots. If it doesn't, swap out a memory stick and try it, again. After you've swapped all of the memory, swap out the video card (hopefully you have a spare or can run to the video store to buy something cheap for testing). If the computer boots, try adding one component at a time until the problem appears. I suppose the problem could be related to the power supply, but you might not be able to tell that unless you can get into the BIOS and check voltage levels (or have a multimeter handy). Whatever the problem, it will take some investigation.

Thanks everyone, for the tips. It turns out it was a stuck Shift key. Doh! Somebody mashed it down good and it wasn't popping up. Ran my hand across the keyboard and it was fixed. I'm going to go ahead and clean the lint out of the case anyway since I know it could use a good cleaning, and I'll file all of your suggestions away because I know they'll come in handy some day. You guys rawk.