The beeps are bios founded, in that it supplies what error code(beeps) is outputed. But, it maybe still corrupted, thus what is needed is another bios chip, if its that hosed. Place a bootable floppy in the FD and see if it trys to access it. If it does, try the bios update again and see what response you get, before you accept the update process. If you get nothing, then stop, very likely the bios is corrupted. The other indictations, HD led, etc. is simply power being present and not true readiness the system has stopped.

You should look for the "CMOS clearing pins" and see if used, that the defaults return to the system bios. If you can't find the pins, remove the CMOS battery for 1 minute or more and then return it, also consider the battery failing if you had intermit problems before that is the bios setting didn't keep or required attention. Compaq, should have some info on all this process, so look in manual or support website for your model#, or it may have generic info as well for the model series.

good luck -----Willy Happy