Kick-starting the computer

When I got back to work after the holidays, my computer refused to start. There wasn't even a blue screen of death - just a ghostly white screen (which my complexion suddenly matched), and ominous beeps which I had never heard before. I didn't have a clue what they meant. A helpful colleague thought to look up the topic of warning beeps on the internet, and the closest match we could find was that the chip on the computer's motherboard that controls the keyboard had broken down. Said colleague opened the computer case, poked and prodded, but could see nothing else. He closed the lid, pressed the "Go" button again, and lo and behold, the computer booted up. His best guess is that during the holidays, the prolongued shutdown actually drained the little battery that holds the settings for what is called the "bios" (the set of instructions that helps your PC to start up). Opening the cover tripped a little switch which reset things sufficiently that it could all start up again. Or something like that. Moral of the story: If you find someone who knows more about computers than you do, keep them well supplied with morning tea or other goodies during the year, against that urgent time you are going to need to call in a favour.