My (old, but still needed for file transferring) PC won't boot up but simply beeps and the "cable unplugged" box shows on the monitor. Previously, the image on the monitor occasionally went bad and the card reset itself, and later went bad after a minute or so and would'nt reset at all so I had to hard boot. Could a busted card cause Windows not to boot?

We need more info about your system. Too many unknowns to make a diagnostic.

What's the series of beeps like?

When a PC won't get past the Power On Self Test (POST), it will emit a series of beeps (short or long) to indicate what the problem is.

If you cannot even get to the bios then chances are it is a vid card problem. However if you put in a cheapo used card and it still does the same thing then there might be something happening with the system bus on the mobo.

However from what you have stated it sounds like the vid card went south. If you can get to the bios with another vid card then you can see how your system is working. Don't worry about installing a video driver just stick in a different card even if windows gives you driver trouble you can still get to the bios and windows will default to a generic vga driver at 640x480 in safe mode...not really a problem. If you check out your system with a linux live cd then you will have good resolution and be able to do complete diagnostics and file transfer without worrying about installing squat!

When you say "still need for file transferring", you mean it's a server?
Or you still need to get files off it before it goes to 'computer heaven'?
If it's the second option you can always just hook the hd up to a new computer and retrieve files from there.

Could try giving it a good cleaning, and memory problems can also do what you describe, so I'd remove the ram, clean and re-seat, same with the video card. Do you have a separate video card or is it onboard (motherboard) video? if your using a card try removing the card and see if the computer will boot, (even if you can't see anything you'll find out if that's the problem).

What's the series of beeps like?

It beeps once.

However from what you have stated it sounds like the vid card went south.

I'd imagine that's what it is, because I took it in to be blown out and to have the drivers updated. That fixed it for a few days, but the problem reoccurred until the PC quit.

When you say "still need for file transferring", you mean it's a server?
Or you still need to get files off it before it goes to 'computer heaven'?
If it's the second option you can always just hook the hd up to a new computer and retrieve files from there.

I'm getting rid of it.

I'd think taking it in to get the HD transferred would cost more than a new video card.

^^^^
Get one of those USB external drive cases and put the drive in it. Everything on that drive will then be available. After you're done, you can format the drive and use it for portable storage.

One beep means it's passed POST and it's working fine. (perhaps the monitor is the problem?)

Anyways, get a usb enclosure. They're like $10-30 depending on where you get one (avoid FS/BB, go to a computer store/site and you'll get real prices)

Check the drive to see if it's IDE or SATA (IDE is a bunch of pins/wide ribbon cable, sata is just two ports/skinny cables) and buy the appropriate enclosure.

Then just attach the drive, plug it in to the new computer and you're good to go.
Once you've got all the files you need off it, you can then wipe it and use it as secondary/portable storage for your new computer.
I would say backup, but I don't advise people on using old hard drives to store critical data - much more likely to fail on you.

It was the monitor causing the apparent non-booting as I hooked the monitor up to my new laptop and pushed a button (it didn't work at first) on the monitor and voila.

However, the VC is still definately shot as I took it out and the fan was
askew in its housing.