Help pls! - continuous beeping and clicking sound on startup

Hi everyone,
I have had my mac mini for about 3 months and it has often made this continuous beeping when the mac starts up before I input my password.  Being new to a Mac, I thought this was normal as the sound goes away as soon as i type my password in.  However more recently it has made this sound a few times after i have logged in and there are no programs running, just the desktop showing on the screen.  When this happens, the noise stops when I press a key and then starts up again straight afterwards.  The only way to stop the noise is to restart.  I've looked through the guide about tones and what they mean but none of the tones seem to fit with what I'm hearing as it is a contonuous sound without any pauses and the power light doesn't flash or anything.  I have recorded the sound if that helps, but I can't see a way to upload it here.
Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this, and if it's a problem what I should do?
Thanks very much in advance
Katie

Hi BDAqua,
Thanks very much! No it doesn't make the sound when I start up without keyboard attached and then as soon as I plugged it back in the noise started again so i think we've found the cause!  I am still using a Dell keyboard just because I can type so much better on it but I guess I will have to make the switch to a mac keyboard.  Unless there is something more I can do to configure the keyboard?
Thanks
Katie

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