my computer is playing silly buggers again! (and has been for some time) When I come to turn it on in the morning, it beeps at me (as described in the subject - see it all makes sense really). put more technically, the pattern is:
high-pitched long beep
high-pitched short beep
high-pitched short beep
low-pitched short beep
low-pitched long beep
Then i have to hit the reset button - repeat ad nauseum until it finally boots, after which it works fine, and will even let me reset/restart it from windows without a problem, as long as i don’t actually power down.
any ideas what it could be? i can’t find anything that tells me what this beepcode means, except a list somewhere that said ‘any other code is a memory problem of some sort’ - i’ve tried swapping my RAM about, and this, if anything, made it worse.
please help! it is currently taking about half an hour to an hour to get my PC to start - this morning it still wasn’t going after an hour, then i had to go to work (posting this from there). Any advice?
oh, and someone’s gonna ask me to post technical details - of course, i don’t have them at work! I know the motherboard is an ASUS, the chipset is VIA KT133A or something like that…
By the way, the reason I said that was because your BIOS might be set to give warning beeps. I recommend you browse your BIOS settings. It’ll only take a couple of minutes, and it’s the first thing you’ll encounter when you boot up.
hmmm… ok, i’ve tried reseating all my dimms, and all my cards - still no joy.
Lib - my processor does run hot - it occasionally overheats and crashes the pc, mostly due to bad case design i think. However, I’m talking about a cold boot situation - PC has been off all night.
Also, I can’t browse the bios settings, because it never gets to the stage where I can access the bios - the display never initialises.
oh, for anyone who’s interested: the m/board is an ASUS A7V133
I have considered that it might be the graphics card - problem is, when it Does boot (after re-setting umpteen times) then it works fine… surely a video card problem would have some symptoms other than this?
I think i’ve got an old voodoo card at home somewhere… worth I try, I guess.
If it’s not that, then it must be either the board or the processor - anyone’s guess which one
Tones after power-on that something failed in the power-on self testing. The pattern of tones tells you what failed, but the codes differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. The documentation that came with your computer might tell you what that tone pattern means, or you might be able to get it from the cumputer’s manufacturer.
It wouldn’t be a overheating problem if it’s occuring first thing when you switch it on.
This page might be of some help, as it describes the more common beep codes and gives motherboard troubleshooting tips:
thanks for that page, andrewl - unfortunately it doesn’t have any information about my error code - in fact it doesn’t even mention different tone beeps. Neither does the m/b docs, and I really don’t feel like making an international call to the states or taiwan to ask them wtf it means…
here is the only page i can find talking about award bios error codes - it says that video is pretty much the only thing that generates a beep code, but the code it gives - one long, 2 short - only matches the first bit of my beep.
is it possible that i’m getting a video error, followed by a different error? would that generate 2 sets of beeps. I think this is unlikely, but who knows?
a trouble shooting technique called minimum machine might help. Remove whatever can be removed and still have something that beeps.
does it beep with the video card removed?
are there multiple simms; so they can be tried individually?
I can’t think of anything else that’s easy real close to the BIOS/processor/board.
No! Definately DO NOT do this. The inside of computer cases are carefully designed for airflow across critical components, and the sides of the case factor heavily into this flow.
Removing the case could cause LESS air to be directed from the fans across heatsinks, etc. actually making the parts run hotter.
Furthermore, the case works as part of the RF sheilding, so removing it could cause unpredictable side effects
Lib - already done this - well, I’ve found just taking the fornt off helps.
racekarl - who’s Ellen Feiss? also, I’m aware that taking the case off is meant to disrupt airflow - however, I only take the front cover off, which just allows the front fan to expel the air a bit more easily, and has a definite immediate cooling effect on the CPU
Update: mysteriouser and mysteriouser… last night, I switched the AGP video card with an old one I had lying around… same error… on a whim, I took out video altogether… same error… I’m pretty certain it must be the m/b now - the only other thing to try is replacing the CMOS battery - which is a mjaor operation due to my board/case design
further update - not that anyone seems to listening any more!
I have replaced the CMOS battery - no change.
Have taken out AGP card, and replaced with PCI video card - this stops the high-pitched part of the error, but the low-pitched part still sounds. (and the system still does not boot)
