Once every 10-20 minutes or so (haven’t really timed it), my computer beeps. It’s a high-pitched, really short ‘beep’. Sounds like it’s coming out of my motherboard. More like a little ‘peep’, really.
It’s not the BIOS error beep, not the holding-a-key-down-too-long beep, nor is it any of the beeps, dings or other sounds that my computer makes from any kind of program error.
It happens whether or not I’m doing anything with the computer.
I have a Dell Optiplex GX240, running Win2k Pro SP4. It’s about 3 years old, and otherwise running great.
Could it possibly be the motherboard battery running low, or maybe and impending problem with some other piece of hardware that beeps when it gets old?
My friends computer was doing that - almost a reverse beep if you will - like the air being sucked out a beeping tube or something. It was driving him crazy. We eventually tracked down the problem as being a voltage issue with his UPS and his BIOS settings. When his power fluctuated the UPS would send his system a signal - sorry I can’t be more descriptive - we couldn’t figure out a solution, and eventually we didn’t have to - his porn surfing without a virus scan finally ruined his OS to the point we had to reinstall everything.
I’m happy to report my friend didn’t learn anything from the experience…
Pretty much, except for Steve-o’s incidental description of how a thermistor works. He’s (correctly) describing a thermocouple, but a thermistor is not a type of thermocouple, but is essentially a much cheaper temperature-sensitive resistor. Just wanted to clear that up for anyone reading through the linked thread. Carry on.
Well, FWIW, I actually did do a search before posting here, maybe I should have mentioned that right away (sorry).
Anyway, I’ve eliminated every other beep source I can think of. I just thought that perhaps someone might have the answer off the top of their head, so to speak.
Again, It’s not a BIOS beep code, and it’s not coming from the internal CPU speaker. I’m WAG’ing that it’s some sort of hardware problem (either heat or voltage related).
You know, the only only other thing I can think of that very often has it’s own speaker (usually a small piezo element right on the board) is a dialup modem. If it’s not the internal PC speaker, and it’s not coming from the sound card, it could be that. Try pulling that temporarily and see if the beeping goes away.
This may sound (and look) pretty silly, but have you pulled the cover off the system and let it run for a while to see if you can localize the beep? It has to have an origination point, and the best way to do that is with the cover off and having your head NEAR (not in or near any of the fast spinny things…) the open system?
Just a little while ago, I had a mysterious random beeping. Once I pulled the case off and got down near it, I realized it actually wasn’t a beep, but the squeal of a fan bearing about to check out permanently. With the cover on and under my desk, I only heard the highest pitch of the fan and only occasionaly when it wobbled into the right position, and it sounded like a beep.
To follow-up Q.E.D.'s suggestion, that will only be effective if your motherboard doesn’t have a built-in modem. If it does, there still may be a piezo speaker on the mobo itself (usually, but not always, on the back edge of the board between the PCI slots or between the PCI slots and the backpanel connectors). If so (and god help me for giving similar advice that handy gave), cover it with a piece of tape FOR DIAGNOSTIC PURPOSES ONLY! to see if the sound goes away or is a lot softer than before.
