Bios beeps.

[Sparda]

Today i was happly playing DAoC when poof, PC turns its self off. Ok i think, it must of just crashed. Tryed to reboot nothing happened, no little start up beep, but i could hear the fans start.
So i waited 15 mins and came back to it, got 1 long constant bios beep but nothing happened again so i turned it off. Then restarted again and nothing, just the fans. Anyone know how fooked it is or what the problem might be?


Any help?

 

[chretien]

Depends what bios it is. There are 3 main ones, AMI, Phoenix and Award.
Your mobo manual should tell you what kind it uses. Different Bioses have different beep codes and sometimes mobo manufacturers change them around a bit.
Generally one long beep indicates either a graphics or ram issue. Check that all cards and ram modules are seated properly and retry it. Failing that, try and find the manual for your mobo.

 

[plomien]

could also be your HD when you switch on just check and see if it makes any noise on start up

 

[CjkaceBM]

American Megatrends (AMI) - 1 beep = memory error - either memory or motherboard failure.

Award - 1 long beep = memory error

Unlikely that you have a Phoenix bios as they have more than one beep (although Award is now owned by Phoenix)

So it is likely that either your memory has failed or your motherboard has. Remove the memory, use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts and re-insert. Powering up the PC without the memory in should also give the same error.

That your PC made one long beep indicates a memory failure, but its refusal to beep when you re-booted makes it look as though the motherboard has failed.

 

[Sparda]

problem solved only bios i could find that had 1 long beep listed was award.

And the site i saw said its either memory or Graphics card. Looks like i need a new GFX card

Perfect excuse to upgrade though

1 last question.... Can i use a radeon card in a Nvidia Nforce 2 mainboard and not have any problems? Or would it be best if i stuck with Nvidia cards?

 

[plomien]

Perfect excuse to upgrade though

1 last question.... Can i use a radeon card in a Nvidia Nforce 2 mainboard and not have any problems? Or would it be best if i stuck with Nvidia cards?

you can use them just disable the onboard graphics card thats all. but you are less likely to get problems going nvidia.

 

[CjkaceBM]

I use a Radeon 9800 in my Soltek nForce 2 board.

Buy one without onboard graphics, it's cheaper.

 

[Sparda]

new problem now, because i have no other gfx card i have re-enabled my on board 1, the GF 4 mx!
Now it plays DAoC just fine but i had to remove 512 ram for it to do that otherwise the sound stuttered. So thats now back in the packet in the box.
Also my PC seams to "semi" crash. Best way of describing it is af if some one has un plugged my keyboard and mouse, which are both using PS2 sockets. Everything else works fine in the background i just cant do anything.

Anyone know whats up? (again)

 

[chretien]

new problem now, because i have no other gfx card i have re-enabled my on board 1, the GF 4 mx!
Now it plays DAoC just fine but i had to remove 512 ram for it to do that otherwise the sound stuttered. So thats now back in the packet in the box.
Also my PC seams to "semi" crash. Best way of describing it is af if some one has un plugged my keyboard and mouse, which are both using PS2 sockets. Everything else works fine in the background i just cant do anything.

Anyone know whats up? (again)

Could be a couple of things. Sounds like your mobo may be borked given the initial problem and then the problem with the ps/2 ports and the sound/ram issue. It might however just be Windows being flaky. Try reinstalling your mobo drivers and go to the control panel and remove your mouse, keyboard, soundcard etc then restart to reinstall the drivers. See if that sorts it out.