Computer won't boot up and mobo just beeps.

[Shiznaught]

I've had similar problems the last few weeks, one time I swapped out the vide card, and flashing the cmos solved that problem, and the second time it seemed like one of my ram sticks wasn't working so I just took it out.

Now, I got the replacement stick from crucial.com. It was a slightly different model as my other stick, but I put it in anyways. Windows still showed 256mb ram, but after I reboot, I couldn't start up the comp again. I tried swapping out each stick, flashing the cmos (the 3 pin jumper next to the battery) and every time I start up I get a beeep ..................... beeep ................... beeep. Makes me think that my mobo is frying my ram or somehow messing up in reading my ram.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[NuNuNYC]

Well, if you have 3 long beeps, that most likely means your keyboard isn't connected... If you have 1 long and 2 short, something is wrong with your video card. Your best bet is to swap your video card with a working one (a friend's or one from a working computer) since all you said was that your computer beeps 3x at POST. If the problem persists, only keep one stick of RAM in there. I'm guessing your video card is going bad. Otherwise the Crucial RAM you just bought is defective and you'll have to RMA it. If you are successful enough to get a display signal, you can download MemTest+ 86 and make a boot disk to test your RAM.

 

[Shiznaught]

no no, continuous beeps non stop. and i just bought an 9800se so I doubt that is the problem.

 

[Fern]

What mobo you got?

Sounds like it c/b the beep for a ram problem.

I once managed to insert a stick of ram incorrectly (yeah, I know there's a notch thingy), my result is what you now reporting. Hope that's not the case here.

 

[NuNuNYC]

Well, I'm just going by POST beep standards... You said three beeps, correct? Are all three beeps short and the same length? or is one long and the others shorter/longer? Be sure to count the number of beeps and length of each beep and post back here. Would help a lot more, as well as what motherboard you have so we know what BIOS chip you have.

 

[icemanj076]

I'm having the same damn beep from Hell. I haven't checked my RAM yet as it may be the problem. I'll have to check that tonight.


I was saying the same thing in my thread. See my thread.See my thread.

 

[icemanj076]

Here is a list of beep codes for AMI, Award, and Phoenix Bioses:

Beep Codes

Mine seems to fall under the catregory of "Bad Memory or Bad Connection" as I have an Award Bios. How would I check if my dimms, or which of my dimms, are bad or not?

 

[gwai lo]

memtest?

 

[Shiznaught]

I have continous beeps, infinite number of beeps.

I have an ABIT KG7, not sure what kind of bios, and I can't check now.

How do you test the memory? The thing is... the memory should be fine, unless my mobo fried both of the sticks.

 

[Shiznaught]

bump

 

[mechBgon]

Post complete specs including brand/model of power supply and everything else in the computer, that helps with troubleshooting

 

[Shiznaught]

austel 300 w psu
abit kg7
crucial ram 256mb
30 gig 7200 hd western digital i think
cheap netgear nic
sony sound card 5.1

hope this is enuff info :|

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Shiznaught
austel 300 w psu
abit kg7
crucial ram 256mb
30 gig 7200 hd western digital i think
cheap netgear nic
sony sound card 5.1

hope this is enuff info :|

That's pretty good The KG7 is an older board, and it might be from that period of time when there were bad-quality capacitors on the market. Look carefully at the capacitors on the motherboard to see if any of them are bulging like Canned Food Gone Bad or actually leaking electrolytic fluid.

Also, if the power supply is as old as the motherboard, it might be failing too. If you want to take a calculated risk, pick up a new 400W+ Antec or Enermax and that should be good for a couple years in the wattage department. Just don't get a cheap junky PSU, make it a quality one.

"Flashing" the BIOS means completely replacing it using a DOS-mode software utility. What you do when you move that jumper is to "clear" the CMOS, and it should be done while the computer is unplugged from the wall. Sometimes you even need to remove the battery as well. If you weren't taking those additional steps before, try them now.

Sometimes motherboards do simply die, my old K7S5A did... but you could move on to a nice cheap Shuttle AN35N Ultra if your power supply has an ATX12V secondary power cable. Anyway, good luck with the troubleshooting and there's a further list of no-POST issues to check here, the first link.

 

[eydolic]

Try putting the stick of ram in that has the lowest timings, clearing the CMOS, and then starting up the computer and setting the ram to loose timings. Then put the other stick in and tighten them to settings that make them work together.