- Nov 18, 2005
- 28,799
- 359
- 126
DFI Infinity P965-S
Intel C2D 6420 @ 3.2ghz
2x1gb DDR2-800mhz
450w Coolermaster PSU
Fans all turn on, dvd drive does initial spin-up it sounds like (access light turns on), and hard drives sound like they spin up.
This system has been around for less than 2 years. PSU might be a little older, cannot remember if I got it when I got the case or when I got the current build.
Nothing happens on the display, but the case front system LED (not the HDD activity LED) flashes non-stop. And I got a BIOS beep, one long beep, but keeps repeating after an almost equal time in-between (beeeeeeeeeep................beeeeeeeeeep....(x inf))
If I hold down the power button it'll turn off, but the front LED keeps flashing. I have to switch the PSU off to get it to stop.
I've had to hook the system up a few times in the past month, and each time after the first time I had to after coming home from school, it's done this. BUT, after messing around with the system I've been able to get it to boot just fine, and is stable, no loss in performance or stability. After toggling the PSU on and off, and removing the power cord, or on some occasions (possibly not even having done anything) I've reseated the mobo power connectors, or jiggled the ram.
But no luck yesterday or today after returning from school. I don't get it.
I've reseated all mobo power connectors, reseated both DIMMs, unplugged and toggled the PSU multiple times.
Is the PSU dead? I should have grabbed the Antec True550 I have in reserve after my parents upgraded to new machine and brought it down to school with me. Dammit I wish I did, I could try it then.
But if I've been able to get past the beeping on some occasions, and now I cannot... is it the PSU or something else going wacky? Once I could get it to boot successfully, it'd run perfectly, no problems with power... even playing games so I know the PSU could handle the power draw from the nVidia GeForce 8800gts. hmmm
thanks if anyone can help, and maybe provide some good news. buying a new psu is going to suck, cannot afford to buy these things at the moment.
UPDATE: 26 January 2009
Ugh. So it's definitely not the PSU. Just installed a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750w. No dice, same symptoms.
Well, so it wants to be weird: prior to buying the new PSU, the last thing I did was reset the BIOS and the beeping stopped, but turned into endless reboots with no POST.
After installing the new PSU, it did the same thing. Mind you, I had to remove the mobo and one of the thins I did was remove the two sticks of RAM, and not sure if I put them in the same slots they had been, had no intention of even trying to do that.
First boot, it does the same thing: endless reboots with no POST, no error codes, nothing. Just boot up, everything starts spinning, then stop and lights turn off, then do it again.
The front case Power LED keeps flashing endlessly, and it did this prior to the new PSU as well, and did it no matter: whether there was a beep or endless reboots, the Power LED continues to basically strobe.
Well, I figured, now to move to the test idea: memory. So I pulled the second stick, and turned it on. What happens this time? Beeeeeeeep.... pause.... and repeat to infinite.
Now, I'm about to go to bed so I'm going to put this off till tomorrow afternoon after class. I'll have to dig into the system to remove stick 1, the CPU cooler, specifically the attached fan is blocking access to the first stick, so I'll have to remove the fan portion to do so.
Does it sound like it's just bad memory? Why would having both sticks in result in endless repeat of initial boot cycle with no POST, yet one stick in result in a single long beep repeating infinitely? Does that imply it's not even a memory issue then? Was it simply chance that it went down like that, and no matter what I do short of resetting the BIOS again will bring back the silence?
If it were a bad CPU, what would it do in that case?
I'm still trying to figure out why it does this non-stop now, but when the symptoms first began, I could eventually get it to boot, though the first few tries would result in the long beep repeating... though with enough tries it did successfully boot and remain stable. That's what made me think it was power.
If it was a bad motherboard or bad memory, why would it display those symptoms yet eventually turn on? Isn't something like the motherboard or memory going to either fail or not fail, versus just being stubborn and not putting all the effort to boot until enough attempts had coerced it into booting? This is really confusing me. With the original progression of symptoms, it was almost a sure-bet that it was the PSU.
UPDATE #2:
Solved. New memory solved it.
Intel C2D 6420 @ 3.2ghz
2x1gb DDR2-800mhz
450w Coolermaster PSU
Fans all turn on, dvd drive does initial spin-up it sounds like (access light turns on), and hard drives sound like they spin up.
This system has been around for less than 2 years. PSU might be a little older, cannot remember if I got it when I got the case or when I got the current build.
Nothing happens on the display, but the case front system LED (not the HDD activity LED) flashes non-stop. And I got a BIOS beep, one long beep, but keeps repeating after an almost equal time in-between (beeeeeeeeeep................beeeeeeeeeep....(x inf))
If I hold down the power button it'll turn off, but the front LED keeps flashing. I have to switch the PSU off to get it to stop.
I've had to hook the system up a few times in the past month, and each time after the first time I had to after coming home from school, it's done this. BUT, after messing around with the system I've been able to get it to boot just fine, and is stable, no loss in performance or stability. After toggling the PSU on and off, and removing the power cord, or on some occasions (possibly not even having done anything) I've reseated the mobo power connectors, or jiggled the ram.
But no luck yesterday or today after returning from school. I don't get it.
I've reseated all mobo power connectors, reseated both DIMMs, unplugged and toggled the PSU multiple times.
Is the PSU dead? I should have grabbed the Antec True550 I have in reserve after my parents upgraded to new machine and brought it down to school with me. Dammit I wish I did, I could try it then.
But if I've been able to get past the beeping on some occasions, and now I cannot... is it the PSU or something else going wacky? Once I could get it to boot successfully, it'd run perfectly, no problems with power... even playing games so I know the PSU could handle the power draw from the nVidia GeForce 8800gts. hmmm
thanks if anyone can help, and maybe provide some good news. buying a new psu is going to suck, cannot afford to buy these things at the moment.
UPDATE: 26 January 2009
Ugh. So it's definitely not the PSU. Just installed a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750w. No dice, same symptoms.
Well, so it wants to be weird: prior to buying the new PSU, the last thing I did was reset the BIOS and the beeping stopped, but turned into endless reboots with no POST.
After installing the new PSU, it did the same thing. Mind you, I had to remove the mobo and one of the thins I did was remove the two sticks of RAM, and not sure if I put them in the same slots they had been, had no intention of even trying to do that.
First boot, it does the same thing: endless reboots with no POST, no error codes, nothing. Just boot up, everything starts spinning, then stop and lights turn off, then do it again.
The front case Power LED keeps flashing endlessly, and it did this prior to the new PSU as well, and did it no matter: whether there was a beep or endless reboots, the Power LED continues to basically strobe.
Well, I figured, now to move to the test idea: memory. So I pulled the second stick, and turned it on. What happens this time? Beeeeeeeep.... pause.... and repeat to infinite.
Now, I'm about to go to bed so I'm going to put this off till tomorrow afternoon after class. I'll have to dig into the system to remove stick 1, the CPU cooler, specifically the attached fan is blocking access to the first stick, so I'll have to remove the fan portion to do so.
Does it sound like it's just bad memory? Why would having both sticks in result in endless repeat of initial boot cycle with no POST, yet one stick in result in a single long beep repeating infinitely? Does that imply it's not even a memory issue then? Was it simply chance that it went down like that, and no matter what I do short of resetting the BIOS again will bring back the silence?
If it were a bad CPU, what would it do in that case?
I'm still trying to figure out why it does this non-stop now, but when the symptoms first began, I could eventually get it to boot, though the first few tries would result in the long beep repeating... though with enough tries it did successfully boot and remain stable. That's what made me think it was power.
If it was a bad motherboard or bad memory, why would it display those symptoms yet eventually turn on? Isn't something like the motherboard or memory going to either fail or not fail, versus just being stubborn and not putting all the effort to boot until enough attempts had coerced it into booting? This is really confusing me. With the original progression of symptoms, it was almost a sure-bet that it was the PSU.
UPDATE #2:
Solved. New memory solved it.