unknown bios alarm code

[bcurley]

Board is an asus p5n32-e sli with a e8500 cpu.
Everything else is new. Powered up build for first time, and bios alarm went off:
it was a 2-3 second long beep in a continuous loop. Checked all the web sites that offer bios code definitions, to no avail.
Only one person had a thought that it could be cpu related. And, yes, I have tried everything like resetting, replacing etc.
Anyone have any ideas? CPU is new, so I returned it for a replacement to see if that helps.
During alarm, the wireless keyboard that I used couldn't get any power from the USB ports, but when I plugged it in to the ps/2 port, it powered up.
???

 

[Zap]

If it was a problem with the CPU, you would not get beeps.

I'm thinking one of two things.

1) RAM - one long beep is usually RAM and some boards cycle error beeps.

2) No operational fan with RPM wire plugged in to the CPU fan header.

 

[Quiksilver]

IIRC Asus uses an Award BIOS and an endless beeps is bad ram or its not seated all the way.

 

[bcurley]

The endless beep is a memory issue, but this beep is intermittent. It goes something like this:BEEP(2-3sec), PAUSE(3-4sec), repeat endlessly.
Would this be a problem: The CPU fan that I am using is a thermaltake with a 3-pin connector, while the retail piece of junk had a 4-pin connection. The manual did not indicate that this would be a problem, just that a certain "ASUS monitoring feature" would not be enabled with a 3-pin fan connection. Thank you for the ideas by the way!! I appreciate the help.
I will check those suggestions as soon as my maybe-not-faulty-CPU is returned.

 

[bcurley]

Got my CPU back, put it in...no change! I did however mess with the memory configuration again. I tried this before, but this time it decided to work!! I have 2-2gb corsair modules from the QVL.
I wasn't too prepared to write this so bear with me. There are four slots:A_1, B_1, A_2, B_2. I could be wrong on labeling, but for simplicity's sake, I'll just refer to the "blue" slots as B_. If I install any module in the A_1 or B_1 slots I get the above mentioned beep code. I started out with one module in B_2, and when I got it working, I tried the other module in the same slot. They both work. I then tried a number of configurations and found that any module in A_1 or B_2 causes the failure. However, it does recognize both modules if I install them in A_2 and B_2. Is that normal? Windows booted up just fine...So there I am updating drivers when all of a sudden, I get the dreaded blue screen saying that Windows is shutting down check this check that...blah blah blah. I boot into last known succesful configuration, and I have a file it "Can't find." Which is good, because that file was on the blue error message. It is ASIO.sys. I am running fine without it, but every time I boot I get this message when Windows Starts up. (XP home, by the way).Any clues, or shold I start a new thread?
Thanks a lot to those of you with so much patience for us newbies!! We really appreciate it.