PC bootup problem

Galahad/FLT · 30 January 2008, 16:57

this one is seriously starting to get on my tits.

Been quite regular now.

Basically, put the PC on, and the screen stays black, and after about 10 seconds, i'll get a constant 'beep beep' sound from the internal PC speaker.

BIOS doesn't appear. I removed one of the RAM chips thinking that would cure it, and hey presto it did, and the PC worked albeit slower and there was no crashes in Windows anymore where everything locked up.

I get home today, go to switch PC on and its doing the same thing, the 'beep beep' noise on bootup, so i'm now thinking it wasn't the RAM at all.

Does anyone know if this 'beep beep' noise directly relates to a particular problem?

i've checked all the connectors, i disconnected the DVD and CD Rom drives in case the Power Supply was over stressed, i've checked and disconnected the only card in the PC and i still get the same results.

The PC works at the moment, but christ knows for how long before it dies again.

Any ideas? Because this will be my third PC in a year if this one dies as well, and i will be SERIOUSLY unimpressed.

NLS · 30 January 2008, 17:06

well yes beeps are related to particular problems

they have long and short beeps, you have tell us exactly what beeps you hear and exactly what motherboard is this

(of course then you can google for this too)

Shoonay · 30 January 2008, 17:06

You've not messed with the BIOS setting recently?
A few weeks back, I've added a few more fans to me pc setup and also changed the temp vs. speed of fans settings on me cpu, so, when booting it beeped like hell, cause the fans weren't working at all since the low min temp I've chosed.

Galahad/FLT · 30 January 2008, 17:08

The beep beep noises sound like a police siren.

motherboard is a - EP-4GEMI

i haven't added anything recently and i haven't touched the BIOS either.

NLS · 30 January 2008, 17:25

old and from a company that sux... (epox ...no pun intended)

why don't you just upgrade the thing?

Galahad/FLT · 30 January 2008, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLS

old and from a company that sux... (epox ...no pun intended)

why don't you just upgrade the thing?

Because i don't need a fancy PC for Winuae or internet, i use PS2 for gaming, i just want this one to work. i refuse to keep spending money on more PC's, i just want this one to work.

NLS · 30 January 2008, 17:29

http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep...tinuous-c.html
(ram or video)

maybe this

http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm
(cpu)

...I don't help eh?

NLS · 30 January 2008, 17:32

well time is money and spending much time on a such PC is probably more expensive than buying a new mobo/CPU/RAM (possibly less than 200 euro for something about 100 times faster than your current)

OddbOd · 30 January 2008, 17:35

An Award BIOS endlessly beeping at the same pitch at boot time indicates a memory error, but, if the pitch varies between two different frequencies (presumably what you mean by "like a police siren") then it's a CPU fault. Without a diagnostic card there's not really anything else I can tell you.

If the machine is already at normal temperature when the problem occurs then start with checking for thermal problems (insufficient heat transfer paste, incorrect seating, loose fan clips etc.)

Arnie · 30 January 2008, 17:47

I think it could be a faulty memory chip, happend to me once, machine would work erratically. sorted with a new stick of ram.

Merlin · 30 January 2008, 18:03

It's a CPU fault mate, has the CPU fan power lead come loose? If so, this will trigger the alarm siren as the PC knows the fan isn't running. it could also be the thermal alarm as the CPU may have overheated (links back to fan fault).

If the bios has reset it may also think the system fan isn't running, if you are using the header on the motherboard to drive a system fan.

At a stretch, it could be the CPU multiplier or clock setting are wrong.

Try resetting the bios to default and start again with your bios setup.

Merlin

Bloodwych · 30 January 2008, 18:38

Problems like this are difficult to track down. When your computer is running warm (and it seems stable), run some tests on the CPU and memory to eliminate those as issues. I have listed some great programs here (Prime95, memtest+):

http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=390114&postcount=13

After eliminating the CPU and memory and since it sounds like a cold boot issue, we're looking at possibly a bad capacitor or low bios battery, perhaps but less likely a flaky PSU or connection from the PSU to the motherboard.

Only suggestions I can think of trying really, given the symptoms.

Merlin · 30 January 2008, 22:19

"we're looking at a bad capacitor or low bios battery...."

"If the bios has reset it may also think the system fan isn't running, if you are using the header on the motherboard to drive a system fan.

At a stretch, it could be the CPU multiplier or clock setting are wrong."

To me , it sounds like we are on the right track, it's an old board so the bios battery could be flat which would reset the settings to default.

Try changing the CMOS battery, at least it's cheap...

Merlin

Galahad/FLT · 30 January 2008, 22:28

cheers chaps, the battery could well be the problem, though the date and time is still correct, and at the moment the PC is running fine, but i daren't turn the fucking thing off!

twizzle · 30 January 2008, 22:44

AHA, you now have the same problem that i was having a few weeks ago :-(

i literaly tried everything

in the end it turned out to be a faulty power supply.
not enough voltage on the +5v & the +12v side
it was very small but thats what caused it. cheap pwr supply.

i got a antec 500w, problem cured

rsn8887 · 30 January 2008, 23:30

Had a similar problem: I had to leave my pc on all the time. Switching it off was a nightmare, because it would just beep on me and I had to switch off/on for like an hour till it would finally boot again. Once it booted, it was fine though, until you switched it off again (which I tried never to do).

Well at some point my power supply fried. Actual smoke came out of it. I bought a new very beefy supply. One of those dual ones for dual cpu machines. It seems that that fixed it. No more beeping problems now for several months. Still am scared to switch my box of though. And why would I anyways. XP runs pretty darn stable. Keeping machine on for ages without even a re-boot is fine with me now...

... lol well maybe not without re-boot: my dvd burner f**** up on a bad disc once in a while. It stops to open anymore, and I just have to reset. Who writes those cd-rom drivers anyways? It's the same problem as in ancient times with windows 95 crashing on bad floppies lol.

Marcuz · 31 January 2008, 00:57

similar to me too... a momentary lapse of the cpu fan underclocked the cpu frquency and burned a ram bank. had to change them both. but a fryed bank, if it's not completely burned may cause a almost random booting of the pc.

the worst thing may be if the ram socket is burned.

i don't know your motherboard, but if it's a newish one, a battery problem may cause the cpu to change dinamically its core settings and so making other components like the ram behave erraticly.

30 January 2008, 16:57	#1
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 9,014	PC bootup problem this one is seriously starting to get on my tits. Been quite regular now. Basically, put the PC on, and the screen stays black, and after about 10 seconds, i'll get a constant 'beep beep' sound from the internal PC speaker. BIOS doesn't appear. I removed one of the RAM chips thinking that would cure it, and hey presto it did, and the PC worked albeit slower and there was no crashes in Windows anymore where everything locked up. I get home today, go to switch PC on and its doing the same thing, the 'beep beep' noise on bootup, so i'm now thinking it wasn't the RAM at all. Does anyone know if this 'beep beep' noise directly relates to a particular problem? i've checked all the connectors, i disconnected the DVD and CD Rom drives in case the Power Supply was over stressed, i've checked and disconnected the only card in the PC and i still get the same results. The PC works at the moment, but christ knows for how long before it dies again. Any ideas? Because this will be my third PC in a year if this one dies as well, and i will be SERIOUSLY unimpressed.

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30 January 2008, 17:06	#2
NLS Ancient User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: GREECE Age: 50 Posts: 758	well yes beeps are related to particular problems they have long and short beeps, you have tell us exactly what beeps you hear and exactly what motherboard is this (of course then you can google for this too)

30 January 2008, 17:06	#3
Shoonay Global Caturator Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Porando Age: 43 Posts: 6,107	You've not messed with the BIOS setting recently? A few weeks back, I've added a few more fans to me pc setup and also changed the temp vs. speed of fans settings on me cpu, so, when booting it beeped like hell, cause the fans weren't working at all since the low min temp I've chosed.

30 January 2008, 17:08	#4
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 9,014	The beep beep noises sound like a police siren. motherboard is a - EP-4GEMI i haven't added anything recently and i haven't touched the BIOS either.

30 January 2008, 17:25	#5
NLS Ancient User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: GREECE Age: 50 Posts: 758	old and from a company that sux... (epox ...no pun intended) why don't you just upgrade the thing?

30 January 2008, 17:29	#7
NLS Ancient User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: GREECE Age: 50 Posts: 758	http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep...tinuous-c.html (ram or video) maybe this http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm (cpu) ...I don't help eh?

30 January 2008, 17:32	#8
NLS Ancient User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: GREECE Age: 50 Posts: 758	well time is money and spending much time on a such PC is probably more expensive than buying a new mobo/CPU/RAM (possibly less than 200 euro for something about 100 times faster than your current)

30 January 2008, 17:35	#9
OddbOd Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Australia Age: 47 Posts: 666	An Award BIOS endlessly beeping at the same pitch at boot time indicates a memory error, but, if the pitch varies between two different frequencies (presumably what you mean by "like a police siren") then it's a CPU fault. Without a diagnostic card there's not really anything else I can tell you. If the machine is already at normal temperature when the problem occurs then start with checking for thermal problems (insufficient heat transfer paste, incorrect seating, loose fan clips etc.)

30 January 2008, 17:47	#10
Arnie R.I.P Smudge 18-08-16 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Leicester/UK Age: 66 Posts: 3,968	I think it could be a faulty memory chip, happend to me once, machine would work erratically. sorted with a new stick of ram.

30 January 2008, 18:03	#11
Merlin AmiBay MegaMod Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manchester, UK Age: 62 Posts: 1,163	It's a CPU fault mate, has the CPU fan power lead come loose? If so, this will trigger the alarm siren as the PC knows the fan isn't running. it could also be the thermal alarm as the CPU may have overheated (links back to fan fault). If the bios has reset it may also think the system fan isn't running, if you are using the header on the motherboard to drive a system fan. At a stretch, it could be the CPU multiplier or clock setting are wrong. Try resetting the bios to default and start again with your bios setup. Merlin

30 January 2008, 18:38	#12
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	Problems like this are difficult to track down. When your computer is running warm (and it seems stable), run some tests on the CPU and memory to eliminate those as issues. I have listed some great programs here (Prime95, memtest+): http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=390114&postcount=13 After eliminating the CPU and memory and since it sounds like a cold boot issue, we're looking at possibly a bad capacitor or low bios battery, perhaps but less likely a flaky PSU or connection from the PSU to the motherboard. Only suggestions I can think of trying really, given the symptoms.

30 January 2008, 22:19	#13
Merlin AmiBay MegaMod Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manchester, UK Age: 62 Posts: 1,163	"we're looking at a bad capacitor or low bios battery...." "If the bios has reset it may also think the system fan isn't running, if you are using the header on the motherboard to drive a system fan. At a stretch, it could be the CPU multiplier or clock setting are wrong." To me , it sounds like we are on the right track, it's an old board so the bios battery could be flat which would reset the settings to default. Try changing the CMOS battery, at least it's cheap... Merlin

30 January 2008, 22:28	#14
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 9,014	cheers chaps, the battery could well be the problem, though the date and time is still correct, and at the moment the PC is running fine, but i daren't turn the fucking thing off!

30 January 2008, 22:44	#15
twizzle Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: taunton.som.uk Age: 73 Posts: 681	AHA, you now have the same problem that i was having a few weeks ago :-( i literaly tried everything in the end it turned out to be a faulty power supply. not enough voltage on the +5v & the +12v side it was very small but thats what caused it. cheap pwr supply. i got a antec 500w, problem cured

30 January 2008, 23:30	#16
rsn8887 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,059	Had a similar problem: I had to leave my pc on all the time. Switching it off was a nightmare, because it would just beep on me and I had to switch off/on for like an hour till it would finally boot again. Once it booted, it was fine though, until you switched it off again (which I tried never to do). Well at some point my power supply fried. Actual smoke came out of it. I bought a new very beefy supply. One of those dual ones for dual cpu machines. It seems that that fixed it. No more beeping problems now for several months. Still am scared to switch my box of though. And why would I anyways. XP runs pretty darn stable. Keeping machine on for ages without even a re-boot is fine with me now... ... lol well maybe not without re-boot: my dvd burner f**** up on a bad disc once in a while. It stops to open anymore, and I just have to reset. Who writes those cd-rom drivers anyways? It's the same problem as in ancient times with windows 95 crashing on bad floppies lol.

31 January 2008, 00:57	#17
Marcuz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 48 Posts: 5,562	similar to me too... a momentary lapse of the cpu fan underclocked the cpu frquency and burned a ram bank. had to change them both. but a fryed bank, if it's not completely burned may cause a almost random booting of the pc. the worst thing may be if the ram socket is burned. i don't know your motherboard, but if it's a newish one, a battery problem may cause the cpu to change dinamically its core settings and so making other components like the ram behave erraticly.

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