Re: [SLE] [OT] Rebuilt computer just beeps
Thanks to all for the pointers to the beep codes. Alas, it didn't help; it's an Award bios and a no-name motherboard. And none of the descriptions of beep codes mention continual, regular beeping; they all describe groups of beeps or sequences of up to 11 single beeps. This guy beeps until I shut him off. The motherboard has slots for both DIMMs and SIMMs. I've tried using a 128MB DIMM from another computer but couldn't seem to get it to seat properly. (The original 32MB DIMM I was trying is probably bad, since the other [working] computer didn't recognize it.) I'm thinking of trying to pick up a pair of SIMMs (which is what was there when I last used the board), but I don't want to waste my money on SIMMs for a board that wouldn't run anyway. So perhaps I should turn the question around: if you start up a motherboard with no memory, is it likely to emit continual regular beeps? Paul
And none of the descriptions of beep codes mention continual, regular beeping; > they all describe groups of beeps or sequences of up to 11 single beeps. This guy beeps until I shut him off.
i believe you mentioned you haven't tried unplugging the keyboard -- continual beeping until it's powered off is commonly caused by keyboard buffer overflows. you may wish to try with a different known-good keyboard, or try this keyboard on a known good system. or. try without a keyboard/mouse altogether -- see if you can get a keyboard error rather than continual beeps. ph.
Did you check the CMOS battery? I had a couple of MBs that had the same
type of error (kept beeping until powered off) and it turned out that the
BIOS was toasted. The first thing that the tech-support said was to change
the CMOS battery. IF that doesn't work you;ll probably have to replace
either the BIOS or the whole MB.
Sorry to say. :(
Good luck!
Geordon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Abrahams"
Thanks to all for the pointers to the beep codes. Alas, it didn't help; it's an Award bios and a no-name motherboard. And none of the descriptions of beep codes mention continual, regular beeping; they all describe groups of beeps or sequences of up to 11 single beeps. This guy beeps until I shut him off.
On Tuesday 08 May 2001 16:26, Geordon VanTassle wrote:
Did you check the CMOS battery? I had a couple of MBs that had the same type of error (kept beeping until powered off) and it turned out that the BIOS was toasted. The first thing that the tech-support said was to change the CMOS battery. IF that doesn't work you;ll probably have to replace either the BIOS or the whole MB.
If you want to try upgrading the Award BIOS, I posted notes on how I did it a short while ago. HTH Terence
In <3AF81AEF.2C22F939@acm.org>, on 05/08/01
at 12:12 PM, Paul Abrahams
[Thanks to all for the pointers to the beep codes. Alas, it didn't [help; it's an Award bios and a no-name motherboard. And none of the [descriptions of beep codes mention continual, regular beeping; they all [describe groups of beeps or sequences of up to 11 single beeps. This [guy beeps until I shut him off.
Paul, You have received some excellent tips so far, sorry they haven't helped. I would make one additional suggestion: check the power supply. ThankYouKindly! Bill Fullam -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Willard E. Fullam III wfullam@bellsouth.net http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/~wfullam -----------------------------------------------------------
I 'm now inclined to think that the most likely cause of the beeps is that the computer is running with no usable memory. I've ordered some SIMMS, which I know will fit (the DIMM didn't seem to despite the presence of DIMM sockets), so I'll see if that solves the problem. I'll let the folks here know what the outcome is. So the saga is "to be continued". An interesting observation: Just for laughs I took all the memory out of another working box. Nevertheless, when I started the box it reported 64MB. It actually managed to get through System Commander, select Linux, and get several steps through the boot process before quitting on a kernel panic. Amazing!! Paul
Paul Abrahams wrote: Are you sure it was without memory? Some boards (old ones) may have some 4-8 MB on board. Never the less, I wondered what happens to the cache memory. Will that work as "memory" instead? Can you run DOS from say 512 KB cache memory?? sounds like fun! Juergen
I 'm now inclined to think that the most likely cause of the beeps is that the computer is running with no usable memory. I've ordered some SIMMS, which I know will fit (the DIMM didn't seem to despite the presence of DIMM sockets), so I'll see if that solves the problem. I'll let the folks here know what the outcome is. So the saga is "to be continued".
An interesting observation: Just for laughs I took all the memory out of another working box. Nevertheless, when I started the box it reported 64MB. It actually managed to get through System Commander, select Linux, and get several steps through the boot process before quitting on a kernel panic. Amazing!!
Paul
-- =========================================== __ _ Juergen Braukmann juergen.braukmann@gmx.de| -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Tel: 0201-743648 dk4jb@db0qs.#nrw.deu.eu | /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ===========================================_\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\
Juergen Braukmann wrote:
Paul Abrahams wrote:
An interesting observation: Just for laughs I took all the memory out of another working box. Nevertheless, when I started the box it reported 64MB. It actually managed to get through System Commander, select Linux, and get several steps through the boot process before quitting on a kernel panic. Amazing!!
Are you sure it was without memory?
To be precise, it was without memory modules in the DIMM and SIMM memory slots.
Some boards (old ones) may have some 4-8 MB on board. Never the less, I wondered what happens to the cache memory. Will that work as "memory" instead? Can you run DOS from say 512 KB cache memory?? sounds like fun!
Next time I open up the box I'll try that. Yes, it should indeed be fun, and since DOS is on my System Commander menu, not very difficult. I wonder how to check for that on-board memory. Would it be mentioned somewhere in the motherboard specs (which I'd have to dredge up)? Paul
participants (6)
-
Geordon VanTassle -
Juergen Braukmann -
patrick hurley -
Paul Abrahams -
Terence McCarthy -
wfullam＠bellsouth.net