5 Beeps New Motherboard

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Oubli121008

Commendable
Nov 2, 2016
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I have a i3147 Dell, I bought a New Dell Motherboard for it (N3530) and while *everything works just fine* I get this beep code during EVERY boot up (5 short beeps, it's very loud). I've put in a new CMOS battery, restored back to factory settings, updated it (everything on it works perfectly) except the noisy bothersome beep code upon boot up.

I've done all the hardware troubleshooting I can - nothing hinky has shown up, ran Dells pre-boot testing on all of my components, it never shows anything. It has to be a hardware problem but I'm flummoxed on the what and where. Troubleshooting 5 beeps means motherboard or battery, right? At this point I'm gonna rip the MB out and redo the heatsink paste cause that's the only other thing I can think to do at this point.

Help! Cause at this point, I'm gonna ditch this laptop and buy a new one, which makes me want to cry, there's nothing wrong w this one, it works just fine!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks guys!


Ps - I'm a Nanny I simply cannot have this very loud beeping waking up my charge every time she goes down for a nap and I open my laptop.
 
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Update - I completely disassembled my machine (exception heatsink/motherboard), blew it all out, reseated the CMOS battery (after bending the pins to hold the battery tighter (random internet suggestion), reconnected everything and lo and behold the beeping disappeared!!!

So it was a badly seated battery? or dust/hair somewhere? I dunno - I will be exercising my nuclear option (format) JIK and will update ya'll when I am freshly reinstalled hopefully beep free.
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Take a look at this Dell thread: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19389298

The above link has a comprehensive list of all beep codes you can expect to hear. Some beeps will be longer and shorter than others, so you'll need to listen carefully in order to pick out what pattern is actually being announced. From there you can look at the beep code list and determine what exactly the issue is.
 
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Thank you but I've been there and done that. It's 5 beeps no more no less, not a hinky 5-1-2-2 beep type thing. The other thing it could be (according to the posted dell page) is the memory - which makes no sense considering it's new DDR3 and has been tested in other computers - it's good. Thank you - I wish it were that simple.
 
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Didn't know I could do that!!! I re did the heat sink paste cause I'm impatient BUT I will try that next. Its gotten so bad I already have a new laptop picked out BUT I really don't want to go that route, fingers crossed I can get this working!
 
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No problem, fingers crossed your BIOS has the option. Some do, some don't.

Edit: I also took a gander at searching for disabling it within the device manager. Now keep in mind this thread was talking about a Dell running Windows XP (quite a while ago!), but this seemed to work for the chap: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/18054098

The steps are;
1. Right-click on My Computer
2. On the Hardware tab, click on [Device Manager]
3. On the "View" menu, select "Show hidden devices"
4. Under "Non-Plug and Play Drivers", right-click "Beep"
5. Click "Disable"

Might be worth a try if your BIOS doesn't have the disable option.
 
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Thank you for looking for an alternative option JIK the BIOS doesn't have it. Will be trying this when I get back home from running the kiddos around. Will update later tonight!
 
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Ok, so "Non-Plug and Play Drivers" is not a thing in Win 8.1. Instead I tried disabling the Beep directly in the Registry Editor (I really hate fudging w RegEdit, it's just bad juju) via - http://superuser.com/questions/689624/cant-find-non-present-devices-on-windows-8-1 and that didn't work either - so I changed it back JIK. I tried this as well - Start > All Programs > Accessories and right-click Command Prompt, then ‘Run as Administrator’. Type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1, no dice. Found my way into the BIOS (finally! F2/F12 wasn't working) and no option for Audio/Sound etc.

This would be a great solution, if I could get it to work. Will keep trying and updating my (non) progress . . .

 
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It may well come to that! It beats throwing it at the wall out of sheer frustration! I was almost at that point earlier and then I thought to ask the internet.
 
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I don't know much about laptops compared to desktops, but do laptops actually have a motherboard speaker/beeper, or does it use the laptop's speakers to sound the beeps? If it is the speakers, you could just plug in a set of earbuds when booting up and this will mute the speakers. Try it as a test.
 
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Update - Tested speakers by plugging in a set of headphones. It did NOT stop the loud beep error, so it's the motherboard speaker? Will research and disassemble soon to see if their is an easier and/or obvious way to disconnect the motherboard speaker.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to do this or how to program the computer to ignore this error, I'm all ears. Thanks!
 
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If you Google "Dell Inspiron Laptop 5 Beeps" or something similar, it seems that 5 beeps at startup means Real Time Clock Power Failure. This means the CMOS battery is bad. You said above that you replaced the CMOS battery, but are you sure the new battery is good? You can test it with a voltmeter. If you don't have access to a voltmeter, perhaps there is something in the BIOS that will tell you the voltage of the battery. Are you sure you have the battery installed correctly (not upside down)?

Here is a link to a video someone made regarding the 5 beeps (not your exact model Inspiron):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH6kdMPUCfc
 
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Well, I guess it comes down to disabling the motherboard speaker. You could cut out a small disk of heavy tape (like Duct tape) and place it over the speaker to lessen the volume of the beeps. That way if you were ever experiencing problems with boot up you could remove the tape and listen to the diagnostic beep codes.
 
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Update - There is no separate speakers for the motherboard, any physical modification to the speakers will interfere w everything else I do on my laptop involving sound.

I've tried disabling the speakers inside Windows several different ways and yet the beeping persists.

There are NO option in the BIOS that can address this - it beeps consistently thru out browsing UEFI options though.

It's been suggested that it could be the graphics card but that's integrated into the motherboard, so I'm unsure how to even try to address that problem. (updated the graphics driver and even went so far as to disable it, no dice)

I'm not giving up yet BUT husband is looking into a Black Friday laptop for me. Still troubleshooting this though - any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank all!
 
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Does the beep even come from the speakers? Usually it's from a beeper, but maybe not in this model...

Personally, if it's from the speakers I'd make a circuit that delays the connection of the speakers for 5 seconds, but yeah....not everyone has the diy and programming skills needed.
 
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I found an image of your motherboard, and agree that it does not appear to have a motherboard speaker on the board. Is it possible there is a speaker somewhere else inside the laptop (other than the "regular" speakers? When you are listening to music or other audio through the speakers, does it mute when you plug in a set of earbuds? If so, it should mute the beeps if indeed they are playing out of the regular speakers. I suspect another speaker somewhere in there.
 
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I'm pretty sure it's coming from the regular speakers, complete and frank disassembly hasn't found any other speakers - I even got out the old motherboard for a closer inspection and found none. But popping in headphones did not disable it or push the sound thru them during boot up.

 
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Update - I completely disassembled my machine (exception heatsink/motherboard), blew it all out, reseated the CMOS battery (after bending the pins to hold the battery tighter (random internet suggestion), reconnected everything and lo and behold the beeping disappeared!!!

So it was a badly seated battery? or dust/hair somewhere? I dunno - I will be exercising my nuclear option (format) JIK and will update ya'll when I am freshly reinstalled hopefully beep free.
 
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