Continuous Beep on start up

[blade187]

Hi,
Earlier this evening my computer froze and I had to hard reboot it. It beeped continously and wouldn't come back on (the fans and harddrive seemed to kick in). Not sure what was happening and left it for 10 minutes before trying again an lo and behold it booted up fine....for about 10 minutes at which point it froze again! Restarted again and getting the same continuous beep only now it won't come on no matter how long I leave it

Somethings obviously died, but what? Is it the graphics card? I can go buy parts but don't want to spend money trial and erroring to find which part is bust.

Anyone got any ideas on what the problem is.

I've uploaded a video of what happens here if it helps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxbBhiyRDaw

thanks in advance

 

[btk1w1]

Continuous beeps are often an indication of bad RAM. It could also point to other issues such as video or other hardware.

You can google the motherboard make plus beep codes to attempt to ID what the PC is trying to tell you.

I've given you a couple of links to help with beep codes:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/nonworkingcomponent/ht/beepcodestb.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

It is much better to ID the problem first than buying parts, or spending money to ID the problem.

I would first begin by powering down the PC and unplugging the unit from the wall.

Take any anti-static precautions as described below:

http://www.build-your-own-cheap-computer.com/static-electricity.html

Check all cable connections to make sure they are seated firmly.

Reseat RAM and GPU, link below to help with this (it is for RAM but the process is the same for video card):

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ss/reseat_memory.htm

If you still get the error after following these steps you can try to run the PC with one stick of RAM (if there are 2 or more of course), if the error occurs try another and see if the process of elimination can pinpoint a possible RAM problem.

I would also run memtest to check the RAM integrity. It is a bootable disk so you will need to set the CD / DVD drive as the first boot device in the BIOS and if prompted "Hit any key to boot from CD".

Halfway down the page is the download link for memtest86+:

http://www.memtest.org/

"Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)"

Extract the bootable ISO then burn to CD.

 

[btk1w1]

You can use SIW to ID the motherboard manufacturer for the beep codes:

http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

SIW Standalone (English-Only) is my preferred version as it doesn't need to be installed and can be run from a USB flash / thumb drive.

 

[btk1w1]

Ignore the above post, it is no good unless the PC is running. You can still ID the motherboard manufacturer by looking for it directly on the motherboard.

 

[flank21]

had a similar situation, I just received a computer after doing a repair, and went to power it on and got the continuous beeping, looked up IBM's bios beep codes and It said it was a keyboard failure, so I plugged in a usb keyboard and mouse and boom the computer successfully posts now.

So if you have an IBM computer or an IBM based bios, make sure your keyboard and mouse are plugged in securely.

 

[Guest]

I had the same problem, it is your CPU burning, just put thermal paste or replace the CPU

 

[benwaldeny]

good,You can still ID the motherboard manufacturer by looking for it directly on the motherboard.

 

[rezervesizeja]

Your HDD failed.

 

[sloaphone]

yeah,agree,. You can still ID the motherboard manufacturer by looking for it directly on the motherboard.