Question Single beep normal post immediately followed by 2-3 beeps and then constant siren.

[silversmithy]

I have a very old PC I was given that I was hoping to use for playing an older game or two as it's running Windows 2000. I've tried it off an on over the past year after cleaning out, etc., and it always booted up even though there is a checksum error, loading defaults msg....hit f1, etc...I had been able to access the desktop and so on without an issues.

I recently decided to install and play Red Baron 3D about 2 weeks ago. When I turned the PC on this time there was a surging noise, and then a repeating clicking sound which I isolated one or both of the HDD's. I was still able to install and play the game, and even found an or set of speakers to plug into the sound card. I thought it was the HDD's, but that may be only part of the problem I think.

The surging and clicking finally seemed to go away. I then got back to the PC several days ago and tried to boot at first it seems normal, single beep, but as soon as the AwardBios screen comes up and it starts try to load everything it beep a couple of times and immediately goes to a steady tone or signal that only goes away for the first few seconds on reboot or in between when it pauses between when start up is trying to load different things. This never happened before, and my first thought was the single stick of pc-100 256mb ram. I pulled the ram, blew out the dust as best I could, and reinstalled into a different slot. Same problem again on reboot. The ram does pass the initial test on boot but not sure how reliable that is especially on this old of a PC.

I removed the CMOS battery and held power button down, and even installed a different more powerful PSU with no change. At this point I'm thinking, graphics card, motherboard, corrupt BIOS, or more recently I thought perhaps an overheating CPU.... When I boot to BIOS though all temps and voltages seem within tolerance. I believe I have another battery I can install, and also another sticker of ram to try.

Specs :

AMD Thunderbird, but that's all I know.

340 watt PSU.

An old Nvidia 64mb AGP graphics card.

PC-100 256mb single stick of ram.

2 DVD drives

1 case fan, and cooler master CPU fan. Both working.

Advice/help much appreciated.

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model PSU? Age, condition, source?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Does the PC's overall specs meet or exceed the hardware requirements for Red Baron 3D?

Overall, more information needed about the PC and its' components. What case?

However, as starting thought my sense is that the system OS and hardware may not be sufficient to or no longer capable of being able to play the game.

 

[silversmithy]

Make and model PSU? Age, condition, source?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Does the PC's overall specs meet or exceed the hardware requirements for Red Baron 3D?

Overall, more information needed about the PC and its' components. What case?

However, as starting thought my sense is that the system OS and hardware may not be sufficient to or no longer capable of being able to play the game.

It's an aftermarket case so not sure about that. I know the previous owners had it stored in a damp garage on the floor for quite a while so it's probably just on its way out. The PC simply will not boot at all anymore. It was booting fine after the checksum error, loading defaults message, but the came the sueging sound, followed by the clicking of what seemed to be one or both of the HDD's, and now it simply starts to post, beeps one time normally, and then another quick beep, and then a steady audio signal that eventually stops when the PC freezes up. I just now tried another stick of RAM and the problem is still there. The only thing else would be graphics card, motherboard or CPU itself. It could be all of them too.🙁

 

[Ralston18]

My suggestion is to strip down the old PC to the basics: motherboard, cpu, the original RAM, iGPU, one boot hard drive.

To begin, take a closer look at the motherboard for additional make, model, and version information. Go online and search for the applicable motherboard User Guide/Manual.

Ensure, for example, that any installed RAM is: 1) supported by the motherboard, and 2) installed in a supported configuration.

Carefully clean up all components, blow out dust and debris, inspect for signs of damage - corrosion being likely.

Reseat all cards, connectors, RAM, jumpers, and case connectors. Install a new CMOS battery.

Objective being to determine if the system can be made operable and reliably functional without spending any additional money other than for the CMOS battery if not available.

What wattage is the more recent PSU?

If the system still will not boot/work then the most straightforward action would be to swap in another known working PSU. 500 watts if possible.

And consider new thermal paste as another option to try.

 

[silversmithy]

Thank you very much. I was going to get a new battery today, and I will follow your directions. I was going to put new thermal paste on the CPU as well. The PSU I swapped in is a 340 watt in place of the 300 watt. Both are not brands that are considered higher tier. The problem is that this machine is it requires molex and IDE and all of my other available PSU's are newer SATA. I didn't change anything else, and PC booted fine about 2 weeks ago and then I noticed the power surging and then HDD clicking. The PC has 3 ram slots available and I've tried the original stick in each one, and also blew out the slots. I'm thinking it's simply had its day and due to storage conditions its failing fast. I will do my best though. Thanks again.

 

[silversmithy]

Hello. For starters I installed a different battery last night to get the ball rolling and same problem. I went ahead and disconnected the floppy drive, disconnected one of the 2 DVD drives, removed the 2 USB port card, and Ethernet card. The PC does the same, except with the only exception that it now actually gets to no boot device found, please insert system DVD, (or something very similar). I'm guessing that's progress???? I'm just thinking this PC is done. It went down quickly. By the way any ideas on how to remove an old AMD CPU cooler. It's an older cooler master AMD compatible but I don't see a lever, but there is a silver metal base that looks like it has a slot for maybe a screwdriver to pop up. That does not seem like a good idea though. I'm going to clean it out fully and change the thermal paste before completely throwing in the towel. It looks like at the very least the HDD's are both gonners. Not surprised, but still a shame nonetheless. I feel like something I did sped up it's demise, but I don't know what. I cleaned it and kept it stored in a clean dry area which was a big improvement from it's last home. Oh well.

My suggestion is to strip down the old PC to the basics: motherboard, cpu, the original RAM, iGPU, one boot hard drive.

To begin, take a closer look at the motherboard for additional make, model, and version information. Go online and search for the applicable motherboard User Guide/Manual.

Ensure, for example, that any installed RAM is: 1) supported by the motherboard, and 2) installed in a supported configuration.

Carefully clean up all components, blow out dust and debris, inspect for signs of damage - corrosion being likely.

Reseat all cards, connectors, RAM, jumpers, and case connectors. Install a new CMOS battery.

Objective being to determine if the system can be made operable and reliably functional without spending any additional money other than for the CMOS battery if not available.

What wattage is the more recent PSU?

If the system still will not boot/work then the most straightforward action would be to swap in another known working PSU. 500 watts if possible.

And consider new thermal paste as another option to try.

 

[Ralston18]

Noted:

" went ahead and disconnected the floppy drive, disconnected one if the 2 DVD drives, removed the 2 USB port card, and Ethernet card. "

Underlines indicating what has (rightly or wrongly) become "old tech". Floppies = very old.

Therefore, as I understand it all, it is indeed true that you are working with a very old PC.

Thus there is no real data to be lost - correct?

If there is important data was that important data ever backed up and proven both recoverable and readable?

Attempting to salvage "very old" PCs is a worthy goal but a goal that frequently has diminished to no viable returns.

If the system/build cannot be made operational at even some simple basic configuration then the build is very likely beyond any useful purpose.

Salvage/repurpose what you can and responsibly recycle what is left.

 

[silversmithy]

It's started booting fine now for some reason. Maybe bad PSU and dead CMOS battery. No clicking or surging sound. Hmmmmm. The loud constant audio sound was a keyboard issue which is gone now that I have a ps2 keyboard plugged in.

Also in disk management I believe it showed both HDD's and healthy partitions. I hope this holds up, but with it being so old and not stored well prior... time will tell.