When your Computer goes Beep Beep…
No it is not a Road runner shouting out “Beep Beep” as it is furiously being followed by Wile E. Coyote. To correct my statement I just referred to Wikipedia and found out The Road Runner vocalizes only with a signature sound, “Meep, Meep”, and an occasional tongue noise. So what has this to do with computers ? Absolutely nothing, before you pick up something to charge down to my house to hit me, let me get to the point. The computer power-on self-test (POST) tests the computer to make sure it meets the necessary system requirements and that all hardware is working properly before starting the remainder of the boot process. If the computer passes the POST the computer will have a single beep (with some computer BIOS manufacturers it may beep twice) as the computer starts and the computer will continue to start normally. However, if the computer fails the POST, the computer will either not beep at all or will generate a beep code, which tells the user the source of the problem. Now here are what each of these Beep codes mean.
Now depending on the type of the BIOS, the pattern of the beeps varies, it is like a S.O.S from your computer asking you to check something out before proceeding.
One important thing you should know that you will need to know the type of BIOS you have, I have mentioned AMI (American Megatrends) below, they are used by majority of the manufacturers.
1-Beep OR 2-Short Beeps OR 3-Short Beeps
Computer RAM (memory) related issue, Remove the RAM and clean it, reinsert it or try another slot.
4- Short Beeps OR 5-Short Beeps OR 7-Short Beeps OR 8-Short Beeps OR 9-Short Beeps OR 11-Short Beeps OR 1 long, 8 short
Try all of the following steps following each step try to start your PC and evaluate the situation
- Bad motherboard, CPU, RAM, or power supply
- Disconnect and reconnect the CPU
- Power cycle the computer
- Remove the RAM
- Disconnect all drives
- Disconnect all expansion cards
- Check all cables
- Check all fans : Make sure all fans are running in the computer. If a fan has failed (especially the heat sink fan for the CPU) your computer could be overheating or detecting the fan failure causing the computer not to boot
- Disconnect external devices
- Remove any disks or USB devices
- Remove new hardware
6-Short Beeps
Issue related to the keyboard or keyboard controller.
10-Short Beeps
- Like any battery the computer CMOS battery can fail or lose its charge.
- Locate your CMOS battery
- Obtain battery information
- Removing the battery
- Insert the new battery
- Enter CMOS values
Once the battery is replaced turn on the computer and resetting the CMOS values to the defaults. After the values have all been entered make sure to save the settings before exiting. Many CMOS setups allow you to press a key (such as F10) to save values and exit all in one action.
CMOS Battery
1 Long and 3 Short Beeps
Computer RAM (memory) related issue.
Technical Messages
1 short – DRAM refresh failure
2 short Parity circuit failure
3 short Base 64K RAM failure
4 short System timer failure
5 short Process failure
6 short Keyboard controller Gate A20 error
7 short Virtual mode exception error
8 short Display memory Read/Write test failure
9 short ROM BIOS checksum failure
10 short CMOS shutdown Read/Write error
11 short Cache Memory error
1 long, 3 short Conventional/Extended memory failure
1 long, 8 short Display/Retrace test failed
I have used Computer Hope as a reference, incase you are looking for other BIOS types please refer their types
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