How To Diagnose Abnormal PC Bootup Beeps
When we sat down at our computer desk and fire up the computer,the last thing we want to hear are strange beeps in the boot up process.
Since unusual beeps at bootup spell trouble,its a good idea to understand what these beeps mean and what to do about them.
Hearing one beep before or during boot up is normal but if you hear two or three unusual beeps as your system boots,take note that your pc is trying to tell you something.
On startup, computers perform a Power-on Self Test, or the POST. If problems are found while booting, you can usually diagnose them using the error codes displayed on the screen.
Take note that you will have to pay close attention to your screen as it boots up.The error codes come and go fast and if you miss it, you'll have to allow the system to finish the POST and re boot the system.
However, if nothing displays on the screen, the computer might use sound to tell you what is wrong, using the number and timing of beeps.Don't overlook this warning sign since it may indicate problems that may be about to occur.
Its now time to do a bit of research to find the meaning of those out of place beeps.And it will be well worth the effort since you should be able to make maintenance and repairs and stop potential pc problems before they take hold and cause further damage.
Your first line of defense in finding the meaning of those beeps are your computer's support vendor.Your vendor should have a directory of BIOS beep patterns.
Its going to be tempting to put this aside for now since your computer is running just fine.If possible,print or write the meaning of these beeps down and place it in a safe place.
With this information safely put away,you with be able to aid tech support,a pc repairman,or better yet,you will know what do you by the pattern of the beeps.Go to http://www.pcmech.com/show/troubleshoot/14/ to see a the beeps for most computers that beeps and fail to boot.
Some of the beep codes you will see are from such PC BIOS settings as the AMI,AWARD,IBM,and the Phoenix BIOS Beep codes just to name a few. And because of the wide variety of different computer manufacturers of the BIOS, the beep codes may vary.
For example,if your computer has a AMI BIOS and you hear 5 short beeps, this indicates a BIOS process failure.And 9 short beeps indicates a ROM BIOS checksum failure.
If your computer has the AWARD BIOS and you hear 1 long beep and 2 short beeps, this indicates a video error and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information.
IBM or International Business Machine owners may hear one continuous beep or a repeating short beep.This indicates that there is no power,an adapter card has become loose, or there is a short somewhere in the computer.
Another example would be if you have a Phoenix BIOS and your computer show a beep code of 2-4-2-3, you will need to check the keyboard for errors.
If you're a serious computer user, you need to take note of the beeps you hear as it boots up.Try to memorize the very pattern until you know it by ear. This way, you'll be alarmed should you hear unusual beeps at startup.