Beeping Motherboard = Garbage?

Hello. Your forums have been so much help before, I decided to join them to see if I could hash out some problems I'm continuing to have.

My older computer died a few months ago, and the volunteer who looked at it thinks the motherboard is dead (but he's been wrong before). When I put the hard drive in and start it up, in a second or two it starts giving off this series of beeps. I know that it means something when it beeps a certain way, but it does it no matter what hard drive I hook up. Is it really fried? Or are the beeps a code that's trying to tell me what to fix? Please help!

Thanks,
Raiveran

 

All right. The manufacturer for the motherboard itself? Any idea where this info is printed or located? I'm not sure what I'm looking for. There are a lot of things with words on them (wow I sound dim).

 

Dude, I doubt it is the motherboard as it's trying to do what it's supposed to, beep more than once when there's a problem. These beeps can be cryptic but a google search for "bios beep codes" should get you MORE than enough information. It not only warns about the hard drive it also checks video, ram, chipset, etc. The boot up process is called POST power on self test. It sounds like the motherboard is ok, check out all the other components, reseat the ram, reseat the video card (unless it's integrated. Then let us know what ya find out.

 

As has been suggested Google the Beep codes! The beeping or constant beeping is the BIOS telling you that your machine didn’t make POST. Which at this point could mean anything from the Video card isn’t seated properly to the CPU is overheating or is dead.

Switch off the tower, disconnect all power cables and ground yourself only after the mains are switched off before you open the cover! ESD can damage your computer instantly or very slowly overtime depending on the charge released, be grounded.

Locating your BIOS…
You might want to check along the edges and the center of the motherboard for a model number, brand name or better again an FCC ID number. Check the North and South Bridge heat sinks (if any are installed) for a model number or brand name, e.g. TX Pro II. This can help reveal more information about the board, who made it and who’s CMOS it has, normally Phoenix, Award, AMI.. etc You might also stumble over the BIOS chip itself sometimes seated in a socket with a sticker on top or soldered onto the motherboard with a name stamped on it. This sounds obvious but it can be missed.. check for large print on the motherboard that might read a model number e.g. A8WD.

Try Troubleshooting…
Check that the CPU heatsink is installed correctly and the fan operates properly; reseat RAM modules, PCI, ISA, AGP adapters. If that fails you may want to remove all expansion cards, hard disks, CD/DVD drives and run with a single (if allowed by the system) stick of RAM and use a Video card you know to be good after you’ve done everything above. Check that nothing is making contact with the back plate on the case and causing a short! Reset the BIOS to defaults by clearing it via jumper or by removing the coin cell battery (normally coin cell) for about 1 minute and replacing.

I know the above is a lot of things to try but I hope maybe something here might lead you to the problem. The problem is usually simple and easy not that overly complicated.

Good Luck!

 

Be best if you find a match to the beeps you're getting before you go pulling open the case, since it sounds like you're saying you aren't very cluey about computers yet. That could save a lot of mucking around with things you aren't too sure about. These are two sites I was at today whilst trying to diagnose a machine I have here:

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml

Do you remember ever seeing Phoenix or AMI or Award displayed somewhere on your computer screen almost as soon as it starts up? If so, that points you in the right direction for which set of codes to check; these 3 are all large producers of BIOS chips and it is the BIOS chip that is sending out those beeps. If none of those ring a bell, look on these pages to see if you recognise one of the BIOS makers as what shows up on the screen.

Otherwise, as TimW has said, the site of your computer's manufacturer should have information about what brand of BIOS they are using in your machine; look for a link to Support on their site. If you can find out about BIOS for any machine they make, yours is highly likely the same. TimW's suggestion to use your model number is the best way to get info on your BIOS but some manufacturer's sites are difficult to find things on and if your machine is an older one, the information may have been taken away. If you have a user manual for the motherboard or your computer as a whole, the information could be in that.

Even if you don't find information on your BIOS, check different sets of beep codes and you may find there are only one or two codes that match the beeps you're getting. With that information and the computer model, someone here will probably be able to narrow things down considerably without the cover of the case being opened at all.

Beeps are short or long and may be in groups; eg. 1 long, 3 short, 3 short.

All the best.

Chookers.