Motherboard Beeps: What Does It Mean?

Hi All!

I'm trying to help my mum who has an old desktop computer. When turning the computer on, the screen remains black and there's a long beep every six seconds or so. I made a video of it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ews4j7nw0aafiza/VIDEO0093.mp4?dl=0

I guess it's the BIOS making those beeps...? I had difficulty determining the BIOS brand. But the computer did boot up once and I was able to run Speccy to determine that the bios is of 2007 and of the brand Award Software International. When opening up the computer's case, two names I came across were AMD and Gigabyte.

Is anyone able to identify the cause of the problem? Any suggestions what to do?

 

Will this help:-

https://www.lifewire.com/awardbios-beep-codes-2624544

 

Thanks, I would describe it is one long (high pitched) beep, which this link suggests to be an overheating CPU. However, since the issue arises immediately upon the first time booting up, I don't see how it could be an overheating CPU (within two seconds after the computer had been turned off for a long time).

 

There is, of course the thought that a new computer would be a good thing. As long as you don't loose any files on Your Mothers Hard drive.
It could be worth thinking about how you can save what you need to save...
Good luck.
s.

You can take the drive from the computer and connect it via USB caddy.

 

You may think it is a very strange request but have you disconnected the power source from the desktop. Press the on button on the computer a couple of times, Reconnect the power source and power up.
Good luck,
s.

 

I've given it a try, but it made no difference.

 

I have mended too many unknowables with that procedure. My advice to think about a new pc what I suggested in post #4. That said my machine is close to ten years old and runs sata 2 has a 4GB RAM limit.
There are some quite good offers for reconditioned machines off fleabay.
Good luck with the quest,
s.

 

Yeah, I would really like to try to fix it. My mum already has a new pc (laptop), which she uses downstairs. And upstairs she uses this old desktop (which she prefers). So there are no problems with data recovery or anything like that. It's just that as long as you don't know what is broken, it doesn't feel right to throw away a computer.

 

So I've had another chance to look at the computer. The same behaviour was still there: turn it on, almost immediately a long beep, which repeats itself each every few seconds, and the computer never boots.

After about 8 minutes it suddenly did boot. In the meantime I had been hitting it , pressing the reset and power button, etc. But I think it was just a coincidence that it suddenly booted.

The screen I immediately got stated: "CMOS Checksum error, defaults loaded. POST error occurs!". Next, I went into what I think is the bios setup and took a few pictures, which you will find attached. The pictures also mention a CPU Temperature of 32 degrees celsius (I've no idea if that's okay or not). The date was reset to January 1st, 2007. I had noticed something similar a few weeks back and to be sure had replaced the battery for the bios (so an empty battery can't be the cause).

I've continued to work with the computer for almost an hour, without problems.

Given this new information and the images, any ideas about the cause of the problem?

 

It could be a dead CMOS battery - take it out and buy a new one
http://ccm.net/faq/618-cmos-checksum-error-default-loaded

 

As I mentioned, I already replaced the battery with a new one.

 

It could be a dud battery.
Check it with a multimeter or buy one from a different supplier.

 

It's OK. Your average body temperature is 37℃.

As Eldon and Max already recommended, check the battery. Make sure it's snapped in the holder all the way and that it is good.

 

I keep a steady coating of thermal past on about once a year.I normally clean out my system after 2 to 3 months be cause of the power full fans i have that run at 52,000 RPM and no that is not a type o.

I damp a dry cloth and take out all the fans and gently clean the dust off.I do this about 6 times a year.

You can call me a clean freak when it's about a computer system.

A normally beep can come from a boot up or a cpu fan as well.

If it's as old as you say it is probably running windows XP or lower.

And as the above posting it could be just the CMOS battery.Which is most likely the issue be cause if the computer has been turned off for a while like mine was for about two years.First thing i did was replace the CMOS battery.

 

Looking at the BIOS screenshots, note the EIDE channels.

The machine is at least 12 years old, if not more.

 

This system has no SATA drive capability only PATA drives.Where talking my era of tech.