Pc Random Reboots - Motherboard Beep Codes

My main computer is a Pc built off the back of a 2001/2002 (year) HP Vectra VL400 motherboard. Most if not all of the components on the computer are expensive parts I installed myself. I've had this Pc for 4/5 years now. It has never failed me this way.

My first problem started occuring about a month ago when my top fan would start wailing due to what I thought was dust. The fan would wail with noise anytime I'd turn it on after a few days (the problem was repetative, yet not all the time). So I bought a new fan and put it in (identical fan model). The next thing I know is the new fan would do the same thing.

Than came random reboots I've been having for a couple of days now... Where the system will load up until the desktop and than reboot suddendly. Though it wouldn't happen all the time.

Now today the Pc started rebooting and all of a sudden the motherboard emitted 6 short beeps. I'm wondering what I should do?

As far as what I've read in the manual states that six beeps indicates a corrupt
bios!!!!! I took a small glance at the bios and it doesn't appear to have changed since the last time I've seen it, though I will confirm that later.

I don't know what this is all about, I've never hard a Pc problem that has gone this far.


PlEASE Help!!!


P.s
I'm scanning for malware, virus', spybots and all. But I'm thinking to myself how in the world can a virus corrupt the bios? The bios is outside of the o/s!!! This is my FAVORITE Pc!!!!

Also as a side note SMART stutus is normal, or always passing.

 

actually if im not mistaken... a virus can corrupt the BIOS.. there are plenty of references on google.

Have you ever tried Avast! ? it specifically scans for viruses in the boot sector of your hard drive and you can set it to scan for viruses before windows starts.

Avast! is one of the very few programs that can do that.. and its free! even Norton doesn't do that (at least not to my knowledge, haven't used norton in a couple of years) and you have to pay for it.

 

Otherwise u can consider udating the bios software because it is recomended in the manufacturs site that u update ur bios if it gives any technical issues.
If this doesnt solve the problem u have to send it to the manufaturer for repair through some 3 party agent example computer service people .
Even my motherboard also had given me problem so i sent to the manufacturer to get it fixed but the fix didnt last long and now my warranty was gone so i had to send via computer service it costed me about Rs 1000.

 

Well the Pc hasn't done any rebooting again thus far. I disconnected most of the cables connected at th back of my Pc, and than reconnected them. I figured something must've been loose. Nevertheless the Pc has yet to reboot after that. I ran "scan disk" from xp to test the drives and found no errors. I also used Western Digitals "Diagnostics Tool" to heck the hdd's. And they passed, including SMART status in that tool and Everest.

So I k ow the six beeps reportedly mean that my bios is corrupt. That's what I read in the technical reference manual for the line of pcs my motherboard comes from. But they could've meant that for a beep code on another Pc. Not to mention that my bios seems to be newer so it's possible it meant something else I guess. I read elsewhere that six beeps with a Phoenix bios means your keyboard isn't being recognized to some extent, your VGA is loose/bad, or your system board is having problems/failing.

I'm going to back up all of my data asap just in case something happens in the future. One thing I did notice is the fact that a new startup item appeared after all of the reboots and stuff. It was called "KernalFaultCheck" and also had to do with something called "Dumprep". That supposedly had to do with windows error messages that get sent to Microsoft. I have the details of the one and only report I got during this issue, if someone wants to decode it for me.

Thanks

 

Is your bios version 2002? HP offers like no more support for the motherboard. SO it is possible that you need a bios update that just isn't there... your motherboard is almost like 10 years old... I would suggest just getting a new motherboard soon.. hardware doesn't last too long when it gets that age... near that 10 year mark.

Good enough for it to reach the 5 year mark... lots of hardware fail after 5 years.. just like wear and tear...

 

Your absolutely right... It could be signs of age... The Pc hasn't done that again after I flipped the psu switch to off, and disconnected/reconnected all of the pc's attached cables. Maybe something was loose? Either way 8 years is a mighty long time to have a Pc. It was my first build, my pride, & joy. I will proceed to create a backup of everything on my hard drives just in case the worst happens in the near future. I just have to buy a new external hdd first. I have backups made already but they're about a month old.

 

o ok.. maybe it was a connection thing to the motherboard.

Glad you figured it out by just reconnecting everything.. should of been the first recommendation.

 

My last computer was built in 01 by Howard computers. It was just like yours, always reliable, and when I bought it, it was top-notch. :cool
But time has a way of catching everyone and everything. Just in the last few months of use, last year, anytime the processor was under stress, or the RAM was under stress, damn thing would beeeeeepppp. All different sounds and combinations, never a pattern, just beeps coming from the MB. There is actually a post on here somewhere about it. :-o Most MB manufactures have beep codes, that will give you info about you hardware. Here are a few sites about the codes and what they mean, ---->IF they are post beeps. <<------

http://www.bioscentral.com/postcodes/hpbios.htm
http://www.manualshark.com/s/beep+code/page:9
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t184967-hp-vectra-vl400.html

Good luck with the process! :major
Oh and just for kicks if you'd like to drop 4-5K check this out
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=215906