Beep

[Sakuya]

I have a pretty old computer, not sure when, but it's been several years. And just starting yesterday night, it started beeping occasionally. It was a really long beep that lasted several minutes. I think it came from the computer. What does this mean? Is it going to collapse soon?

[redwudz]

That would depend on the computer for what the beep means. You could find out what motherboard and BIOS it uses and check the BIOS site for beep codes. But most of them are just used on boot.

But I would boot into the BIOS page and see if there is a temperature or voltage monitor setting there. That type of warning can be telling you there is a major problem on the motherboard.

On the other hand, if that beep is coming from the computer speakers, it could be either a software warning program or just about anything. Unplug the speakers if you can't tell where it's coming from. If you still have it, then it's probably the motherboard speaker. As mentioned check the BIOS for low voltage or high temperature readings.

Pull off the side covers and see how much dust is in there or if a fan has failed. High temp warnings usually show up when doing CPU intensive operations like encoding or when the computer has been on a while. Low voltage will usually show up as a drive working poorly or the computer crashing.

Whatever it is, you need to find out what's causing it.

[Sakuya]

Will it hold off for a few months? No harm other than beeps, right? :P I'm thinking of getting a new PC anyway. That thing is just too slow.

[Bjs]

This may help ...

Some coputer's have a system utility for monitoring voltage's .

There is a free tool for this as well , but I dont recall what it is at the moment ... Someone may know what it is I am talking about and may beable to direct you to a download for it .

This beep may be an indication of low or high voltage being detected where it not supposed to be ... normally associated with a power supply not performing .

If it is possible to borrow a good working power supply from another pc or a friend ... exchange psu's and see how it perform's over a couple of day's .

Another one is , hd failure warning ... this is to say the system has detected a problem with the hard drive , and is indicating it should be replaced ... though I have seen pc's with this problem , after testing the drive's , there is no problem ... in this case , consider changing the ide cable , and see how it perform's over a few day's again .

Xp will notify user of this problem ... it's different on the older os's .

Cpu temp higher than expected ... dirty or failing fan .

A good one ... fault with compound between cpu and heatsink ... under normal load ok ... do something like video encoding , and the cpu temp gose up , giving indication of this problem and the possibiltiy of a faulty psu .

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The order to test :

Run avgfree antivirus , and ad-aware se ... some virus's and trojan's can cause these problem's ... make sure there are none on the system before replacing any hardware .

Fan's ... clean or replace
Cable's ... sometime's they can work themselve's loose ... replace
Power supply ... you need a known working one to run test ... 450watt or better
Hd ... run manufacturer's test program ... if problem

Grab the disk copy tool from manufacturer of the NEW drive ONLY .
Install new drive as secondary master , run tool from floppy ...
Format and partition new drive to requirement's .

If new hd is maxtor ... maxtor's tool will show drive's , you sellect the NEW maxtor only .

Once this is done and completed , reboot pc (turn it off)
Turn pc on and reboot using the hd manufacturer's tool .
Now proceed with drive copy .

As an example :

If new drive is maxtor , use maxtor tool's ... the old drive dose not have to be maxtor , it can be any other ... ibm , fujitsu , wd , seagate ... samsung .

This work's where even professional tool's fail to copy a failing drive ... and it work's with all hd manufacturer's tool's .

When done , swap drive's over ... remove failing hd from system all together ... and your back up and running once more .... next .

Cpu heatsink compound ... This one need's the user to be a little carefull ... turn pc off at power point before doing this .

You will need to check out online or with manual as to how some of these idiot clasp's are removed ... doing it the wrong way could damage the motherboard ... some require an amount of pysical strength in order to be removed ... so be carefull .

On modern system's , do not use "heat paste or silicone heat grease" ... modern cpu temp's run far too high ... use a silver paste compound ... normally retail's for a few buck's .

Check cpu manufacturer as to how the heat compound should be applied to modern cpu ... this silver paste compound has instruction's as well ... when applying , dont go overboard ... make sure the area on the cpu that is indicated by the product is covered properly according to instruction's given ... failing this may cause problem's .

If applied correctly ... cpu temp should be around 12 degree's short of normal operation temp ... this is compared against the original compound installation .

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Final one some have missed is those capacitor's (little metal can's on motherboard) ... if you see a change in colour , brown mark on top , or brown liquid , blown out bottom's ... these can cause erratic problem's such as power on and soon after pc reset's ...

While these can be replaced by someone with good soldering skill's ... in most case's it is best to replace the motherboard .

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Hopefully , if you run the basic's , it might be a simple problem , costing only a few buck's .

[ROF]

Will it hold off for a few months? No harm other than beeps, right?

Sure, in the same way that the check engine light in your vehicle means nothing serious is going to happen by ignoring it.

The beeps while a computer is booted up and remains booted through the beeps usually means a warning threshold has been reached. In 90% of the cases that means excessive heat in one or more of the components. Excessive heat + ignoring the warnings = dead components.

[JerryB]

I have a pretty old computer, not sure when, but it's been several years. And just starting yesterday night, it started beeping occasionally. It was a really long beep that lasted several minutes. I think it came from the computer. What does this mean? Is it going to collapse soon?

Hi,
it could be anything,
1. when does this beep occurr? during the post test or the later stages of boot up or after windows has finished booting up
2. you'll need to know what the bios chip is.... beeps codes are different for the various chips ie; phonix or amd, etc.....



1. if after windows bootup then it might might be a temperature warning
2. if it during the post testing, a period befor windows actually boots, then it's a issue with the motherboard, generall either with power or graphics or keyboard...
3. this link give some of the beep codes for the basic bios chips however.... there can be difference depending on the machine it self http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

final note: if it a post beep..... a lot of times especially with old machines... it just a matter of makeing sure all connectors are set good and cards are set good.... dust and little corrosion and can create false problems..

[Sakuya]

I have an AMD-K6 3D Processor with 294,440 kb of RAM. The beep occurred a long while after the computer was booted up. And I'm pretty sure the beep was just one looong beep that lasted for several minutes. I also touched the computer and it didn't seem hot at all.

[JerryB]

I have an AMD-K6 3D Processor with 294,440 kb of RAM. The beep occurred a long while after the computer was booted up. And I'm pretty sure the beep was just one looong beep that lasted for several minutes. I also touched the computer and it didn't seem hot at all.

hi,
well you have amd cpu but that doesn't tells us who made the bios chip...... on old comuter whenyou firt boot, it may stay on the screen long enough for it to tellyou what bios....

however the beep is after bootup....mmmmm... it could be a temperature warning ... but it out of adjustment...! seen that happen..... but the question first does your pc even have a heat sensor most of the old ones didn't!!

are you sure it a beep and not a tone???? and where is it comming from... the internal pc speakers or your external speakers????

as yo can see in this case details are real important... smile..... otherwise you can easily go donw the wrong path...!!

[SLK001]

Why don't you fill out your COMPUTER DETAILS (I thought that this was a requirement)? Your problem is probably either heat related or you have memory that is failing. Your "I also touched the computer and it didn't seem hot at all" is kinda like saying "My car's cooling system is steaming, but I touched the door and it didn't seem all that hot".

In other words, you ignore this warning at your peril. It is a relatively simple thing to go on-line and download the manual for your motherboard. Please do this, and actually READ what the bios beeps mean. If at that time, you still don't understand, then feel free to write back. Maybe after YOU put out some effort, the rest of us may feel that we could offer some helpful advice.

[ROF]

Why don't you fill out your COMPUTER DETAILS (I thought that this was a requirement)? Your problem is probably either heat related or you have memory that is failing. Your "I also touched the computer and it didn't seem hot at all" is kinda like saying "My car's cooling system is steaming, but I touched the door and it didn't seem all that hot".

In other words, you ignore this warning at your peril. It is a relatively simple thing to go on-line and download the manual for your motherboard. Please do this, and actually READ what the bios beeps mean. If at that time, you still don't understand, then feel free to write back. Maybe after YOU put out some effort, the rest of us may feel that we could offer some helpful advice.

Ouch! Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Give the original poster a chance to respond before you start spouting claims of "unwillingness to help thy self".

Also, more than likely this old computer is in no way the actual computer this person uses but is instead a secondary machine. I got lotsa them.

[Ai Haibara]

Here's one page I found in the past for POST beep codes.

http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml

It may not cover your particular BIOS, of course. Checking the website of the manufacturer of that system's BIOS is still a good idea.

SLK001: The 'computer details' requirement is a recent development. Older members didn't have to have those fields filled in. (I don't know when the requirement began, though.)

[Sakuya]

Yes, this is a secondary computer that's having problems.

I booted up the computer and was looking for a key to go into the BIOS page but I could not find anything like that. And then it booted up the OS.

However, I did use HD Tune and after the scan, it could not detect the temperature for some reason. Here are some screenshots I took of the system info and errors:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/Yakusoya/hd1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/Yakusoya/hd2.jpg

Edit:
With a second restart, I noted down these BIOS info if it helps at all:

BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS Revision 1007.A

And then before I could see anything else it started booting up the OS.

[redwudz]

There's a neat little freeware program that will tell you more about your computer than you probably want to know, SIW: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/siw.html

But I suspect you have a overheat or a fan failure and the beep is coming from the motherboard. Did you unplug your speakers and see if you still hear it?

Pull the side cover off the computer and make sure all the fans are running. Check for dust and grunge. If you see it, get a can or two of 'canned air' and a vacuum cleaner and clean it out. Just leaving the side covers off may be enough to help if it's overheating.

If that's not the problem, it could be voltage, failing hard drive or a few other things.

But give that a try for now.

[Sakuya]

Did you unplug your speakers and see if you still hear it?

No, the beep did not happen again since last night so I could not test it. I will try the SIW as well as the cleaning. Thanks.

[Sakuya]

The SIW could not detect the temperature for the computer while the temperature showed for my other computer.