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POST Error?

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by dmyhand1957, 2009/01/29.

  1. 2009/01/29
    dmyhand1957

    dmyhand1957 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi:

    I just put together a system with a Biostar P4M900-M4, a P4 3GHz processor, 3 Gigs of RAM, a DVD-ROM Drive, and an 80 Gig SATA hard drive. Everything works. But...(you knew that was coming), when I start the system, there is a loud, 5 second long beep, followed by a one second beep, followed by a short beep which sounds like a normal POST beep. I cannot find anywhere which lists this error sequence. The BIOS is Phoenix (sp?) AwardBIOS Ver. 6.00. TNX, Dennis in Edna, TX
     
    dmyhand1957,
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  2. 2009/01/29
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Go here and look up the beep code:

    Welcome to BIOS Central*

    BIOS means Basic Input Output System. BIOS is actually firmware, the software that is programmed into a ROM (Read-Only Memory) chip built onto the motherboard of a computer. BIOS is what makes the system run an initial Power-On Self-Test of the computer, initialize circuits, load the boot program from the boot disk, and then handle low-level I/O to peripheral controllers such as keyboard and display.


    http://bioscentral.com/
     
    Steve R Jones,
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  4. 2009/01/29
    dmyhand1957

    dmyhand1957 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Well, thank you. I do know what BIOS means and what the BIOS does. What I am still looking for, even after searching the page you recommended, is what the above described sequence of sounds means. What I describe is not listed on that page. Thanks for the attempt.
     
    dmyhand1957,
    #3
  5. 2009/01/29
    hawk22

    hawk22 Geek Member

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    You say everything works, do you mean it is booting normal despite the unusual post.
     
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  6. 2009/01/29
    dmyhand1957

    dmyhand1957 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Yeah, after the 5 second beep and the one second beep and then the normal sounding beep, it starts up, loads the OS (Windows 7 Beta), and everything works. It has only started doing this since I put it in a PC case.
     
    dmyhand1957,
    #5
  7. 2009/01/29
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    http://bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm

    It could be video related. What kind of video card, agp or pcie or onboard? The biso should have a setting for 1st video device and more. Perhaps the bios is first seeking a video device other than the one you have.
     
    TonyT,
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  8. 2009/01/29
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    Another thing to consider is resetting the CMOS and perhaps changing the battery.
     
    wildfire,
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  9. 2009/01/30
    hawk22

    hawk22 Geek Member

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    in general 1 long and 2 short relates to video adapter.
    But since you are running Windows 7 I would say that could make it somewhat more difficult to determine, due to hardware compatibility issues.
     
    hawk22,
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  10. 2009/01/30
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Hawk - he's getting the beeps wayyyy before Windows starts loading...
     
    Steve R Jones,
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  11. 2009/01/30
    dmyhand1957

    dmyhand1957 Inactive Thread Starter

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    TonyT and Hawk22:

    Thanks. Both of your posts got me to looking at what Video was being called on by the BIOS. It was set by a student to "onboard" and when I reset it to "PCIEx" the obnoxious noise went away. Student has been thrashed within and inch of his life at Half-Life 2 and is now quivering in a corner. Thanks to all for their responses. Dennis in Edna, TX
     
    dmyhand1957,
    #10

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