Beeping on startup.

[[TC]►Nick◄]

Hi all,

I've brought out my old PC in the attempt to save it after my laptop threw a hissy fit, and I've quickly realised why I put it away years ago. Upon startup it makes a long beep, a few seconds long, and this will cycle until I power it off. The screen stays black during this.

Any idea what this could be? I have my suspicions but I'd just like to ask for your guys opinions in case I'm overlooking anything.

It sounds like the beep is coming from the mobo.

[SO•Audiojack]

It's a BIOS post beep code.

What BIOS does your computer have/what mobo?

[[TC]►Nick◄]

Motherboard is an MSI N1996 MS-7301.

[SO•Audiojack]

My first assumption would be that your RAM is faulty.

[Cola]

Try running it with just one ram stick in one port at a time.
Check if all cables are properly connected.
Check if your graphics card is a dedicated card in a PCI-E/AGP slot, if it is, try reseating it.
Use an air compressor or something similar to blow all the parts clean of dust (if there is any)

Good luck with it.

[SO•Audiojack]

What Cola said. Also, if none of those work, you could try reseting your CMOS by taking out&putting back the round CR2032 battery located somewhere on the motherboard. (You might even try replacing it in case it has run dry)

[[TC]►Nick◄]

(2012-12-30 21:58)Cola Wrote:  Try running it with just one ram stick in one port at a time.
Check if all cables are properly connected.
Check if your graphics card is a dedicated card in a PCI-E/AGP slot, if it is, try reseating it.
Use an air compressor or something similar to blow all the parts clean of dust (if there is any)

Good luck with it.

One million points to you. One stick did the job. Now running on a claimed 512mb, startup says 256mb.

So a dead RAM stick did this?

---

Now says 512mb again. However it's not starting up into Windows.

[Cola]

(2012-12-30 22:06)Nick Wrote:  

(2012-12-30 21:58)Cola Wrote:  Try running it with just one ram stick in one port at a time.
Check if all cables are properly connected.
Check if your graphics card is a dedicated card in a PCI-E/AGP slot, if it is, try reseating it.
Use an air compressor or something similar to blow all the parts clean of dust (if there is any)

Good luck with it.

One million points to you. One stick did the job. Now running on a claimed 512mb, startup says 256mb.

So a dead RAM stick did this?

---

Now says 512mb again. However it's not starting up into Windows.

Yep, a bit conserned about why it says 512MB again.
Try Audiojacks solution with the CR2032 CMOS battery, that tends to fix alot on both desktop and notebook pc's.

How many RAM sticks is in it?

[[TC]►Nick◄]

It's running in Safe Mode - Motherboard max is 1GB, came installed with 2 512mb sticks.

[Cola]

Ah okay, and how many sticks are you running with atm?
Have you tried another harddrive, or perhaps a linux boot CD distro?

[[TC]►Nick◄]

Appears to be running properly now, just very slowly as its Vista on a 512mb stick

Looking to upgrade to 1GB again (For £9) or just sell it as is and start buying a proper setup. Ideas?

I should say its got an upgraded graphics card, it got 60fps on LFS at 1680*1050 on medium settings so it's better than my laptop in that respect.

[Cola]

Sounds pretty decent then, what's the rest of the specs on it? (If you dunno, then go to start and type in "dxdiag" and press enter. If it asks about something with drivers being signed digitally just press yes. under the display tab you'll get the name of the graphics card (if driver is installed).
On th main tab you get the CPU and mobo name