Computer beeps once about every 5 min
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From: Joe T. on 7 Feb 2010 14:09 I was down at my sisters yesterday for dinner and she has a computer I built for her about 4 or 5 yrs ago. XP Home edition, Retail-NOT OEM, 100g HD, 25g free space. She said for about the last year or so, it has been been occaasionally beeping one beep about every 5 min while it's running. Computer boots and and runs fine although junked up with what I consider totally useless "womans" stuff slowing it down. I freed up 15gig during my checking. I suspect possible ram because she said she may have, but can't remember, if she put in more ram years ago and I can't remember either if I put in 1 or 2 sticks of 512 either when I built it. While I was there I forgot to note the mother board manufacturer to check their site for code beeps. Does that matter? One google site says 1 beep equals Ram check. Thanks
From: Paul on 7 Feb 2010 15:41 Joe T. wrote: > I was down at my sisters yesterday for dinner and she has a computer I built > for her about 4 or 5 yrs ago. XP Home edition, Retail-NOT OEM, 100g HD, 25g > free space. She said for about the last year or so, it has been been > occaasionally beeping one beep about every 5 min while it's running. > Computer boots and and runs fine although junked up with what I consider > totally useless "womans" stuff slowing it down. I freed up 15gig during my > checking. > I suspect possible ram because she said she may have, but can't remember, if > she put in more ram years ago and I can't remember either if I put in 1 or 2 > sticks of 512 either when I built it. > While I was there I forgot to note the mother board manufacturer to check > their site for code beeps. Does that matter? One google site says 1 beep > equals Ram check. > Thanks > I've heard of that happening before. But when you get a beep while the OS is running, you would not interpret the beep code as a normal BIOS failure code. So one beep doesn't mean bad RAM. It could be a temperature warning, a fan fail warning, a Vcore out-of-spec warning, or something obscure like that. The BIOS is not in a position to be testing RAM, once the OS is running. The BIOS could be accessing the hardware monitor. Or even some other code running in the machine could be doing that (like cruft loaded on the hard drive by the manufacturer). (How the BIOS gets to run, while the OS is running...) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Mode The normal site for beep codes, would be bioscentral.com , but they may not address runtime beep codes. And you can be sure the available product documentation doesn't address the behavior either. I'd say many hours of Googling are ahead of you, to find an answer. You could load up a copy of Speedfan from almico.com and review temperatures and voltage readings. And a copy of the free version of HDTune from hdtune.com and read out the SMART results for the hard drive. Maybe you'll get lucky and detect something out of sorts that way. Paul
From: Don Phillipson on 8 Feb 2010 08:21 "Joe T." <JoeT(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:09C66110-E4E3-409D-B617-7A33C999A901(a)microsoft.com... > I was down at my sisters yesterday for dinner and she has a computer I built > for her about 4 or 5 yrs ago. XP Home edition, Retail-NOT OEM, 100g HD, 25g > free space. She said for about the last year or so, it has been been > occaasionally beeping one beep about every 5 min while it's running. > Computer boots and and runs fine although junked up with what I consider > totally useless "womans" stuff slowing it down. I freed up 15gig during my > checking. > I suspect possible ram because she said she may have, but can't remember, if > she put in more ram years ago and I can't remember either if I put in 1 or 2 > sticks of 512 either when I built it. We can verify RAM during operation via System Manager (Ctl Alt Del.) But it takes less than 5 minutes to shut down, disconnect, unfasten the case and have a look: this would also let us inspect for dust bunnies (likely after 4 or 5 years operation, and a possible cause of overheating -- cf. periodical alarm beep.) -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
From: Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP] on 8 Feb 2010 18:22
Ya Dust bunnies can get big just look http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/funny-pictures-dust-bunny-under-bed.jpg Russ -- Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP] Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist 24hr SBS Remote Support - www.SBITS.Biz Question or Second Opinion - www.PersonalITConsultant.com Free Trial Microsoft Online Services - www.Microsoft-Online-Services.com "Don Phillipson" <e925(a)SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message news:ONdLxHMqKHA.3912(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > "Joe T." <JoeT(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:09C66110-E4E3-409D-B617-7A33C999A901(a)microsoft.com... > >> I was down at my sisters yesterday for dinner and she has a computer I > built >> for her about 4 or 5 yrs ago. XP Home edition, Retail-NOT OEM, 100g HD, > 25g >> free space. She said for about the last year or so, it has been been >> occaasionally beeping one beep about every 5 min while it's running. >> Computer boots and and runs fine although junked up with what I consider >> totally useless "womans" stuff slowing it down. I freed up 15gig during >> my >> checking. >> I suspect possible ram because she said she may have, but can't remember, > if >> she put in more ram years ago and I can't remember either if I put in 1 >> or > 2 >> sticks of 512 either when I built it. > > We can verify RAM during operation via System Manager (Ctl Alt Del.) > But it takes less than 5 minutes to shut down, disconnect, unfasten > the case and have a look: this would also let us inspect for dust > bunnies (likely after 4 or 5 years operation, and a possible cause > of overheating -- cf. periodical alarm beep.) > > -- > Don Phillipson > Carlsbad Springs > (Ottawa, Canada) > > > |