Computer Problems - beeping and no worky

Steve_b77

I've got a Dell Inspiron Desktop at Home.

Last week I got the blue screen of death and at the bottom there was a message about BIOS crash recovery or something - it then turned off.

Now when you try to re-boot it, you press the on button and you just get beeps coming from the machine after teh first few initial whirrs and clicks - like it's about to start booting up.

The beeps are short and come in 2's, like this:

beep beep - beep beep - beep beep - continue forever.

Anyone know whats happening? I'm quite happy to take the machine apart if it's something relatively simple :shock:

northernneil

Steve_b77 wrote:

I've got a Dell Inspiron Desktop at Home.

Last week I got the blue screen of death and at the bottom there was a message about BIOS crash recovery or something - it then turned off.

Now when you try to re-boot it, you press the on button and you just get beeps coming from the machine after teh first few initial whirrs and clicks - like it's about to start booting up.

The beeps are short and come in 2's, like this:

beep beep - beep beep - beep beep - continue forever.

Anyone know whats happening? I'm quite happy to take the machine apart if it's something relatively simple :shock:

http://www.5starsupport.com/info/beep_codes.htm

list of codes for you

northernneil

more specific for the dell inspiron - although you probably need to know the exact bios manufacturer you have for your model as they can vary from motherboard to motherboard:-

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/S ... beep_codes

Steve_b77

How do you find out what BIOS you have?

CrackFox

Have you recently installed any new components such as RAM, a new graphics card etc? If so, remove them and reinstall the old parts to see if that solves the problem.

You might also want to try clearing your CMOS. This will reset your BIOS chip to its default settings. You'll need to open up your case but it's a very quick and simple job.

http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS

Steve_b77

CrackFox wrote:

Have you recently installed any new components such as RAM, a new graphics card etc? If so, remove them and reinstall the old parts to see if that solves the problem.

You might also want to try clearing your CMOS. This will reset your BIOS chip to its default settings. You'll need to open up your case but it's a very quick and simple job.

http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS

In answer to your questions - nope.

If I reset the BIOS, what can happen to the current settings of the computer?

CrackFox

The BIOS settings will be reset to the default ones for your motherboard. If you (or Dell) made any changes to the BIOS - e.g. changes to the CPU clock speed, boot priority etc - then these will be lost. Generally, the default settings will be safe ones i.e. stable rather than optimised for speed. I'm only suggesting this on the assumption that you cannot get the PC to boot to the point where you can manually get into the BIOS settings. I've built all of my machines and I've had to reset the BIOS on a few occasions after an unsuccessful BIOS flash or an overclock too far. I consider it very low risk as long as the cat doesnt jump into the open case, but it's your call

zanes

Before resetting BIOS, try reseating (Ie. remove totally, dust and put back in) all drive cables, cards (graphics etc) and RAM. Has worked on the family desktop before now. Obviously when machine is totally switched off. It will require opening up teh case but you'll be doing that to reset the BIOS and it's pretty easy to do anyway (and I suspect you'll be shocked how dusty everything is).

Usual disclaimers apply.

Edit: Just read the first post properly. Not so sure this will help much but might be worth trying anyway, if just for a good chance to give it a good clean.

skinson

dodgy memory? loose ram?
dave

MattC59

I can't believe that noone has suggested this yet...........
Turn it off and back on again.........

Steve_b77

Cheers MattC :roll:

THe computer doesn't even get near booting, the screen doesn't turn on and the lights on the key board don't flash.

When I've got a spare hour I'll try the take it apart and clean thing,

craker

if it's been working fine and suddenly broke then it does sound like hardware. You need to find out what those beeps mean, take everything out (including graphics, hard disk cables if you're happy doing this.)

So you're left with just RAM and CPU. Turn it on, same beeps? Then it's RAM or CPU seating (or shafted motherboard), otherwise it's one of the components you've removed.

Cleat Eastwood

If theres no sign of it booting up its probably your power pack that needs replacing. When you turn on the pc the first thing you should hear is the faint whirring of the CPU fan, its a precautionary measure prior to the cpu firing up and preventing overheating. If you dont hear this then theres not enough juice getting through,

It doesn't mean that the power unit you have is bust, however, if you have intalled any new hardware this can mean that more power is needed and hence a higher wattage power unit. If that i sthe case they ar about 25 pound from most shops.



By the way the beeping sound usually indicates unseated ram, so try that first before taking everything apart.

tonyw43

Sounds to me like either an unseated Ram module, or a faulty module. Check that the Dimm(s) are seated correctly in the slots (with power off and cable unplugged first). If you have more than one module, remove one at a time and try reboot. Sometimes a faulty memory module can stop a good one from booting. If still no joy, see if you can beg/borrow a compatible module from someone to try. If this doesn't work it may be that your processor has gone.