Long continious beeps

[Fierce]

I have a computer that I have switched out the PS, Ram, Vid card but when I boot up, I instantly get long 2-3 sec beeps unitl I cut power.

Specs:

PIII 500 Mhz
128 Ram (1 stick)
13 WD GB HD
ATI 8MB Rage Vid Card
300 Watt PS
Win 98se

TIA!!

[xschmittyx]

Depends on the mobo but on mine (asus) it means no RAM installed.

[Antimatter]

The other common cause is BIOS hardware thermal/fan monitoring. Try resetting the BIOS.

[Ruslan]

Agree with xschmittyx - it usually means bad memory. Try to reseat (or replace) memory stick...

[Fierce]

Ok, I replaced the memory and tried 2 different modules, still get the beeping. I also tried a different video card...no luck. any other sugg?? Could the MB be dead??

[xt477]

<a href="http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index-i.htm" target="_blank">www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index-i.htm</a>

see above for beep error codes.

If it was me I would pull everything out of system except memory and a PCI video card. If it then boots look in the CMOS for "init. first" and make sure its not set to PCI.

[Fierce]

[quote]Originally posted by xt477:
<strong><a href="http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index-i.htm" target="_blank">www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index-i.htm</a>

see above for beep error codes.

If it was me I would pull everything out of system except memory and a PCI video card. If it then boots look in the CMOS for "init. first" and make sure its not set to PCI.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Thats how I am trying it...only RAM and Vid card...I took Vid out and booted up, still beeped. I really think MB is shot....

BTW..that is a great site...it is now bookmarked!

[Mauser]

Did you check the keyboard connection?

[Fierce]

[quote]Originally posted by Mauser:
<strong>Did you check the keyboard connection?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Its funny you say that, because I am still playing around and I unplugged all cables from the back of the PC and rebooted, and I got to the BIOS, but this happened only once. When the computer does boot, it is for a random reason. 9 times out of 10, I get the 3 second beep.

[KINGofBLEH]

Try another keyboard. Sounds like a stuck key.

Worst case is that you may have a bad mem slot. Had the same thing happen on a Deskpro EN recently. Turned out that the machine had been abused the previous "owner" attempted to install a DIMM backwards. Killed 6 pins and shorted 4 others. Could not see with naked eye.

[xschmittyx]

[quote] Turned out that the machine had been abused the previous "owner" attempted to install a DIMM backwards. Killed 6 pins and shorted 4 others. <hr></blockquote>

I hate it when that happens, especialy when you tell them only an idiot can't install memory.

[Antimatter]

If you can get into BIOS once, check to see if H/W thermal or fan monitoring is enabled. If it is enabled disable it and reboot. I've seen this happen with fans that took a while to get up to speed and when the thermal monitoring was cooked.