Computer Beeping Constantly...

[blast]

A few weeks ago, my sister told me she shut the computer off because the screen was blank, and wouldn't turn on. After turning it back on, the little speaker on the motherboard started beeping several times a second at one of about 4 similar tones. The beeps are very short, and it was doing it during the POST sequence, boot up, and during normal operation. After about 10 minutes, it slowed down to a beep every several minutes. As of right now, it's beeping anywhere from twice per second to ever two seconds. It's driving me crazy, and I can't figure out what's causing it.

So I did a few things, trying to narrow it down. I updated my virus scanner and did a full scan, and found nothing. Then, I unplugged all the drives, and turned it on. No success. Then I removed the video card, sound card, and modem and tried again. It still beeped. I'm thinking it's either the motherboard or the CPU. I suppose I could try swapping the RAM out, clearing the CMOS, and Flashing the BIOS, but I want to know if anyone has had this happen before. I haven't noticed any side effects of the problem, just the beeping noise.

[bamf.]

Check the pc or motherboard manufacturer page. The beeps are coming from the motherboard and have a meaning. You should be able to obtain some documentation on what the different sequences mean.

[Death Barrel]

bamf is right: these beeps represent a code for that mobo.

if you can't find anything for it you may want to try reseating the processor. also try reseating the ram and vidcard. try removing each thing one at a time and try the machine>
example: only have ram removed, then power on. the try only removing the vid card and power on after you put the ram back in.. catch my drift?

DB

[Grumbler]

hmm, you say it happens during boot.....during bios boot, or OS boot?

[Death Barrel]

think he means right as it posts or when he turns it on.

[blast]

It's a totally random beeping. I'm aware of what the POST beep codes sound like, and that's not what this is. Does it the most right after turning it on, but continues afterward. There isn't a time that it stops (unless I turn the computer off ). It's doing it right now as I'm typing this. Gonna shut it down quick and try something.

[Death Barrel]

could also mean your machine is overheating, or maybe has a bad sensor, seriously man, these beeps do mean something check your mobo manual or check the mobo site.

check your bios and see what the temp is for the system, make sure it is not too hot, also make sure your heatsink fan is spinning like it should.

DB

[blast]

It's only at 48 degrees C, so it's not overheating. All fans are working as they should. I changed a jumper so that it used the Award BootBlock BIOS chip instead of the main one, and then it didn't beep. However, that chip only allows you to boot off a floppy disk, mainly for flashing your main BIOS. Cleared the CMOS and reseated the RAM, and it still does it.

[blast]

I suppose my power supply could be outputing faultly voltages too. I'll check the voltages in MBM5. The good news is that it's still under warranty. But this is the computer I use to connect to the Internet, so I'd hate having to take it in for repair if it's something simple.

Edit: I checked the voltages in both Motherboard Monitor 5 and my BIOS setup screen. I noticed the -12.0V line was fluctuation from -9.8V to -14.3V. The beeps also seem to time out with the fluctuations. So I'll probably be buying a new power supply and see if that fixes it. Either way, I was planning on buying a new one.

[Death Barrel]

sounds like the problem solved

[blast]

Just got done installing a new power supply, and the beep is gone. Hurray!

[creeperz]

maybe it hates you and is swearign at you but is being kind about it and censoring it