1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

MarkBooth · 09-02-2004, 12:09

My friends machine, while he was listening to music, suddenly decided to reboot, and when it does, it comes up with "ROM BIOS checksum error. Please insert system disk"

I'm going to have a look at my friends machine this evening, but am just curious about the best course of action. I'm sure he has an Award BIOS. According to the many websites I've visited, it's a non-fatal error. Any suggestions as to what could cause it to blow a sparky like that?

PS: My neighbours machine refuses to reboot and all he gets is a blank screen, no beeps, nothing. They seem to be related (the problems, not the neighbour and my friend!).

Again, any suggestions?

Stuartbe · 09-02-2004, 12:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkBooth

My friends machine, while he was listening to music, suddenly decided to reboot, and when it does, it comes up with "ROM BIOS checksum error. Please insert system disk"

I'm going to have a look at my friends machine this evening, but am just curious about the best course of action. I'm sure he has an Award BIOS. According to the many websites I've visited, it's a non-fatal error. Any suggestions as to what could cause it to blow a sparky like that?

PS: My neighbours machine refuses to reboot and all he gets is a blank screen, no beeps, nothing. They seem to be related (the problems, not the neighbour and my friend!).

Again, any suggestions?

Try clearing the CMOS. You can usualy do this via a jumper or by removing the cr2032 battery from the board.

Does your m8 have a surge protector ? EEPROMS can be sensitive to spikes and surges !

danielf · 09-02-2004, 12:15

I don't know about your friend's problem, but your neighbour's problem sounds like it might be a dead motherboard.

09-02-2004, 12:33

If you haven`t already done so from the web sites it would be worth consulting the manual for the MOBO as that will detail what those specific beeps mean. Normally you get a different number of beeps depending on the error, could significantly help in tracking down the specific problem.

paulyoung666 · 09-02-2004, 12:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuartbe

Try clearing the CMOS. You can usualy do this via a jumper or by removing the cr2032 battery from the board.

Does your m8 have a surge protector ? EEPROMS can be sensitive to spikes and surges !

sounds like a good place to start , and if that fails i wonder if flashing it would help at all ???????????

ian@huth · 09-02-2004, 12:38

On your friends machine I would start by reseating all components, particularly the memory.

On your neighbours machine it could be the motherboard or the PSU. Does he get any fan noise when he tries to start it up or any of the leds lighting?

MarkBooth · 09-02-2004, 12:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

On your friends machine I would start by reseating all components, particularly the memory.

On your neighbours machine it could be the motherboard or the PSU. Does he get any fan noise when he tries to start it up or any of the leds lighting?

On my neighbours machine, it just starts up, the fan's going, didn't notice the LEDs, but that's all that's happening.

Stuartbe · 09-02-2004, 12:50

Try this site for the beep codes

http://www.amptron.com/html/bios.beepcodes.html

HTH

paulyoung666 · 09-02-2004, 13:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuartbe

Try this site for the beep codes

http://www.amptron.com/html/bios.beepcodes.html

HTH

just thinking , he mentions high / low beeps , i thought they were all the same pitch , just long short , if you see what i mean

ian@huth · 09-02-2004, 13:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

just thinking , he mentions high / low beeps , i thought they were all the same pitch , just long short , if you see what i mean

Award BIOS uses high low beeps for CPU problems

MarkBooth · 09-02-2004, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

just thinking , he mentions high / low beeps , i thought they were all the same pitch , just long short , if you see what i mean

The first note high pitch (but not very high pitched, and the other one slightly lower. (I don't know whether you remember the old Pong games - that's the only way I can describe the sounds!! Ah, electronic games of my youth...). Or if you're musically minded (I'm not...), note C and then note A)

paulyoung666 · 09-02-2004, 13:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkBooth

The first note high pitch (but not very high pitched, and the other one slightly lower. (I don't know whether you remember the old Pong games - that's the only way I can describe the sounds!! Ah, electronic games of my youth...). Or if you're musically minded (I'm not...), note C and then note A)

does it do it continuosly or just the once , if it is continuosly then it could be cpu overheat , if it just does it once i cant find any info on that

Bifta · 09-02-2004, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkBooth

My friends machine, while he was listening to music, suddenly decided to reboot, and when it does, it comes up with "ROM BIOS checksum error. Please insert system disk"

I'm going to have a look at my friends machine this evening, but am just curious about the best course of action. I'm sure he has an Award BIOS. According to the many websites I've visited, it's a non-fatal error. Any suggestions as to what could cause it to blow a sparky like that?

PS: My neighbours machine refuses to reboot and all he gets is a blank screen, no beeps, nothing. They seem to be related (the problems, not the neighbour and my friend!).

Again, any suggestions?

As people have already mentioned, get a bootable floppy, stick AWDFLASH on it along with the latest BIOS for the motherboard, whack it in, flash the bios .. job done.

Stuartbe · 09-02-2004, 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bifta

As people have already mentioned, get a bootable floppy, stick AWDFLASH on it along with the latest BIOS for the motherboard, whack it in, flash the bios .. job done.

As long as you make sure the floppy is free from errors first or corse

I have seen many a bios screwed up by a duff floppy.

MarkBooth · 09-02-2004, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

does it do it continuosly or just the once , if it is continuosly then it could be cpu overheat , if it just does it once i cant find any info on that

Just the once it beeps...