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1 high beep one low beep on boot-up
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Old 10-02-2004, 10:41   #31
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Perhaps if the BIOS is that badly affected it's decided to indicate POST error codes to it's own tune
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Old 10-02-2004, 12:16   #32
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

If the PC is able to boot from the Floppy as described the Bios is fine.

The problem is that for some reason it is not able to boot to the HD possibly because the bios is not recognising the HD correctly or because the file system on the HD is shot.

From the A: drive try running fdisk to check the current setup of the HD.

It could just be a case of needing to get into bios by selecting the correct key (or keys) to hit as you boot the PC. Many use F1 or F2 or F10 some use the Del button and some use a combination of keys. You should be able to check which this is either by watching for this to be displayed at the start of the boot sequence if not looking up the specs for the mobo will tell you how to get into the bios.

Just because you can't see the post section of the boot doesnt mean it is not running or that you cant access bios.

My bet on this now is that maybe the cmos battery has died which cleared the bios settings back to defaults which fail to see the HD correctly or possibly had incompatable settings blocking the IDE channels.

Either way this is actually sounding more likely to be a solvable problem.
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Old 10-02-2004, 12:58   #33
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sociable
If the PC is able to boot from the Floppy as described the Bios is fine.
I'm afraid you're wrong, but I would like to know where you sourced the information for this reply. BIOS ROM Checksum errors are not the same as CMOS Checksum errors, you CANNOT clear a BIOS ROM checksum error by resetting a jumper, that's for CMOS checksums which indicate the actual settings are corrupted, the BIOS ROM error indicates an actual hard/firmware fault with the BIOS eeprom or a major hardware/hardware incompatibility fault elsewhere in the system (unlikely as most errors of this type do indicate a knackered bios)

edit: Also, not even a BIOS flash is guaranteed to cure it, the actual eeprom may need to be sent back to the manufacturer for reprogramming, which is probably a lot more hassle than actually sourcing a new board.

further edit: Here is an explanation for why he is able to boot from a floppy ...

Quote:
Some newer PCs come with a boot block feature that enables them to recover from a corrupted BIOS situation. If the BIOS code is whacked, a tiny built-in program will look on the floppy drive for the appropriate files to reload the BIOS. You should contact the manufacturer for instructions.
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Old 10-02-2004, 13:10   #34
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

(third time lucky .... ) Here are some pointers on recovering from a corrupted BIOS from Wims

Quote:
Solution 1: Boot-block BIOS

Modern motherboards have a boot-block BIOS. This is small area of the BIOS that doesn't get overwritten when you flash a BIOS. The boot-block BIOS only has support for the floppy drive. If you have a PCI video card you won't see anything on the screen because the boot-block BIOS only supports an ISA videocard.

Award: The boot-block BIOS will execute an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a bootable diskette. Copy an Award flasher & the correct BIOS *.bin file on the floppy and execute it automaticly by putting awdflash *.bin in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

AMI: The AMI boot-block BIOS will look for a AMIBOOT.ROM file on a diskette. Copy and rename the correct BIOS file on the floppy and power up the PC. The floppy doesn't need to be bootable. You will see the PC read the floppy, after about 4 minutes you will hear 4 beeps, this means the transfer is done. Reboot the PC and modify the CMOS for your configuration.

Solution 2: Get a new BIOS chip

Contact your motherboard manufacturer to see if they sell BIOS chips. Some motherboard manufacturers send them for free.
Contact a company that sells pre-flashed chips, like Unicore Software, FlashBIOS.ORG or BadFlash
Solution 3: Hot-swapping

Note: I'm not responsible for any damage this method may do to you or your computer !

Replace the corrupt chip by a working one. The best option is to take the working BIOS chip from a motherboard which has the same chipset although that's not absolutely necessary. It just has to give you a chance of booting into DOS. Before pulling the working BIOS chip out of it's original motherboard, set the System BIOS cacheable option in the BIOS to enabled.
After you have put the working BIOS in the motherboard with the corrupt BIOS boot the system to DOS (with a floppy or HD).
Now replace (while the computer is powered on) the working BIOS chip with the corrupt one.
Flash an appropriate BIOS to the corrupt BIOS and reboot.
Note: Use a flasher from MRBIOS. They are known to work best.

Solution 3: (for Intel motherboards)

Change Flash Recovery jumper to the recovery mode position (not all products have this feature)
Install the bootable upgrade diskette into drive A:
Reboot the system
Because of the small amount of code available in the non-erasable boot block area, no video is available to direct the procedure. The procedure can be monitored by listening to the speaker and looking at the floppy drive LED. When the system beeps and the floppy drive LED is lit, the system is copying the recovery code into the FLASH device. As soon as the drive LED goes off, the recovery is complete.
Turn the system off
Change the Flash Recovery jumper back to the default position
Leave the upgrade floppy in drive A: and turn the system on
Continue with the original upgrade
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Old 10-02-2004, 13:24   #35
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Great post Bifta and I bow to your knowledge on the newer boards.

My post was reflecting the fact I spend most of my time helping people with older systems and what I wrote would apply accurately to many older systems.

It would obviously help to have the precise specs for this system to be able to provide specific help as even your replies are limited to giving information blind which is why I was exploring possible fixes not saying they would deffinately apply.

Also, when making a comment like, "I'm afraid you're wrong, but I would like to know where you sourced the information for this reply", please ensure you don't carry on the paragraph with information from another post not made by me, as I never gave the information you then proceed to correct.

Many thanks.
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Old 10-02-2004, 13:42   #36
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sociable
Great post Bifta and I bow to your knowledge on the newer boards.

My post was reflecting the fact I spend most of my time helping people with older systems and what I wrote would apply accurately to many older systems.

It would obviously help to have the precise specs for this system to be able to provide specific help as even your replies are limited to giving information blind which is why I was exploring possible fixes not saying they would deffinately apply.

Also, when making a comment like, "I'm afraid you're wrong, but I would like to know where you sourced the information for this reply", please ensure you don't carry on the paragraph with information from another post not made by me, as I never gave the information you then proceed to correct.

Many thanks.
Sorry, it was easier to carry on in the same post and address more than one reply than split them up, especially as it's taking several attempts to post anything at the moment.
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Old 10-02-2004, 14:30   #37
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bifta
Sorry, it was easier to carry on in the same post and address more than one reply than split them up, especially as it's taking several attempts to post anything at the moment.
LOL No probâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s easy done.

All it needed was for the following comments to be in a new paragraph and possibly a reference back to the poster that had made the other comments rather than a completely separate post.

But all's well that ends well as they say.
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Old 14-02-2004, 20:06   #38
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Okay, an update. I've had a look at my friend's machine, tried the BIOS flash and it worked.
Thanks to all concerned - thanks a stack!!!

However, it's uncovered a host of problems, which may or may not be part of the original checksum error.

1. My mate's system starts up, without the single beep, and then when you power down and power up again it starts with the single beep. When you've finished your Windows session, and shut down, the computer refuses to power down. I've checked the BIOS settings about power down, and everything looks to be in order.

2. The system refuses to see the CD drive. The BIOS knows it's there, but DOS and Windows do not. I've checked the connections to the motherboard and all is in place. I've tried taking out the CD drive and putting it back in again, so that the system would recognise the settings, but that doesn't appear to work. {There was a problem with IDE settings in the Device Manager, where the primary and secondary IDE controllers have conflicts{. How do I get rid of these??

Agian thanks for your help...
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Old 14-02-2004, 20:15   #39
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

OK on the conflicts side try going into device manager and deleting all the main IDE entires.

Then let Windows refind them by doing a search for new devices.

In theory at least windows should sort out the conflict. (worth a try anyway.)

The other problem may be linked to needing updated drivers for the main mobo itself so that the devices like IDE (and all others on the mobo) are being correctly identified and appropriate drivers loaded.

The weird bit is the way DOS is not seeing the drive as this points to a hardware problem perhaps caused by the particular combination of which IDE channels and master/slave assignments are being used. So it may be worth doing a bit of musical chairs with the drives making sure that you make the appropriate changes to any jumper settings on the drives themselves.
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Old 15-02-2004, 12:46   #40
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBooth
Okay, an update. I've had a look at my friend's machine, tried the BIOS flash and it worked.
Thanks to all concerned - thanks a stack!!!

However, it's uncovered a host of problems, which may or may not be part of the original checksum error.

1. My mate's system starts up, without the single beep, and then when you power down and power up again it starts with the single beep. When you've finished your Windows session, and shut down, the computer refuses to power down. I've checked the BIOS settings about power down, and everything looks to be in order.

2. The system refuses to see the CD drive. The BIOS knows it's there, but DOS and Windows do not. I've checked the connections to the motherboard and all is in place. I've tried taking out the CD drive and putting it back in again, so that the system would recognise the settings, but that doesn't appear to work. {There was a problem with IDE settings in the Device Manager, where the primary and secondary IDE controllers have conflicts{. How do I get rid of these??

Agian thanks for your help...
Has he got a config.sys file creating settings for the IDE drives? If so, get rid of it.
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Old 16-02-2004, 20:27   #41
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bifta
Has he got a config.sys file creating settings for the IDE drives? If so, get rid of it.
The config.sys does not have settings for the IDE drives in them. It only has the rudimentary operations required
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Old 16-02-2004, 21:01   #42
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Re: 1 high beep one low beep on boot-up

Delete the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. They are not needed unless you have dos sound drivers loading ect. Then boot into safe mode and remove all the cdrom drives and the secondary ide controler - if that's what the cdrom drive is connected to.....

Lastl'y - make sure that the bios is set to none for the cdrom chnl.
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