Computer Hardware Trouble Shooting

or
The computer won’t work!!! – Now what am I going to do?

Basic steps for diagnosing computer problems:

1. Look and listen – the computer will give you some hints about what is wrong with it –
usually in lights, sounds or messages on the monitor screen
Example:
Turn on the computer
a) Are there any case lights? – possible power supply problem (did you plug it in?)
b) Is there any sounds coming from the case (case fans whirring, etc.) – if not – possible
power supply problem
c) Are there case lights and a fan turning, but no beeping – usually a bad CPU that needs
replacing.
d) Is the computer beeping? If it is – then it’s trying to tell you what’s wrong
e) Is there a message on the monitor screen? This means that the CPU, RAM and video
card are working – a possible problem with the hard drive (HDD Controller error – a
change in hard disk parameters) or the floppy drive.
f) Consult the flowchart ( PC repair poster.pdf)

2. Common BIOS beep codes (case lights and fan movement present):
a) No beep – possibly a bad CPU or RAM short
b) 1 beep – GOOD – everything is working
c) 1 long constant beep – RAM error – make sure it is seated well
d) 1 long – 3 short – Video card error – make sure it is seated, or replace the
defective card.
e) 2 short – usually means a change in the system BIOS

When a computer starts, it goes through the following sequence during power-up
Power supply, CPU, RAM, Video, floppy drive, hard disk. We need to know this to test the
machine if there is power, but no beeping. Take out all parts and add to get beeps. Example –
power supply + CPU should give a RAM error – if not we have a dead CPU. If we get a RAM
error then add RAM – should get a video error – no? = RAM short. If there is video, then there
likely is a short in one of the peripheral cards (sound, network, etc – insert one at a time to see
the problem) or the HDD cable might be on backwards (will short some motherboards)

More BIOS beep codes are listed on the following pages for usual makes of computers.
BIOS Beep Codes

What is a BIOS Beep Code? When you power on a computer the BIOS immediately
takes control of the computer and performs the P.O.S.T (Power On Self Test). At the end of the
POST the computer will play an audible 'BEEP' through either the PC's internal speaker of
through speakers attached to the sound card (if you have a built-in sound chip). If the POST
completed successfully without detecting any problems with then system will play a single short
beep to let you know the test is complete and the computer will continue to start up and load the
operating system.

If during the POST the BIOS detects a problem it will normally display a visual error message on
the monitor explaining what the problem is. However, if a problem is detected before the BIOS
initializes the video card, or a video card is not present or not detected then the BIOS will play
several 'BEEPS' through the speaker to let you know there is a problem. Depending on the type
of the BIOS you have the BIOS may play beeps in a specific pattern to indicate what the problem
is, or play the same beep a number of times indicating the problem. It is very important that you
pay close attention to the number and/or pattern of the beeps your computer plays on startup.

Below is a table of the most common AMI, Phoenix, Award, Compaq Dell and IBM BIOS beep
codes.

AMI (American Megatrends International) BIOS Beep Codes. AMI BIOS uses beeps of the
same length and pitch. The error is displayed as a number of beeps. For example, 4 beeps
indicated a timer failure.

BEEP CODE MEANING POSSIBLE CAUSE

1 Beep (No video) Memory refresh failure Bad memory
2 Beeps Memory parity error Bad memory
3 Beeps Base 64K mem failure Bad memory
4 Beeps Timer not operational Bad motherboard
5 Beeps Processor error Bad processor
6 Beeps 8042 Gate A20 failure Bad CPU or Motherboard
7 Beeps Processor exception Bad processor
8 Beeps Video memory error Bad video card or memory
9 Beeps ROM checksum error Bad BIOS
10 Beeps CMOS checksum error Bad motherboard
11 Beeps Cache memory bad Bad CPU or motherboard

Award BIOS Beep Codes Award BIOS uses beeps of varying duration. A long beep will typically
last for 2 seconds while a short beep will last only 1 second. Award BIOS also uses beeps of
different frequency to indicate critical errors. If an Award BIOS detects that the CPU is
overheating it may play a high pitched repeating beep while the computer is running.

BEEP CODE MEANING POSSIBLE CAUSE

1 Long, 2 Short
Repeating (Endless loop)
1 Long, 3 Short
High freq. beeps (while running)
Repeating High, Low beeps
Video adapter failure
Memory error
Video adapter failure
CPU is overheating
CPU failure
Bad video adapter
Bad memory or bad connection
Bad video adapter or memory
CPU fan failure
Bad processor
Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes Phoenix BIOS uses beep code patterns to indicate problems. In
the table below the '-' indicates a brief pause between beeps.
Example: 1 - 1 - 2 would sound like BEEP <pause> BEEP <pause> BEEP BEEP
BEEP CODE MEANING POSSIBLE CAUSE
1-1-2 CPU / motherboard failure Bad CPU / motherboard
1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure Bad motherboard
1-1-4 BIOS ROM failure Bad BIOS chip
1-2-1 Timer failure Bad motherboard
1-2-2 DMA failure Bad motherboard
1-2-3 DMA failure Bad motherboard
1-3-1 Memory refresh failure Bad memory
1-3-2 64K memory failure Bad memory
1-3-3 64K memory failure Bad memory
1-3-4 64K memory failure Bad memory
1-4-1 Address line failure Bad memory
1-4-2 Parity error Bad memory
1-4-3 Timer failure Bad motherboard
1-4-4 NMI port failure Bad motherboard
2-1-1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-1-2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-1-3 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-1-4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-2-1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-2-2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-2-3 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-2-4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-3-1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-3-2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-3-3 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-3-4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-4-1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-4-2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-4-4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2-4-4 64K memory failure Bad memory
3-1-1 Slave DMA failure Bad motherboard
3-1-2 Master DMA failure Bad motherboard
3-1-3 Interrupt controller failure Bad motherboard
3 - 1 -4 Slave IC failure Bad motherboard
3 - 2 -2 Interrupt Controller failure Bad motherboard
3-2-3 <RESERVED>
3-2-4 Keyboard control failure Bad motherboard
3-3-1 CMOS batter failure Bad CMOS battery
3-3-2 CMOS configuration error Incorrect setting
3-3-3 <RESERVED>
3-3-4 Video memory failure Bad video card or memory
3-4-1 Video init failure Bad video card or memory
4-2-1 Timer failure Bad motherboard
4-2-2 CMOS shutdown failure Bad motherboard
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure Bad motherboard
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt Bad processor
4-3-1 RAM test failure Bad memory
4-3-3 Timer failure Bad motherboard
4-3-4 RTC failure Bad motherboard
4-4-1 Serial port failure Bad motherboard
4-4-2 Parallel port failure Bad motherboard
4-4-3 Coprocessor failure Bad motherboard or CPU.
9-2-1 Video adapter incompatibility Use a different brand of video card
Compaq BIOS Beep Codes: - difficult since most models have different beep codes

Beeps Error Message Description

1 short No error System is booting properly
1 long, 1 The contents of the BIOS ROM to not match the expected
BIOS ROM checksum error
short contents. If possible, reload the BIOS from the PAQ
2 short General error Unknown
1 long, 2 Check the video adapter and ensure it's seated properly. If
Video error
short possible, replace the video adapter
7 beeps (1
long, 1s, 1l,
1 short,
The AGP video card is faulty. Reseat the card or replace
pause, 1 AGP video
it outright. This beep pertains to Compaq Deskpro systems
long, 1
short, 1
short
1 long
neverending Memory error. Bad RAM. Replace and test
beep
1 short, 2
Bad RAM Reseat RAM then retest; replace RAM if failure continues
long

Dell BIOS Beep Codes:

Beep Codes Possible Causes Corrective Action

1-2 No video card detected Reseat the video card
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM checksum error
1-3-1-1 DRAM refresh error Reseat the memory modules
1-3-1-3 8742 Keyboard Controller error Reseat the keyboard connector
1-3-3-1 Memory defective or not present Reseat the memory modules
1-3-4-1 RAM failure on line xxx Reseat the memory modules
RAM failure on data bits xxx of low
1-3-4-3 Reseat the memory modules
byte on memory bus
RAM failure on data bits xxx of high
1-4-1-1 Reseat the memory modules
byte on memory bus

IBM BIOS beep codes

Below are IBM BIOS Beep codes that can occur. However, because of the wide variety
of models shipping with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary.

Beep Code Description

No Beeps No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
1 Short Beep Normal POST, computer is ok.
2 Short Beep POST error, review screen for error code.
Continuous Beep No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
Repeating Short Beep No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
One Long and one Short Beep Motherboard issue.
One Long and Two Short Beeps Video (Mono/CGA Display Circuitry) issue.
One Long and Three Short Beeps. Video (EGA) Display Circuitry.
Three Long Beeps Keyboard / Keyboard card error.
One Beep, Blank or Incorrect Display Video Display Circuitry.
CPU Installation:
If you have a defective CPU, replacement is easy if you have another identical CPU. Make sure
that you are grounded and insert it (make sure you don’t bend any pins). There is only one way
that a CPU can fit on the motherboard.
If you don’t have the identical speed CPU, you can insert another as long as it has the same
number of pins and an identical BUS (data transfer – usually 66 Mhz, 100 Mhs, 133 Mhz, 200
Mhz) speed to match the motherboard. There is usually a chart on the motherboard with jumper
settings for the various BUS speeds and multipliers (1X, 1.5X, 2X, 2.5X, 3X, …, 15X)

Let’s say you have a 450 Mhz Pentium 3 that needs a new CPU. Problem is – you have an extra
600 Mhz CPU to use. A 450 Mhz CPU has a BUS speed of 100 Mhz. (450 = 100 mhz X 4.5)
You would see the jumpers set for this in the chart on the motherboard (100 Mhz BUS and a 4.5
multiplier). To set the system to use the 600 Mhz CPU, you would have to re-set the jumpers to
the same 100 Mhz BUS, but the multiplier would be 6. Start the machine and you’ll see the new
CPU setting in the first screens that computer shows you at start-up

In older machines (Pentium 1 and Pentium 2), the BUS and multiplier combinations were already
made for you in the chart. You just had to find the correct one – BUT – you have to make sure
that PCI speed was set to 33 Mhz or else your video card, modem, soundcard or network card
might work incorrectly.

Over-clocking a Computer:
Most CPUs have an overhead of speed. A 500 Mhz CPU might have been a 600 Mhz that didn’t
test well in the factory and was “down graded” and marked as such. Many Pentium 2
motherboards have various different BUS speeds that can be used with CPUs to get more speed
from the system. (see chart)

Example – 300 Mhz (100 Mhz X 3) machine

BUS (Mhz) Multiplier V-Core (Volts)
Try 105 Mhz X 3 = 315 Mhz and restart the machine. 66 2X 1.65 (newer)
If the computer POSTs and runs the operating system 75 2.5X 1.7
- all is well. 85 3X 1.75
Keep using combinations of BUS and multiplier to get 93 3.5X 1.8 (older P2)
more speed (like 93 X 4 = 325.5, 110 X 3 =330, 85 X 100 4X 1.85
4 = 340 etc) until the machine won’t work and then 105 4.5X 1.9
set it back to the last known working configuration. 110 5X 1.95
Now – add a bit more V-Core voltage (ie 1.8 volts to 115 5.5X 2.0
1.85) and restart the machine to make sure it works. 120 6X
Start going up further until the machine stops again. 133 6.5X
Repeat as above, but set V-Core from 1.85 volts to 1.9 7X
volts. Try again. Once you get as high as possible, 7.5X
run the machine for a while to make sure that it is etc
stable. Over-clocking will cause more heat so good
CPU cooling is needed. We have taken a 300 Mhz
Celeron (model 300A with a 66 Mhz BUS) and over-
clocked it to 540 Mhz. My students like to use this as
a competition to see how fast they can make a
machine operate. A good benchmark software is
SysSoft Sandra. If a CPU doesn’t over-clock well, it
may not have the speed overhead (a 300 was a 300).