Not sure what the beeping noises mean?

[raebabe]

Alright, I have a Gateway G7-450 in the shop that is making some stange noises but besides that the only things that are working are the fans and the lights. It sounds like the CD-ROM is trying to work but it stopps after a few seconds.

It makes beeping noises when I turn it on but I can't find any information as to what it means. The beeping noises are two short beeps right after one another and a long one followed by another short beep 8 seconds later.

I have swapped out the hard drive (as well as unplugged it) and swapped out the Power Supply to no avail. The Gateway site is not helping me at all. Any advice?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

These beeps (or beep code) can be useful in troubleshooting problems prior to the initialization of your computer's video system. The number of beeps is dependent on your computer's particular BIOS and is unfortunately not standardized across manufacturers. If you can match your beep code to your particular BIOS and version, you can accurately diagnose problems with your CPU, RAM, motherboard, video board, or drive controller.

Your system's beep codes should be in the written documentation for your motherboard, or obtainable from the manufacturer's web site.

The following is an example of beep codes from American Megatrends:

1s (short) System RAM refresh failure
2s Memory parity error
3s Base 64-kbytes memory failure
4s System timer failure
5s CPU failure
6s Keyboard controller Gate A20 failure
7s Virtual mode exception error
8s Display memory read/write error
9s ROM BIOS checksum error
10s CMOS shutdown register read/write error
11s Cache memory error
1l (long) - 3s Memory test failure (non fatal)
1l - 8s Display test failure (non fatal)

Your system documentation or the manufacturer's web site may include recommended solutions to these error codes. For example, from American Megatrends:

For 1-, 2-, and 3-beep errors try reseating the system's memory modules. If that fails, it is possible that 1 or more memory modules are bad.
For a 6-beep error, try substituting a different keyboard, or reseating the keyboard controller chip.
For an 8-beep error, try reseating your video card or a different video card (if your system has a separate video card).
For 4-, 5-, 7-, 9-, and 10-beep errors, it is likely that you will need to have your motherboard repaired or replaced.

 

[raebabe]

Thank You so much! That machine has been sitting there for at least 2 weeks. I was getting so sick of looking at it.

We had just gotten a second of the same machine in to work on so I swapped video cards (after a little more research at the Gateway site) and guess what? It came on with no problem ;0)