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P4P800 Bios beep codes

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Prok

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2003
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
Hey all. I don't know if I'm just being anal, but I get two beeps when booting up. They are two different pitches, with the same beep duration, one after the other. I looked at ami.com bios beep codes. According to them, 2 beeps mean a "parity error". Does anyone have experience with this on a p4p800 (latest bios)? I reseated my memory as suggested but that made no difference.
Thanks in advance.
 
I found this for you:

1 Short beep = Everything is ok, that is if you see things on the screen. If you don't see anything, check your monitor and video card first. Is everything connected? If they seem fine, your motherboard has some bad chips on it. First reset the SIMM's and reboot. If it does the same thing, one of the memory chips on the motherboard are bad, and you most likely need to get another motherboard since these chips are soldered on.

2 Short beeps = Your computer has memory problems. First check video. If video is working, you'll see an error message. If not, you have a parity error in your first 64K of memory. First check your SIMM's. Reseat them and reboot. If this doesn't do it, the memory chips may be bad. You can try switching the first and second banks memory chips. First banks are the memory banks that your CPU finds its first 64K of base memory in. You'll need to consult your manual to see which bank is first. If all your memory tests good, you probably need to buy another motherboard.

3 Short beeps = See 2 short beeps.

4 Short beeps = See 2 short beeps or a bad timer .

5 Short beeps = Your motherboard is complaining. Try reseating the memory and rebooting. If that doesn't help, you should consider another motherboard. You could probably get away with just replacing the CPU.

6 Short beeps = The chip on your motherboard that controls your keyboard (A20 gate) isn't working. First try another keyboard. If it doesn't help, reseat the chip that controls the keyboard, if it isn't soldered in. If it still beeps, replace the chip if possible. Replace the motherboard if it is soldered in.

7 Short beeps = Your CPU broke overnight. Its no good. Either replace the CPU, or buy another motherboard.

8 Short beeps = Your video card isn't working. Make sure it is seated well in the bus. If it still beeps, either the whole card is bad or the memory on it is.

9 Short beeps = Your BIOS is bad. Reset BIOS, reseat or replace the BIOS chip.

10 Short beeps = Your problem lies deep inside the CMOS. All chips associated with the CMOS will likely have to be replaced. Your best bet is to get a new motherboard.

11 Short beeps = Your problem is in the Cache Memory chips on the motherboard. Reseat or Replace these chips.

1 Long, 3 short beeps = You've probably just added memory to the motherboard since this is a conventional or extended memory failure. Generally this is caused by a memory chip that is not seated properly. Reseat the memory chips.

1 Long, 8 short beeps = Display retrace test failed. Reseat the video card.
 
thanks for all that info. It's definetely 2 short beeps, although they are different tones. I'll switch the memory around and report back later.
 
Guys, the second lower tone is given when the BIOS detects a non-legacy USB device at POST. Legacy USB devices are a keyboard and mouse, if you have a webcam or scanner etc. plugged in it'll give the lower beep. It means nothing and you are already getting anal switching memory around because of a beep while you have a perfectly working system setup... (j/k)
 
Hey, you are very right. As soon as I unplugged my printer (usb)all I got was one beep (which is normal, right?). Once the printer goes back in, the lower toned beep comes back after the first higher tone.
Thanks!
 
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