[sonicdeth]

I have no idea what to do at this point. The other day I was on my computer and it completely froze up on me. I restarted with the on/off button. When I tried to restart, the computer wouldn't boot and it just beeped for about 10-12 seconds followed by a pause of about the same length of time.. it just repeated that. I did research thought it may be a bad RAM stick, so I tried one stick at a time and when I tried to boot, it still gave me the same beep pattern. I tried unplugging most things on the moboard and plugging them back in and that didn't work either! I looked at the moboard and it had "Phoenix BIOS" and under that read "D686 BIOS." So I looked up Phoenix BIOS beep codes and they all seem to list patterns, not the particular repeating long beeps that I am getting. Not sure where to look at this point, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

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Well, sonicdeth, a good place to start is mainly what you've tried already, however, you should take it one step further.

My first suggestion is simple, unplug the computer, hold down the power button for 20 seconds, plug it back in, and try starting it up. That's an anti-static measure called draining the flea power, you should do this every time you are about to open your computer case.

Next, if the computer still has the beeping occurring, I would try removing all unnecessary components, that is to say, any device connected via usb, except the keyboard and mouse, and leave the monitor plugged in.

If still nothing happens, you are going to turn off the computer, and drain the flea power again, remove any unnecessary peripherals, that is to say, a video card, sound card, any extra hard drives, all your RAM, any front panel usbs and so on. Now place only one stick of RAM back in the computer, and try to boot again.

If the same thing happens, repeat the last step, but use a different stick of RAM. Continue repeating till you have tried all your RAM Modules.

Let me know the results after these steps

[Log2]

Well, sonicdeth, a good place to start is mainly what you've tried already, however, you should take it one step further.

My first suggestion is simple, unplug the computer, hold down the power button for 20 seconds, plug it back in, and try starting it up. That's an anti-static measure called draining the flea power, you should do this every time you are about to open your computer case.

Next, if the computer still has the beeping occurring, I would try removing all unnecessary components, that is to say, any device connected via usb, except the keyboard and mouse, and leave the monitor plugged in.

If still nothing happens, you are going to turn off the computer, and drain the flea power again, remove any unnecessary peripherals, that is to say, a video card, sound card, any extra hard drives, all your RAM, any front panel usbs and so on. Now place only one stick of RAM back in the computer, and try to boot again.

If the same thing happens, repeat the last step, but use a different stick of RAM. Continue repeating till you have tried all your RAM Modules.

Let me know the results after these steps

[iammykyl]

This is about the best information I could find about your BIOS on the NET.

> http://www.techsuppo...pplications.htm

You might try tech support at the manufaturers web site of your PC.

[sonicdeth]

Well, sonicdeth, a good place to start is mainly what you've tried already, however, you should take it one step further.

My first suggestion is simple, unplug the computer, hold down the power button for 20 seconds, plug it back in, and try starting it up. That's an anti-static measure called draining the flea power, you should do this every time you are about to open your computer case.

Next, if the computer still has the beeping occurring, I would try removing all unnecessary components, that is to say, any device connected via usb, except the keyboard and mouse, and leave the monitor plugged in.

If still nothing happens, you are going to turn off the computer, and drain the flea power again, remove any unnecessary peripherals, that is to say, a video card, sound card, any extra hard drives, all your RAM, any front panel usbs and so on. Now place only one stick of RAM back in the computer, and try to boot again.

If the same thing happens, repeat the last step, but use a different stick of RAM. Continue repeating till you have tried all your RAM Modules.

Let me know the results after these steps

Hello again, I've tried all of your troubleshooting suggestions and here are the results:

1.) Turn off PC, hold down power for 20 secs & try to boot

Result: Nothing, same beep pattern (10 second beep, 10 second pause, repeat)

2.) Remove all unnecessary devices except keyboard, mouse & monitor, try to boot

Result: Nothing, same beep pattern

3.) I could not remove the video card as it is integrated onto the motherboard as is the souncard, I did remove USB's and tried 1 stick of RAM at a time

Result: Same with each stick of RAM, just the same beep pattern of a 10-12 second long beep followed by a 10 second pause, and repeat

Not sure what to do at this point. Any other advice is greatly appreciated.

[rshaffer61]

Most logical reason is bad memory.
How many ram modules do you have total?
Are your memory slots color coded?

[sonicdeth]

2 RAM slots total. They are not color coded. I tried one RAM stick at a time, also tried swapping the slots they were in with one another, neither worked. I read it's highly unlikely that 2 RAM chips go at the same time. Some people are not telling me it's the motherboard.

[rshaffer61]

It is possible that the memory slots have gone bad which would explain why neither memory modules work.

[Log2]

Ok, doesn't sound like it's a problem with the Ram if it occurs with each module, however, if it's a laptop, some of them require you to have two identical modules installed for it to run.

1. What company manufactures the computer and what is the model?
2. If it's a home built computer, what is you motherboard?

When I have that information I'll be able to do a bit more in depth research for you


EDIT: I didn't notice the second page, but it seems like a motherboard issue, faulty ram sockets.

Edited by Log2, 11 February 2011 - 01:53 AM.

[sonicdeth]

Ok, doesn't sound like it's a problem with the Ram if it occurs with each module, however, if it's a laptop, some of them require you to have two identical modules installed for it to run.

1. What company manufactures the computer and what is the model?
2. If it's a home built computer, what is you motherboard?

When I have that information I'll be able to do a bit more in depth research for you


EDIT: I didn't notice the second page, but it seems like a motherboard issue, faulty ram sockets.

It's a desktop computer. It's an HP Pavillion a6500f, here's a page with the full specs. HP Pavillion A6500F One guy told me to buy a cheap PCI Video card from a computer repair shop and try that first before replacing the motherboard..... Anymore insight you may have would be greatly appreciated. Just trying to troubleshoot and rule things out before replacing my whole motherboard. Thanks.

[Log2]

Well you could try that, but I wouldn't think it would be a video issue, plus if you have integrated graphics (not sure if you do, but the specs says it comes with integrated) then you would have to replace the mobo anyway. But the reason I wasn't contemplating that is because usually with an unknown beep code, it's usually RAM, not always, but most of the time.

The things I am thinking right now would be Motherboard, or Power supply unit. These two are usually replaced together with an issue like this, just because the old PSU wont destroy the new mobo, if that's what it was, so rather than replacing two mobo's and a psu, they just replace both.

Anyway, a PCI graphics card aren't really that cheap anymore, just because they're fairly uncommon now, and if someone is buying one, it's because they need it, as opposed to want it, and people will pay almost anything if they need it.

[iammykyl]

I would try to eliminate bad RAM or bad slot first.

#1. You could try your ram in another computer, making sure they are compatible, this would tell you if the RAM is OK, if not.

#2. A fault in the PSU. This I would have tested at a PC shop, (Ring around and see if like my local they would do it for free)
Should you decide to do this, make sure the power is off, take a photo of the cabling or tag, mark them so you know how to reconnect. If the PSU is OK.

#3. *borrow* buy the correct RAM. If this fails, I would say the Mobo is dead.

[phillpower2]

Just to add to what the other guys have suggested, try removing all Ram and powering up to see if the beep pattern changes in any way also try clearing the CMOS in case of a bad MB setting, to do this remove the silver CR2032 battery on the MB for a few moments and then replace it, this will restore the MB back to the default factory settings so upon boot up you will need to go into the BIOS and reset the time and date, save the settings, exit and press Y to accept the changes, this is an outside shot but when testing I would alway try it.


Thanks to RonShaffer61 for the battery .jpeg

[sonicdeth]

Well you could try that, but I wouldn't think it would be a video issue, plus if you have integrated graphics (not sure if you do, but the specs says it comes with integrated) then you would have to replace the mobo anyway. But the reason I wasn't contemplating that is because usually with an unknown beep code, it's usually RAM, not always, but most of the time.

The things I am thinking right now would be Motherboard, or Power supply unit. These two are usually replaced together with an issue like this, just because the old PSU wont destroy the new mobo, if that's what it was, so rather than replacing two mobo's and a psu, they just replace both.

Anyway, a PCI graphics card aren't really that cheap anymore, just because they're fairly uncommon now, and if someone is buying one, it's because they need it, as opposed to want it, and people will pay almost anything if they need it.

Replacing the PSU as well sounds like a good move, thanks for that advice, I'll definitely replace that as well. Looks like my PC takes a 250 watt power supply. I'm ordering the motherboard from Newegg and I guess I just order the new PSU from there as well. Do you know any decent reliable brand of PSU that I should get? Relatively inexpensive preffered.

[phillpower2]

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817371016 or to give you some headroom for adding further upgrades http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139005

[Log2]

Yea, Antec makes a good product, and Corsair makes a better product. I also don't think 250's are made anymore, I would suggest a 300, or a 350, it won't cost too much more, 40 bucks or so.

However, any power supply with a name infront of it will be better than the no name brand that all manufacturers use. Also if you're not too stretched for money at the moment, I would suggest investing into a good Surge Protector, Belkin makes some, but APC makes the best I've seen for a low price. It just makes sure that the power doesn't fluctuate when you're using your computer, and if there's a power outage, it won't hurt your computer. It's not super important to most people, but it's a pretty big cause of a burnt out board.


Lol, that's funny, phillpower2 suggested the same brands as I did

Edited by Log2, 12 February 2011 - 01:17 PM.