What to do with motherboard that just beeps at me?

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BarryK · #1 Post by **BarryK** » Tue 10 Mar 2020, 23:28

My HP midi-tower PC has one of the early UEFI firmware, circa 2012. It has an i3 CPU and 16GB RAM, and three sata drives.

A couple of times recently, when I turned it on, the fans started up, lights came on, but nothing else, no video, and it just kept beeping, beep-beep-beep. I rebooted, and it came good.

But last night, the situation has become permanent.

Anyone got a suggestion? Time to retire the motherboard?

I did replace the battery, no difference, still just the beeps.

s243a · #2 Post by **s243a** » Tue 10 Mar 2020, 23:46

Maybe a bad ram stick? Anyway, I would try unplugging as much as you can and then slowly start plugging things back in if you can get it to work.

rockedge · #3 Post by **rockedge** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 00:27

I agree, first take out the RAM sticks and clean the contacts carefully (optional) and re-seat the RAM sticks in their slots. IF no luck continue on like s243a recommends

bigpup · #4 Post by **bigpup** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 01:05

Try running with the cover off the computer.
Fans seem to be running OK?
They startup, run with a steady speed, make no strange sounds, well are clean.

I did replace the battery

I assume that is the bios cmos battery?

After changing the battery.
Did you go into the bios setup and check all the settings for being correct?
Bios may have reset to default settings.
Do all the hardware settings look correct and does all the hardware show up someplace in the bios setup?

This old a computer motherboard.
Look it over for corrosion, dirt, etc... on all connections.
Look closely for bulging or leaking capacitors.

Heating and cooling, can over time, slowly loosen connections.
Removing and reconnecting everything can fix that.
CPU is probably OK.
But does the cooling fan startup and seem to run OK.

Beep codes common to HP and Compaq desktop computer Beeps
2 short beeps ->Floppy diskette or compact disc not detected
3 short beeps ->Unable to start flashing (when missing a utility or BIOS image)
4 short beeps ->Flashing failed (checksum error, corrupted image, etc.)
5 short beeps ->BIOS recovery successful

If the power supply is over 5 years old.
It could be going bad.
But, usually you have more problems than just beeping.
HP is good for putting power supplies in their computers that have just enough output to power what is in the computer.
You add stuff, change to more power demanding hardware, and you can easily go to max output of power supply or more power required than it can really provide.

bigpup · #5 Post by **bigpup** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 01:20

has one of the early UEFI firmware, circa 2012

It was booting OK, so this is just something to look at on HP support.

See if there is an update to the UEFI bios on this model computer.
The early ones got a lot of after release updating.

BarryK · #6 Post by **BarryK** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 01:25

Thanks for the advice -- it worked!

Not at first. I reseated the RAM sticks, and it started to boot, got video, but stopped with a error message the keyboard missing and to press F1 to boot.

I plugged in the keyboard, jiggled some of the other plugs on the motherboard, the beeping came back, and no video.

Reseated the RAM sticks again, this time got corrupted video.

Took the RAM sticks out, cleaned to the contacts with CRC CO Contact Cleaner spray can. The can says "precision electronic cleaning solvent".

Plugged the sticks back in, powered up, no errors, now have a desktop.

Can't say that it fills me with confidence using this computer now though. For development work, I need top-notch reliability. Don't want RAM that might cause trouble.

BarryK · #7 Post by **BarryK** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 01:31

bigpup wrote:Try running with the cover off the computer.
Fans seem to be running OK?
They startup, run with a steady speed, make no strange sounds, well are clean.

I did replace the battery
I assume that is the bios cmos battery?

After changing the battery.
Did you go into the bios setup and check all the settings for being correct?
Bios may have reset to default settings.
Do all the hardware settings look correct and does all the hardware show up someplace in the bios setup?

This old a computer motherboard.
Look it over for corrosion, dirt, etc... on all connections.
Look closely for bulging or leaking capacitors.

Heating and cooling, can over time, slowly loosen connections.
Removing and reconnecting everything can fix that.
CPU is probably OK.
But does the cooling fan startup and seem to run OK.

Beep codes common to HP and Compaq desktop computer Beeps
2 short beeps ->Floppy diskette or compact disc not detected
3 short beeps ->Unable to start flashing (when missing a utility or BIOS image)
4 short beeps ->Flashing failed (checksum error, corrupted image, etc.)
5 short beeps ->BIOS recovery successful
If the power supply is over 5 years old.
It could be going bad.
But, usually you have more problems than just beeping.
HP is good for putting power supplies in their computers that have just enough output to power what is in the computer.
You add stuff, change to more power demanding hardware, and you can easily go to max output of power supply or more power required than it can really provide.

Yep, cmos battery. Fans run OK.
The beeps were continuous, about one per second.

Perhaps I should bite the bullet and buy a new desktop PC. There is a nice one at Officeworks for $719, Lenovo, only a i3 CPU but that should be plenty fast enough for what I do.

bigpup · #8 Post by **bigpup** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 01:33

I would run a ram check using software to test the ram.
memtest86 is very good.
https://www.memtest86.com/

bigpup · #9 Post by **bigpup** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 01:56

Well, a modern i3 processor is very much more powerful than a i3 from 2012.
You would be going from a generation 3 to a generation 8 or 9.
From a 2 core to a 4 core.
Probably faster clock speed.

If you have 3 hard drives.
Make sure the new computer has internal connections for adding those to it.
Keep in mind all those connections have changed.
Those old hard drives may not be using connections that are now used.

I had that problem with trying to use a old hard drive in a very new computer I built.

Every computer now use Serial ATA connections.
They have no Parallel ATA or IDE connections.

rockedge · #10 Post by **rockedge** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 02:29

Hello Barry,

glad it worked!

If you again begin to see errors or very long response times and sluggish behavior, especially at start and shutdown, it very well will be RAM module failure. It happens! Just fixed a friends 2012 Dell laptop...same symptoms as you describe, turns out was a bad memory module, replaced the RAM sticks and it is back to running Bionic64 rather nicely,

BarryK · #11 Post by **BarryK** » Wed 11 Mar 2020, 02:41

bigpup wrote:I would run a ram check using software to test the ram.
memtest86 is very good.
https://www.memtest86.com/

EasyOS and EasyPup have 'memtester'.

As the PC has 16GB RAM, I ran it grabbing 14GB:

# memtester 14G

It is going through many tests, all OK so far.

Perhaps I should have tried a higher figure.

BarryK · #12 Post by **BarryK** » Thu 19 Mar 2020, 11:16

So the RAM itself is OK, just the contacts. I do need absolute reliability, well, close to absolute as possible, so decided to buy a new PC:

https://bkhome.org/news/202003/mke2fs-c ... -size.html

...interesting issue with the ext4 block size, hey! Maybe such a big drive confused mkfs.ext4, but very strange that it got the block size right on the second go.

For the record, the 8TB drive is a Seagate Barracuda.

Brown Mouse · #13 Post by **Brown Mouse** » Thu 19 Mar 2020, 11:45

Did you check the GPU out and assuming it has one?
Disconnect it and try running it from the on-board graphics,first changing the settings in BIOS.

greengeek · #14 Post by **greengeek** » Thu 19 Mar 2020, 18:09

Cleaning the connections on the RAM sticks is one part of the equation but it is also worth inspecting the mobo connector for the sticks and if possible vacuum them to suck out any dust or crystallisation that sometimes forms due to humidity over the years.

Removing/re-inserting sticks often breaks through this crystallisation on the pins of the mobo connectors and the tiny flecks that are dislodged fall into the bottom of the connector and can form intermittent bridges.

Vacuuming can generate ESD though so try to get hold of an antistatic vac such as photocopier techs use.

BarryK · #15 Post by **BarryK** » Fri 20 Mar 2020, 10:57

Brown Mouse wrote:Did you check the GPU out and assuming it has one?
Disconnect it and try running it from the on-board graphics,first changing the settings in BIOS.

Yes, I was using the on-board Intel graphics. Actually, I bought this HP PC second hand, the previous owner had put it together as a gaming machine, and it had a GPU card, which I removed soon after acquiring it, as didn't need gaming performance.

So it is not really a "HP" computer, only the motherboard. It is actually a mongrel, the case is a no-brand thing who knows how old -- so as was suggested in an earlier post the power supply may be getting a bit senile.

Anyway, now have brand new hardware, and the old HP can be relegated to occasional compatibility testing of new EasyOS/Pup builds.

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What to do with motherboard that just beeps at me?

What to do with motherboard that just beeps at me?