Okay, a huge dilemma

mammikoura

Golden Master
Messages
7,459
okay, so I got this old computer for free a while back, and I've been trying to get it working.
Right now I just can't get past bios. I can get into bios just fine, but after that the mobo gives me a beep code, continuous short beeps. According to some websites that is a ram problem, according to others it is a power supply problem.
But I've come to the conclusion that it's a power supply problem, since it gives me continuous long beeps if I take out the ram.

So, naturally I assume it's a problem with the psu. So I changed it, but I still get the same beep code. And the power supply worked the last time I tried it.
Also the thing that bothers me is that I get the beep code AFTER it loads bios, since usually the beep code comes before bios, at least that's how it is with the ram and vid card.

Right now I just have no idea what I could do.
Also I don't see anything wrong in the bios, cpu seems to be fine etc.

I'm beginning to think this is a mobo problem, so I just cleared the cmos. I'll see if that helps when I have the time, and post back. But incase that fails I need some suggestions because I have no idea what to do now.

The mobo is an abit bh6 with award bios v1.08. (I think)

Also, do you think flashing the bios is worth a try?
 
Have you tried running memtest to confirm if its a memory problem?

Also check the manual to see if your RAM is listed as compatible.

Are there any BIOS updates available?
 
Have you tried running memtest to confirm if its a memory problem?

Also check the manual to see if your RAM is listed as compatible.

Are there any BIOS updates available?

Haven't tried memtest, and I don't think I can. It doesn't continue from the screen where it says press del to enter bios etc. and I have my cd drive as the 1st boot device and I have kubuntu cd (bootable) in there, but it doesn't go that far, just stops there and gives me the beeps.

Also ram should be compatible, since it has been working fine before.
And about the bios updates, I haven't checked yet, but I will when I get the time. If everything else fails then I'm going to try and flash the bios.
 
Hmmm, its not looking good is it lol. If the BIOS flash doesnt solve it then i would be thinking its a problem with the mobo. Have youtried running it with the bare minimum components to see what happens? Have you got any other RAM you can try in there?
 
Hmmm, its not looking good is it lol. If the BIOS flash doesnt solve it then i would be thinking its a problem with the mobo. Have youtried running it with the bare minimum components to see what happens? Have you got any other RAM you can try in there?

Yeah I've tried to run it without the hdds and the cd drive, not really anything else I can disconnect. I guess I could take away the vid card and the network card and see what happens.

And yes, I've tried many different ram sticks, and I don't think it's related to ram in any way, since it gives me a beep code before I get to the bios screen if I don't have my ram in there. And it's obviously a different beep code than the one I'm having problems with.

And now that I think of it, I don't think flashing the bios will work. Since the pc refuses to continue to the point from where I can actually boot into the cd drive or floppy.

Also resetting cmos didn't do any good.
Now that I messed with it a bit more, it seems to get stuck on detecting the hdd's. (at least now after the cmos reset)

EDIT:
YARRR, progress!
I unplugged both hdds and now it goes past the beeping thingy that I had problems with before. This didn't happen the last time I tried it (like 2 days ago) so the cmos reset must have done something good. :D But now that it goes ahead and tried to boot from the cd drive it tells me "Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM : Failure" and "DISK BOOT FAILURE; INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

The mobo is recognising the cd drive, also tried to set the cd drive as primary master, primary slave and secondary master, in all cases the results are the same. And a bootable kubuntu cd has been in the cd drive this whole time. Also the cd drive is working fine.
 
It could still be a problem mate, ive had stuff like this happen in the past and a different cable has solved the problem. Definately wont hurt to give it a try:)
 
Back
Top Bottom