Computer beeping, dear God make it stop!

[softailgarage]

Older Gateway GT5620 with Windows Vista, It has sat for at least a year (mainly cause I stole the 5.1 soundcard). Well, I picked up a new soundcard, installed it and now, I have no picture and a beep. its not a solid beep but a long beep ex: beeeeeep, beeep, beeeep. So far I have pulled out the RAM and put it back in, which stopped the beeping for 5 minutes and then started back up. I also pulled the video card, blew off the dust and re installed, all to no avail. Any ideas?

 

[Celery]

That long beep does sound like memory issues. The contacts are probably oxidized. I guess if you get a can of contact cleaner and spray the slots and the modules it'd probably be ok.

 

[softailgarage]

Is there a chance the memory itself is or has gone bad? Would the lack of memory also cause the video issue as well?

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

 

[Celery]

How many memory modules do you have? You can try one at a time if more than one.

It's possible it's gone bad but we don't know that yet until the contacts are cleaned and tested again.

 

[setishock]

The video card is not all the way down in the socket. There should be a latch on the end of the socket toward the middle of the board. If this latch is not in the locked position, meaning you have to push it down with a pencil to eject the card, then the card is not seated all the way in.
Not down evenly will make contact on one end of the card but not all the way across the length of the card.

Couple of other things to check.
Make sure the flange on the end of the card is straight. If the PCI slot doesn't have a latch then when you run the keeper screw down on the flange, it will pull the far end of the card up in the socket breaking the connection on some of the contacts.
The other is if the card needs extra power and has a socket on the card itself, make sure your PSU has the right plug to go in the socket and plug it in. Shut down before you plug the extra power in to the card. Then boot back up.

 

[donetao]

He's back! Welcome back seti! Sorry for getting off topic. The Devil made me do that!
LOL LOL!
Gary
I'm very happy to see you posting again on the forum my friend!!

 

[Celery]

Seti has a point here. When the cards and the modules are seated you should not be able to see the contacts.

 

[donetao]

I have heard that you can use a eraser to clean the contacts on the memory stick.
Is that a good way??
Don't know how you would clean corrosion on the slots.
Gary!!
PS you are all up late!! LOL! Are we not a team here on CF??

 

[~Darkseeker~]

I'm afraid my friend you're failing POST.

check out these steps, this is more or less what I do in this situation:-

POST troubleshooting steps.

 

[softailgarage]

How many memory modules do you have? You can try one at a time if more than one.

It's possible it's gone bad but we don't know that yet until the contacts are cleaned and tested again.

2 slots, I haven't tried checking 1 at a time.

The video card is not all the way down in the socket. There should be a latch on the end of the socket toward the middle of the board. If this latch is not in the locked position, meaning you have to push it down with a pencil to eject the card, then the card is not seated all the way in.
Not down evenly will make contact on one end of the card but not all the way across the length of the card.

Couple of other things to check.
Make sure the flange on the end of the card is straight. If the PCI slot doesn't have a latch then when you run the keeper screw down on the flange, it will pull the far end of the card up in the socket breaking the connection on some of the contacts.
The other is if the card needs extra power and has a socket on the card itself, make sure your PSU has the right plug to go in the socket and plug it in. Shut down before you plug the extra power in to the card. Then boot back up.

I was getting the beep before I touched the video card, but will double check to make sure its seated properly

I have heard that you can use a eraser to clean the contacts on the memory stick.
Is that a good way??
Don't know how you would clean corrosion on the slots.
Gary!!
PS you are all up late!! LOL! Are we not a team here on CF??

As a gold plater back in the 80's, plating IO pins and connectors, using an eraser was an easy way of removing corrosion and discolorization, water spots, etc. The trick is to do it lightly, too much pressure could cause the loss of minute particles of Au.

I'm afraid my friend you're failing POST.

check out these steps, this is more or less what I do in this situation:-

POST troubleshooting steps.

Excellent guide, although I'm not too comfortable with messing with the Motherboard. I'll follow the steps and hope it doesn't come to that.

Thank you gentlemen, I'll let you know what happens