A puzzler

jctheimpaler

Hey. See if anyone knows how to sort this out!
I recently shipped a computer to Spain, which means it probably got bashed around a bit. It worked when it left, but it doesn't now.
When I press the power button, all the relevant fans start spinning, etc. and it makes a beeping sound (low-pitch beep, pause, higher-pitch beep) and then doesn't do anything. If I take out the RAM, CPU or gfx card it makes the relevant annoying beeping sounds, so it must be recognising them somehow. Nothing comes up on the screen at any stage, but the LED on the front of it changes colour when I turn the computer on, so I assume the gfx card must be sending something to it. It isn´t doing any actual booting up, as far as I can tell. The hard disk never starts spinning, but I don't think it gets that far. I tried looking up the BIOS codes, but I couldn't see anything that applied (I'm not even sure the beep is an error code). I'm using an Abit NF7-S board and I'm not even sure which codes apply to the BIOS. Also, the HDD LED on the front comes on when I hit the power button, but doesn't turn off again.
And that's it. Suggestions would be appreciated!

Optikus

You say it got bashed aroud abit.. have alook at all the screw holding the mobo in the case make sure nothing is shorting the board like a loose screw or somthing, check to see if the heatsink/fan is correctly in place to be sure maybe even remove and replace. Try that and tell me how ya got on

The Muppet

Possibly the hard drive is borked. Disconnect the hard drive and see if it gets any further.

Optikus

The Muppet wrote:

Possibly the hard drive is borked. Disconnect the hard drive and see if it gets any further.

You won't get BIOS beeps with Harddrive faliures.. me thinks something is shorting the mobo.

paddy

You won't get BIOS beeps with Harddrive faliures.. me thinks something is shorting the mobo.


You obviously know a lot :rolleyes:

Optikus

paddy wrote:

You won't get BIOS beeps with Harddrive faliures.. me thinks something is shorting the mobo.


You obviously know a lot :rolleyes:

If the IDE port or SATA controller has a problem you get beeps.. not with just the hard drive .. had problems numerous times with drives . no beeps.
Also had a look at my motherbord manual nothing there to indicate beeps for hardrives.

here it is:
1 short beep
Normal POST - system is ok
2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen
No beep Power supply or system board problem
Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem
Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA)
3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card

StRiKeR

paddy wrote:

You obviously know a lot :rolleyes:

and like what do you know kid?

Optikus is right, there's a short on the board, the system doesn't beep even if theres a HDDs failure!

go back to college and learn something before you quote others, not to mention you dont even know how to quote, even with a big QUOTE botton right there at the corner you idiot!

The Muppet

Assuming they are post beeps of course . He says the beeps he is hearing are two different tones.

Its worth trying a reset on the bios too JC.

Hobbes

reseat everything as well

ZENER

From ABIT site:

1 long - 1 short(Beep) - Memory Error - If this occurs then download memtest386 from www.memtest386.com and burn the ISO version to a CDROM. Once this is done boot the system and choose the first boot device as CDROM, save the bios and insert the memtest CDROM. Allow at least 7 hours for the system to test all the memory with various tests to see if it is working correctly

A two-tone siren(like an ambulance) - This is caused by "overclocking" the voltages to a setting that the system cannot support. Please press insert and the reset button to reboot back to factory settings. This is also caused by overheating, and if this is the case, allow suitable ventilation for the system.

You mentioned a "lower tone" and a "higher tone" this sounds like the second error above. Considering it's been bashed around abit it might be worth doing what Muppet suggested above and disconnect the HDD and anything connected to the IDE channels - can't hurt. Also try removing the BIOS backup battery for a few minutes.

That's a lovely motherboard by the way . . isn't it Muppet !

ZEN

StRiKeR

Abit do make great motherboard, no doubt about that guys!

Gilgamesh

can you get a temp replacement bord from somewhere, would resolve this debate if it is the board or not.
I would also tip that it is the board shorting.
Did you have any heavy heatsink built in while transporting?

Hagar

Outside chance... Have you checked the mains voltage where you are ?

The Muppet

ZENER wrote:

That's a lovely motherboard by the way . . isn't it Muppet !

ZEN

The least you could have done was get the quote right.that should read

"Thas a lovely Looking Motherboard" to be precise.

/ I'll get me anorack


Anyway back to the issus at hand. It's worth trying everthing suggested. Without seeing the system and hearing the sounds its making it's difficult to be precise in diagnosing the problem.


Good Luck

ZENER

France' phase voltage is 230VAC 50Hz same as ours.

ZEN

Edit: . . which of course id totally irrelavent considering he's in Spain where the voltage is the same as it happens.

http://www.currentsolutions.com/knowledge/country_spec_o-z.htm

ZENER

The Muppet wrote:

The least you could have done was get the quote right.that should read

"Thas a lovely Looking Motherboard" to be precise.

/ I.ll get me anorack

/I'll get mine as well !!

ZEN

jctheimpaler

I already tried reseating everything. One thing is that the power socket I plugged it into first didn't have an earth connector-thingy (to use the technical term) and I got a shock off the back of the case, so I'm going to go with the mobo being shorted. Am I going to have to buy a new one or just reseat it?
Also, the second beep was longer than the first beep. It's possible that my tone-deafness made me hear two different pitches when it was just a difference in length (which would be kind of embarassing seeing as I'm a guitarist and should know better).
Somebody mentioned something about a heavy heatsink... It's a bog-standard AMD 3200 one, so I doubt it's that heavy
Also, I don't think it could be the HDD because that wouldn't explain why nothing comes up on the screen.

ZENER

Have you considered the action I posted above from the ABIT site. The beeps seem to match what you were hearing.
If there are 2 DIMMs on the board? howabout removing one and see if it makes a difference - if not the replace it and remove the other.
Have you any other DIMMs you could try ?

ZEN

Optikus

jctheimpaler wrote:

I already tried reseating everything. One thing is that the power socket I plugged it into first didn't have an earth connector-thingy (to use the technical term) and I got a shock off the back of the case, so I'm going to go with the mobo being shorted. Am I going to have to buy a new one or just reseat it?
Also, the second beep was longer than the first beep. It's possible that my tone-deafness made me hear two different pitches when it was just a difference in length (which would be kind of embarassing seeing as I'm a guitarist and should know better).
Somebody mentioned something about a heavy heatsink... It's a bog-standard AMD 3200 one, so I doubt it's that heavy
Also, I don't think it could be the HDD because that wouldn't explain why nothing comes up on the screen.

As i expected, a good thing to do is remove the mobo from the case check that theres nothing at the back of the board shorting it like a screw or any other loose bit of metal then screw it back in making sure all the screws are hand tight and are not likely to come loose then see if there is any change.

Optikus

paddy wrote:

You won't get BIOS beeps with Harddrive faliures.. me thinks something is shorting the mobo.


You obviously know a lot :rolleyes:

Why the bad rep Paddy.. what i said was right, your lucky that i have to wait 24 hours till i can send some more, cause your next on my list now. im just trying to help someone even if i was or someone else was wrong they are trying just to help.

jctheimpaler

OK. I took the whole damn thing apart today, then put it back together. This time, when I plugged it in it gave me a beep which sounds like it's the normal beep sound, then it made a whirring sound that could be it checking the RAM and then stopped completely. Still nothing on the monitor, but the front HDD LED doesn't stay on any more. I think I just fixed one problem and uncovered another. Next time I'm moving country, I'll sell the damn thing and make a new one when I get there

MrVestek

It... is... fooked. I'd go with borked motherboard sounds like you shorted some of the cmos chips when plugging it in without an earthed power connection. I say some cus it seems to be doing some of the work. Try a different mobo for the time being and see if that sorts it. If so then it's the mobo.

Optikus

Are you sure you have connected everything back correctly, cos it souds like it was getting shorted somehow and you have fixed that because your not getting continous beeping, is anything coming up on the screen, what do you mean by the harddrive not light not staying on,, how dose it come on for and when? whats this about it not been earthed make sure the the plug has the earth wire hooked up.

Optikus

ZENER wrote:

Have you considered the action I posted above from the ABIT site. The beeps seem to match what you were hearing.
If there are 2 DIMMs on the board? howabout removing one and see if it makes a difference - if not the replace it and remove the other.
Have you any other DIMMs you could try ?

ZEN

Also try this with just 1 stick of Ram, then again with the other this will elimimanate any rams probs and if there is one will tell you which stick is the culprit.

jctheimpaler

Optikus wrote:

Are you sure you have connected everything back correctly, cos it souds like it was getting shorted somehow and you have fixed that because your not getting continous beeping, is anything coming up on the screen, what do you mean by the harddrive not light not staying on,, how dose it come on for and when? whats this about it not been earthed make sure the the plug has the earth wire hooked up.

The HDD LED used to come on when I hit the power button, as is expected, but it then stayed on continuously. Now it goes off again after a second, which is normal. The first time I plugged it in was in a weird socket that didn't have an earth connection (I only noticed this after I shocked myself on the case), but it's now in a normal socket.
As for the suggestion by someone (Achilles, I think) about switching boards, the problem is that I'm in Spain and all my computer-nerd buddies are in Ireland so I don't know anyone who could lend me one.
I'll try checking the RAM one by one, but I don't know if that will do much. Surely if there was a problem with it it would give me an error beep?

ZENER

jctheimpaler wrote:

I'll try checking the RAM one by one, but I don't know if that will do much. Surely if there was a problem with it it would give me an error beep?

. . but it is giving an error beep . . isn't it !

1 long - 1 short(Beep) - Memory Error - . . .

ZEN

jctheimpaler

ZENER wrote:

. . but it is giving an error beep . . isn't it !



ZEN

It was, then I took the whole thing apart, put it back together again, and now I have an entirely new problem. Now, when I turn it on, it does one normal beep, then a whirring sound like it's checking the RAM, then stops and does nothing and nothing ever comes up on the screen

Isn't this fun???????

The Muppet

Have you tried it with all drives disconnected to see if it gets any further?

Optikus

So now what ya doing a normal plug going into a spanish adaptor?? Maybe as soneone else previously suggested, the board is minced from the first time it was pluged in un-earthed, getting hold of a new board would probably be the best thing surley there is a near by PC store or perhaps a internet cafe where you can go and chat with someone abou this.

savemejebus

i didn't know ram made a whirring noise? could that be the hdd spinning up?

MrVestek

Aye that'd be the hard drive spinning up, ram doesn't actually make a noise. Ya could always find a pc shop and get them to check it out for you, i'm pretty sure the mobo is fecked tho from plugging it in unearthed the first time tho. Also the electricity system in spain although same voltages tends to be very different... 70-80% of sockets in a house or any given place are unearthed so be careful...

optikus-prime

jctheimpaler wrote:

It was, then I took the whole thing apart, put it back together again, and now I have an entirely new problem. Now, when I turn it on, it does one normal beep, then a whirring sound like it's checking the RAM, then stops and does nothing and nothing ever comes up on the screen

Maybe your video card is loose or damaged, would be cheaper to try than a new mobo.

Opt.

StRiKeR

you could try swtich it on without the vid card in it, see if that gives you a different beeps, if it does, that means your vid card is ok! mobo dont always die completely, in many cases it can go so far and stops! i've seen pc with mobo,hdds,all pci cards n psu got damaged before but cpu ram and dvd drives are ok! system still powers up and beeps once but doesnt post!

jctheimpaler

StRiKeR wrote:

you could try swtich it on without the vid card in it, see if that gives you a different beeps, if it does, that means your vid card is ok! mobo dont always die completely, in many cases it can go so far and stops! i've seen pc with mobo,hdds,all pci cards n psu got damaged before but cpu ram and dvd drives are ok! system still powers up and beeps once but doesnt post!

I have taken EVERYTHING out (CPU, RAM, graphics card, all drives) one by one and any time something's missing it gives me the relevant beep. It is, as you said, starting up and beeping but doing nothing. Should I buy a new mobo?
Also, someone said that RAM made no sound and it was the hard disk... I don't know what it is making the noise and maybe whirring is not the best way to describe it, but it's not the hard disk because I'm starting it up with my hand on the disk and if it was spinning I'd be able to feel it.

Optikus

It probably is that the board is fooked from the unearthed connection, getting a board is the new option byt it means reinstalling windows and everything dso back up your data.

jctheimpaler

But if I get the exact same board, surely I don't have to bother reinstalling the OS?
Does anyone know what the difference is between the NF7-S and the NF7 V2.0??

Optikus

jctheimpaler wrote:

But if I get the exact same board, surely I don't have to bother reinstalling the OS?
Does anyone know what the difference is between the NF7-S and the NF7 V2.0??

The NF7 rev2 is better then the NF7 s2.. yes if you get the same Mobo as previously had you will not have to reinstall windows. Try google if you want the specs on both boards.

jctheimpaler

Optikus wrote:

The NF7 rev2 is better then the NF7 s2.. yes if you get the same Mobo as previously had you will not have to reinstall windows. Try google if you want the specs on both boards.

Excaliber has a big warning on their site about buying the NF7-S:

By putting this item into your shopping cart, you have confirmed your acknowledgement on the potential risk of BIOS 'Data Loss' due to BIOS tweaking, or BIOS code string missing due to improper flashing as of the limitation of nForce2 chipset. As such, it is highly advisable for you to purchase this item along with our nForce2 (Deluxe) BIOS Survival Kit as a handy backup.

Does this mean that the BIOS is messed up on it or that it will become messed up if I start messing with it (so to speak)?

Optikus

This just basically means if you stress your BIOS setting too much or too frequently, it may just fails to write data completely back into BIOS and cause data loss. But alot of people have purchased this board knowing about the problem and have been ok, i wouldn't recommend the purchase of this if you are thinking of OCing or if your knowledge of PC's isnt great.

kmb

Hi.Okay this is what i would do and have done many times troubleshooting sytems:
1:Only have m/board ,cpu,memoory and graphics card in.Nothing else.If this fails then try new psu.
2:If still in trouble and no beep codes then cpu is faulty or motherboard as ram and graphics card gives beeps.
3:You need either cpu or mptherboard for trial or error test.
Your lights at front are dependent on which wires you put onto motherboard and your hdd one is on the ide which will give you on off reaction not totally on.If it stays on then you have put it onto the power led.

jctheimpaler

Optikus wrote:

This just basically means if you stress your BIOS setting too much or too frequently, it may just fails to write data completely back into BIOS and cause data loss. But alot of people have purchased this board knowing about the problem and have been ok, i wouldn't recommend the purchase of this if you are thinking of OCing or if your knowledge of PC's isnt great.

I was actually thinking of OCing. I'm running an XP2500 at 3200 (and by that I mean I was, back in the day when I had a working computer), but it's pretty stable and would only require me to change the BIOS once. As for my knowledge of PCs, it isn't amazing hardware-wise, but I'm learning. I'll be taking a specialised course next semester on PC hardware. My expertise is more in the programming side of things, but I've managed to assemble and run about 5 PCs and this is my first major hiccup.

kmb wrote:

Hi.Okay this is what i would do and have done many times troubleshooting sytems:
1:Only have m/board ,cpu,memoory and graphics card in.Nothing else.If this fails then try new psu.
2:If still in trouble and no beep codes then cpu is faulty or motherboard as ram and graphics card gives beeps.
3:You need either cpu or mptherboard for trial or error test.
Your lights at front are dependent on which wires you put onto motherboard and your hdd one is on the ide which will give you on off reaction not totally on.If it stays on then you have put it onto the power led.

1. Tried that!
2. This is where I am now
3. I don't have any spares with me. I just moved to Spain!
As for the wires and all, I know how they work and they are all plugged into the right places. Before the HDD was staying on all the time, which I thought was strange and is why I mentioned it. It seems to have stopped that since I took the motherboard out enitrely

Optikus

You must be really pissed, i was living in Gran Canaria and apart from going out and getting pissed its really boring at home, nothing on TV unless you have Sky digital and cos you have a PC in front of you and it wont work its must be head wrecking. TBH it sounds like it is a Mobo prob, so you should be looking in to getting a replacment ASAP.

jctheimpaler

Optikus wrote:

You must be really pissed, i was living in Gran Canaria and apart from going out and getting pissed its really boring at home, nothing on TV unless you have Sky digital and cos you have a PC in front of you and it wont work its must be head wrecking. TBH it sounds like it is a Mobo prob, so you should be looking in to getting a replacment ASAP.

I am very pissed quite frequently as a matter of fact. I was in a bar last night that was selling bottles of Heineken for 1 EURO!!! That's cheaper than a soft drink in Dublin. As for the PC not working being head-wrecking, it is. The only thing keeping me sane is the fact that the college here has a building with computers in it open 24/7, so I've set up camp here.
On a slightly different note, does anyone know anything about boosting a wireless signal? I'm living just opposite the college here and my flatmate sometimes picks up the wireless LAN on his laptop. If I bought a PCI wireless ethernet card, would it pick up the signal better than a laptop card or would I have to boost it with a cantenna or something?

MrVestek

Sure it's well known that Ireland is the rip off country of the world. Anyways dude i hate to say this but it's kind of your own fault. Maybe ask the guys in the college if you can borrow a motherboard for a night just to make sure that it's a faulty motherboard in your pc? Just a sugestion...