Screen went blank followed by beeps

quad_red

Appreciate all input here.

Turned on pc this morning, everything working fine. Screen then goes blank, the led on the front of the workstation starts flashing red, and the tower starts beeping.

The code is five beeps followed by a pause.

According to the HP website, five beeps means a PCI card has become unseated. But the pc has no PCI cards installed!

I've opened it up, checked the ram hasn't come lose and that all cables are still attached etc.

Any advice over what to do next?

(It's a HP DX6100 btw)

Thanks.

quad_red

Right, found the following on the HP Site:

Problem:
Blank screen and the
power LED flashes Red five
times, once every second,
followed by a two second
pause, and the computer
beeps five times.

Cause:Pre-video memory error.

Solution: 1. Reseat DIMMs. Power on the
system.
2. Replace DIMMs one at a time to
isolate the faulty module.
3. Replace third-party memory
with HP memory.
4. Replace the system board.

Have tried reseating the DIMMs, one at a time.

No luck.

Black_Knight

I was gonna say its your Graphics card not seated properly.... but seeing as there is none...

Could be something wrong with your graphics port (broken). Thats not really helpful though.

quad_red

Black_Knight wrote: »

I was gonna say its your Graphics card not seated properly.... but seeing as there is none...

Could be something wrong with your graphics port (broken). Thats not really helpful though.

Hey Black Knight,

I got a temporary reprieve there. I took the ram out totally and replaced it, checking all the cables and plugs I could find. Voila! Back in business. Booted up and in to windows, no problem.

However, two minutes later the screen froze and the image became sort of, well, green tinged with some interference.

It's dead in the water again.

I don't have any spare ram of the same type to test with and I can't go out and buy ram only to find out that it's not the RAM at all.

Black_Knight

what ram is it your using?

quad_red

It's two 256mb sticks of PC3200 RAM made by Elpida. It's the RAM that's been in it since it was bought a few years ago. Never been touched.

Took out RAM to check what sort it was, put it back in and turned it on.

And it's back on again. Typing this on it. Went into the device manager and everything seems fine. The integrated intel graphics appear to be working fine. Windows can see all the RAM.

Any advice on what checks to perform in case/when it kicks the bucket again?

Black_Knight

How many pin do ya know, 184, 240??? I might have a spare 1 or 2 sticks. Prob wouldnt be able to get my hands on them until next weekend though.

quad_red

Black_Knight wrote: »

How many pin do ya know, 184, 240??? I might have a spare 1 or 2 sticks. Prob wouldnt be able to get my hands on them until next weekend though.

Hey BK,

That'd be well above and beyond the call of duty!

Do you still think it's RAM if it's working now? Surely RAM is either FUBARed or fine?

Black_Knight

quad_red wrote: »

Hey BK,

That'd be well above and beyond the call of duty!

Do you still think it's RAM if it's working now? Surely RAM is either FUBARed or fine?

It would probably say the # of pins on the ram itself.

If it worked for a bit and then died id only assume the ram is working. But not seated propperly. Sometimes when putting in ram the motherboard will bend and maybe the middle contacts of the ram arnt contacting properly. Try putting in the ram with your fingers under the position of the motherboard where the ram goes whilst putting in the ram. If that makes sense... Basically, support under the ram slot on the motherboard with your fingers.

Im only guessing at the moment, if its not a seating problem and you have tried the sticks of ram individually, then im not sure.

Originally I was thinking GFX card problem because its happended to me before. But if your graphics are onboard, and fiddling with the ram worked for a bit, It leads to a problem with the ram. Id try some different sticks of ram if you could get any. Even just to test that variable.

quad_red

Black_Knight wrote: »

Try putting in the ram with your fingers under the position of the motherboard where the ram goes whilst putting in the ram. If that makes sense... Basically, support under the ram slot on the motherboard with your fingers.

Unfortunately, the inside of the case looks like an explosion in a wire factory, so that wouldn't be an option. Too much clutter.

But the pcs been up and running perfectly now for night on 3 hours. I'd say the ram just wasn't fully flush with the connections or something.

Appreciate the help BK.

Black_Knight

Ah, sure there ya go so. Fingers crossed for ya anyways. Little bumps n knocks can sometimes just do enough to unsettle your ram.
Best of luck with it.
BK

quad_red

Black_Knight wrote: »

Ah, sure there ya go so. Fingers crossed for ya anyways. Little bumps n knocks can sometimes just do enough to unsettle your ram.
Best of luck with it.
BK

Cheers mate