BIOS Beeps, XP Refuses to Load

[M]

AMD K5 500Mhz Processor, American Mega Trends BIOS, Windows 98SE & XP Pro
(dual boot).
I have a dual boot PC that refuses to boot into Windows XP but boots Windows
98SE OK. The dual boot arrangement has run fine for months and I don't
believe that it is part of the problem as I have used the same arrangement
on several machines without any problems.
When the PC starts it gives three short beeps. This apparently means 'Base
64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory'
which would seem to indicate bad RAM. The PC had two sticks, I have tried
each stick alone and it does not make a difference.
It then boots normally if I choose Windows 98SE, but if I choose XP, just
before the logon screen appears it spontaneously reboots. It will however
boot into safe mode with several 'Stack overflow' error messages.
I have tried reinstalling Service Pack 2 in the hope that it will overwrite
any damaged files but while setup it is inspecting hardware it stops with an
error message 'Internal Error Occurred'. I have checked the knowledge base
but the only article there refers to PCs that are members of a domain. This
PC is stand alone and has never been overclocked and according to the BIOS
readings is not overheating.
I would appreciate any advice.

 

[Guest]

Try purchasing a new ram stick,if it ends the problem great,if not it can
be returned,maybe its the board.You might try,shutdown,power off,pull the
battery out for 60 seconds,then re-install it,start computer,you'll have to
enter
the BIOS to reset the configuration.Thiers usually a jumper on the board that
clears the BIOS,youd set from 1-2 position to 2-3 for 15 seconds,then put
jumper
back to 1-2 position,however the battery trick usually does it.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

AMD K5 500Mhz Processor, American Mega Trends BIOS, Windows 98SE & XP Pro
(dual boot).
I have a dual boot PC that refuses to boot into Windows XP but boots Windows
98SE OK. The dual boot arrangement has run fine for months and I don't
believe that it is part of the problem as I have used the same arrangement
on several machines without any problems.
When the PC starts it gives three short beeps. This apparently means 'Base
64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory'
which would seem to indicate bad RAM. The PC had two sticks, I have tried
each stick alone and it does not make a difference.
It then boots normally if I choose Windows 98SE, but if I choose XP, just
before the logon screen appears it spontaneously reboots. It will however
boot into safe mode with several 'Stack overflow' error messages.
I have tried reinstalling Service Pack 2 in the hope that it will overwrite
any damaged files but while setup it is inspecting hardware it stops with an
error message 'Internal Error Occurred'. I have checked the knowledge base
but the only article there refers to PCs that are members of a domain. This
PC is stand alone and has never been overclocked and according to the BIOS
readings is not overheating.
I would appreciate any advice.

Replace the defective motherboard. You apparantly have a defective RAM
socket that's causing the RAM POST failures. A computer component's
working with Win9x/Me is absolutely _no_ indication that it will work
with WinXP. Computer components designed for use with Win9x/Me very
often fail to meet WinXP's much more stringent hardware quality
requirements. In particular, WinXP is quite sensitive to borderline
defective motherboards, RAM, and hard drives that may have seemed to
have worked fine with Win9x/Me.


--

Bruce Chambers

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