two short beeps

[zanigal]

Hello, Lately, when i have been turning on my computer, i hear tw
short beeps and then the blue/white HP INVENT screen shows up an
then i get a black screen that says, SYSTEM DISK BOOT FAILURE, PLEAS
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER -- i would turn off the compute
and then turn it back on, and then i hear the floppy drive runnin
and then it shows Windows XP booting up. But the past few times
have had to turn off the computer about 3 times before i could get i
working... is this something seriously wrong with my computer? O
could it be a video card? Thank you so much for the advice

 

[Jan Alter]

With that error it would usually have something to do with the hard disk not
cooperating or there may be a corrupted file (s). To help reassure that
things are in order on the hardware front find out who made the hard disk
for your computer and then go to the manufacturer's website support section
and download the diagnostic tools file. Run the program to see if the hard
disk is displaying any errors.
If that turns out alright then you may want to run a program from XP
called 'chkdsk' (without the apostrophe marks). Windows may tell you that
it can't run from the current boot up and that it will run from the next
time you start; so don't be dismayed if you see that message.
The last thing I'd suggest is that you get into a routine of backing up
your important data files on a very regular basis if you aren't doing that
already. Think of running a computer as you are driving a car. Would you
drive without a spare tire? What would you do if suddenly your hard drive
did die and you could not get it going again? You'd have the inconvenience
of having to reinstall Windows, device drivers, and programs, and you'd have
your important files that you'd spent hours creating still intact on the
backup as long as you did back up.

 

[jaster]

Hello, Lately, when i have been turning on my computer, i hear two short
beeps and then the blue/white HP INVENT screen shows up and then i get a
black screen that says, "SYSTEM DISK BOOT FAILURE, PLEASE
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER -- i would turn off the computer and
then turn it back on, and then i hear the floppy drive running and then
it shows Windows XP booting up. But the past few times i have had to
turn off the computer about 3 times before i could get it working... is
this something seriously wrong with my computer? Or could it be a video
card? Thank you so much for the advice.

Beeps are indications of system board errors, pre-OS loading. In your
case most likely memory failure. If the pc turns on every time but
sometimes just the HP splash screen its probably memory. Second uncommon
cause is psu failure.

Google for, download and run memtest86 a free bootable floppy utility to
test memory or download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD which has memtest as
one of the utilities.

Also, since you have an HP/Compaq try the HP support center which may have
more information, ie,
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&docname=bph01686&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

If the PC booted without the beeps to "SYSTEM DISK BOOT FAILURE" I'd
think HD problem.

 

[Davy]

You can of course try another HDD or try the suspected one in another
computer.

I had a similar problem with the one I built which uses a Gigabyte
7VAXP mobo, "can not find disc" HDD just would not boot at
all it would spin OK, had the bios peep and everything in the bios
was set OK apart from the 5V 30A rail, this was down to 4.3V, clock
OK etc, still it wouldn't boot from the HDD.

Was same with another HDD "can not find disc", was all I
got, mind you I didn't get any error codes.

Turned out to be the bios just wanted a re-boot, the next day I got a
new bios battery as the original was down to 2.5V read on a digital
meter, after a reboot the 5V rail returned to normal and being the
only clue.

Davy