Boot Problem

[John Lettiere]

I recently up graded my system.

Added a new WD SATA 250GB HDD to two other WD hard drives (200 GB & 120GB
EIDE master/slave), and one gig of Corsair PC-3200 memory (2/512MB sticks)
to 2 gigs total.

My motherboard is an ABIT IC7-G with AWARD BIOs.

When I boot the system now; I get a beep that lasts 4 for second, and then
repeats.

According to the AWARD web site:

"The only AwardBIOS beep code indicates that a video error has occurred and
the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional
information. This beep code consists of a single long beep followed by two
short beeps. Any other beeps are probably a RAM (Random Access Memory)
problems".

But it's not a memory or video problem, as I tested both the memory and
video card (Leadtek GeForce 6600GT 128MB AGP) on two other systems with no
errors.

I got the system to boot once when I reset the BIOs. But once I turned the
system off, and rebooted the peep error returned.

My system is a P4-3.2GHz Prescott proc, 2 gigs (4/512MB) Corsair PC-3200
400MHz, 1 WD SATA 250GB, 1 WD 200GB EIDE, WD 120GB EIDE,
Lite-On DVD/RW/CD-RW, a SoundBlaster Audigy SE, and the above motioned
Leadtek video card.

If any one has any ideas as to what I may have missed, or am doing wrong, it
would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance;

 

[Alan]

you may consider thats:
some motherboards have fancy requirements about RAM,
mine does not support 3 sticks at once & 4 sticks if they are two sided (at
least 2 of them must be 1 sided)

--

--
Alan KAKAREKA
Data Recovery Services
Customer Service Manager
phone: 786-253-8286
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
http://www.247recovery.com
Miami, Florida, USA

 

[John]

I recently up graded my system.

Added a new WD SATA 250GB HDD to two other WD hard drives (200 GB &
120GB EIDE master/slave), and one gig of Corsair PC-3200 memory
(2/512MB sticks) to 2 gigs total.

My motherboard is an ABIT IC7-G with AWARD BIOs.

When I boot the system now; I get a beep that lasts 4 for second, and
then repeats.

According to the AWARD web site:

"The only AwardBIOS beep code indicates that a video error has
occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display
any additional information. This beep code consists of a single long
beep followed by two short beeps. Any other beeps are probably a RAM
(Random Access Memory) problems".

But it's not a memory or video problem, as I tested both the memory
and video card (Leadtek GeForce 6600GT 128MB AGP) on two other
systems with no errors.

I got the system to boot once when I reset the BIOs. But once I
turned the system off, and rebooted the peep error returned.

My system is a P4-3.2GHz Prescott proc, 2 gigs (4/512MB) Corsair
PC-3200 400MHz, 1 WD SATA 250GB, 1 WD 200GB EIDE, WD 120GB EIDE,
Lite-On DVD/RW/CD-RW, a SoundBlaster Audigy SE, and the above motioned
Leadtek video card.

If any one has any ideas as to what I may have missed, or am doing
wrong, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance;

Did you already have SATA or did you go from PATA to SATA? I ask because
the first time I installed a SATA I had a real bad read/write problem. If
you did all these upgrades at one time then this would be an example of why
one at a time might be a better idea? If not what was your last good
configuration?

J.

 

[RBM]

Another possibility may be the size of the power supply. I believe that
video card generally requires at least 350 watts

 

[John Lettiere]

you may consider thats:

some motherboards have fancy requirements about RAM,
mine does not support 3 sticks at once & 4 sticks if they are two sided
(at least 2 of them must be 1 sided)

The memory's all the same; all Corsair 512MB PC-3200 400 MHz DDR RAM total
of 4.

The original 2 sticks worked for about a year before I upgraded.

 

[badgolferman]

The memory's all the same; all Corsair 512MB PC-3200 400 MHz DDR RAM
total of 4.

The original 2 sticks worked for about a year before I upgraded.

I had an Intel board that only supported unregistered RAM. I don't
know if this applies in your case or not.

 

[John Lettiere]

Did you already have SATA or did you go from PATA to SATA?

No, it was part of the upgrade.

I ask because

the first time I installed a SATA I had a real bad read/write problem. If
you did all these upgrades at one time then this would be an example of
why one at a time might be a better idea?

The only problem I had with the new WD SATA drive happened when I did get
the system to boot that one time.

I formatted the new WD SATA drive, but when I tried to transfer some files
from one of the older EIDE drives, the transfer failed,
and the drive disappeared from the OS (WIN XP Pro).

I did a hot boot using the reset switch, and the drive came back.

If not what was your last good

configuration?

I've tried rebooting without the new SATA drive, only using the original
EIDE drives and I still get the peep error, so I doubt it's the drive
causing the trouble.


Thanks for your input John.

 

[John Lettiere]

Another possibility may be the size of the power supply. I believe that

video card generally requires at least 350 watts

I'm think it maybe the PSU also, but not for the same reason.

I using a Thermaltake 480 watt PSU now, and I'm thinking it maybe the
problem.

I noticed it was running quite hot, much hotter than normal the one time I
did get the system to boot.

I just ordered a new ENERMAX 485 watt PSU and will see if the PSU is the
trouble.

I don't know what else it could be at this point.

 

[Alan]

If your PSU is made in china, then divide wattage bt 2
--
Alan KAKAREKA
Data Recovery Services
Customer Service Manager
phone: 786-253-8286
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
http://www.247recovery.com
Miami, Florida, USA
---

 

[John Lettiere]

If your PSU is made in china, then divide wattage bt 2

--

What computer component isn't made in China, Taiwan, or Malaysia these days?

Though I can't say exactly where the new EnerMax PSU is made yet, there is
some writing in German on the PSUs spec label,
but I doubt it's made in Germany.

Thanks for the heads up on what to check on the PSU Alan.

 

[Bobo]

Reset BIOS to default then try booting with just
floppy , ram ,video, keyboard and mouse connected no hard drives.

 

[John Lettiere]

Reset BIOS to default then try booting with just

floppy , ram ,video, keyboard and mouse connected no hard drives.

I'll try that today, before I install the new PSU.

Thanks.

 

[John Lettiere]

I'm sorry for posting my reply so late but some times life gets in the way.

Anyway;

As it turned out the boot problem I had experienced was due to a bad PSU as
I first thought.

As soon as I installed the new PSU, my system came right back, no problems.

Thanks to all who replied for their assistance.