No BIOS beeps

[Thomas]

Hi,

I am trying to setup a former machine but am encountering some boot
problems.

The machine is a 800 Mhz Pentium 3 with an Asus CUSL2 motherboard and it
simply appears to refuse to boot - no POST beeps at all. The board
features a power LED which actually lights up upon connecting it to the
power supply - so I would assume missing power shouldnt be the case.
Upon booting the CPU fan starts to work as well.

I already disconnected all devices, removed the memory, switched the
video adapter but still do not get a single BIOS beep (neither ok nor
error). One thing I noticed, one of the video cards comes with its own
fan, which doesnt start to rotate upon booting however (I dont know
whether its the card or the board however).

Would anyone have an idea what it might be. Thanks very much.

 

[Grinder]

Hi,

I am trying to setup a former machine but am encountering some boot
problems.

The machine is a 800 Mhz Pentium 3 with an Asus CUSL2 motherboard and it
simply appears to refuse to boot - no POST beeps at all. The board
features a power LED which actually lights up upon connecting it to the
power supply - so I would assume missing power shouldnt be the case.
Upon booting the CPU fan starts to work as well.

I already disconnected all devices, removed the memory, switched the
video adapter but still do not get a single BIOS beep (neither ok nor
error). One thing I noticed, one of the video cards comes with its own
fan, which doesnt start to rotate upon booting however (I dont know
whether its the card or the board however).

Would anyone have an idea what it might be. Thanks very much.

Are all of the video adapters you've tried AGP? Try an old PCI (or
onboard) video adapter if you have one. I had the exact same symptoms
from a bad power supply. It apparently could not supply enough juice
for the AGP slot.

Also, a dead CMOS battery can create a variety of problems. Replace, or
just remove to see if that has any effect.

 

[Paul]

Are all of the video adapters you've tried AGP? Try an old PCI (or
onboard) video adapter if you have one. I had the exact same symptoms
from a bad power supply. It apparently could not supply enough juice
for the AGP slot.

Also, a dead CMOS battery can create a variety of problems. Replace, or
just remove to see if that has any effect.

You could also try removing the video card, and try running it
without video. The board is 815E GMCH, with VGA connector
on the back of the motherboard. So it has video built in and
doesn't need a video card present.

If you remove all RAM, and the processor is working, and the
processor is able to run BIOS code, you should get a beep pattern
for missing RAM. If it won't beep (and the speaker is known to be
good), try reseating the processor in the S370 socket.

I'd also check the BIOS chip socket (near PCI slot 5), and see
if the BIOS chip is still present.

BIOS chips have been known to develop bit errors, over long periods
of time. This is sometimes referred to as "bit rot". But it is not
going to be easy to fix, unless you have another CUSL2 handy to use
for testing of the BIOS chip (swap them).

Paul

 

[Thomas]

Are all of the video adapters you've tried AGP? Try an old PCI (or
onboard) video adapter if you have one. I had the exact same symptoms
from a bad power supply. It apparently could not supply enough juice
for the AGP slot.

Thanks, I already thought of this possibility but unfortunately I am
only having AGP adapters at the moment.

Also, a dead CMOS battery can create a variety of problems. Replace, or
just remove to see if that has any effect.

The battery actually is empty, but replacing it with a working one didnt
change anything.

Thanks again Grinder.

 

[Thomas]

You could also try removing the video card, and try running it
without video. The board is 815E GMCH, with VGA connector
on the back of the motherboard. So it has video built in and
doesn't need a video card present.

Thank you Paul, I didnt even notice this until now but unfortunately
it didnt make any difference.

If you remove all RAM, and the processor is working, and the
processor is able to run BIOS code, you should get a beep pattern
for missing RAM. If it won't beep (and the speaker is known to be
good), try reseating the processor in the S370 socket.

Well, I didnt use the machine for quite a while but IIRC the speaker
worked properly the last time. As to the processor, I reseated it twice
meanwhile and - although, due to lacking testing, I cant be fully sure -
I'd assume it is working (at least I cant notice any obvious damages).

I'd also check the BIOS chip socket (near PCI slot 5), and see
if the BIOS chip is still present.

BIOS chips have been known to develop bit errors, over long periods
of time. This is sometimes referred to as "bit rot". But it is not
going to be easy to fix, unless you have another CUSL2 handy to use
for testing of the BIOS chip (swap them).

Unfortunately I neither have another CUSL2 nor would I have the
experience to solder out the chip.

Paul

Thank you very much again Paul.

 

[Thomas]

Are all of the video adapters you've tried AGP? Try an old PCI (or
onboard) video adapter if you have one. I had the exact same symptoms
from a bad power supply. It apparently could not supply enough juice
for the AGP slot.

I cant say whether it was actually the AGP card (as it didnt work either
with the internal one) but it seems the power supply is the actual
reason. I just tried another one and the machine could boot - at least
up until POST as there is currently no OS installed.

Thanks again.

 

[Grinder]

I cant say whether it was actually the AGP card (as it didnt work either
with the internal one) but it seems the power supply is the actual
reason. I just tried another one and the machine could boot - at least
up until POST as there is currently no OS installed.

Thanks again.

I happy to hear you've found the problem at the expense of only one
fistful of hair.

 

[Thomas]

I happy to hear you've found the problem at the expense of only one
fistful of hair.

Thanks, I hope it will remain a fistful only