Beeping, won't post; What's my problem?

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SLiGuy

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 20, 2006
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So I have a really ancient rig.

AMD Athlon 2500+ XP
Shuttle AN35N Ultra
2x 512MB Kingston HyperX DDR400 PC3200
BFG 6800GS OC AGP/Inno3D 5700LE
Coolermaster RealPower RW-450W

A month ago my 6800GS started artifacting so I sent it in for RMA. When I got my replacement, I brain farted and forget to plug in the Molex, and when I booted up the computer started beeping. I quickly turned it off and plugged the Molex in, and it booted up, and I found that my new card was artifacting as well.

So I plug in my old video card (5700LE) to use while I'm in the RMA process, but the computer won't boot at all now. Sometimes it posts and then the screen goes black and it starts beeping again, and other times it won't post at all. At first I thought the beeping might have been because of the unplugged Molex for my 6800, but the 5700 doesn't need an external power source and it still beeps. I tried looking up beep codes for my motherboard but didn't find anything.

Anyone have any ideas what it is? I don't think it's the PSU, I only have 1 HD and 2 Opticals and 450W with 34A 12V+ should be plenty to run this setup. Nothing is overclocked either, except the 6800GS, which was factory OC'd of course.
 
It beeps once about 3-4 seconds. The beeps sound exactly alike, I've left it on for as long as a minute, they don't stop.
 
What bios is this? Phoenix-award? amibios? Once you figure that out, go search for "Bios Beeps" on google, find the right bios maker, and try to find your pattern.

Go try taking your memory out, or just keep one stick in. Could be a memory problem... You could also clear the bios.
 
SLiGuy said:
It beeps once about 3-4 seconds. The beeps sound exactly alike, I've left it on for as long as a minute, they don't stop.
Click to expand...

Aaahh - it's clear what the problem is. Your mobo is trying the reverse and that's the reverse beeping (like a truck) signal. Unfortunately the manufacturer didn't connect the engine and gearbox, so it's stuck in an endless loop of wanting to reverse :D

I would recommend intensive therapy, perhaps involving intermediate hypnotherapy sessions.

Sorry mate - I couldn't help myself :p

Make doubly sure everything is properly seated - that usually sorts it out. Remove everything non-essential - only insert the CPU, video card and RAM to see if you can get POST.
 
Either the PS or MB is fried. Try testing the PS first, if it powers up fine then it's the MB.
 
I removed one stick of RAM and it still beeped. I put that stick back in and then unplugged both DVD drives and now it posts and boots up fine.

I don't think those would be taking up too much power, 450W should be more than enough. My PSU came with a little display that shows how much wattage my computer is taking up and with everything plugged in it only stayed around 210-230W.

So is it the PSU that's bad? I'm confused here.
 
It could be a slight chance that one of the power connectors are causing a short, try putting both ram sticks in and leave the DVD drives connected, if it POSTs are normal then it's the molex connector thing. Also try without the sticks of ram with the DVD drives connected, it should beep a certain way (look in your manual to find out the cadence.)
 
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