a very strange thing happened tonight. a friend of mine came over today to use my computer , so i turned it on and left the room to let windows boot up. i came back in the room and noticed my monitor was blank (black screen). it had only been about 5min. since i had left the room and the monitor is set to go on low-power after 45min. i figured that maybe i had been gone longer than i imagined, so i tried moving the mouse around to turn it on. nothing i did seemed to work, so i hit the reset button. while the computer was booting up, i heard loud, long beeps. i was pretty freaked out at this point, so i turned the computer off without counting how many beeps i heard. i immediately unplugged everything and let it rest for about 20min. after 20min i powered up the computer and everything worked just fine. i was very relieved at this point and decided to run scandisk and defrag just for the hell of it. scandisk found no errors and defrag completed successfully, so i turned my computer off. i couldn't understand why this had happened because before my friend came over, i was using my computer without a single problem.
about 45min. after my friend had left, i decided to go online and post my problem. i turned on my computer and, to my amazement, heard those long, loud beeps again. i decided to count them this time, figuring they would give me a clue as to what the problem might be. after counting 20 beeps!! i couldn't take it any longer and turned the damn thing off. i took it into my work area and took the cover off to have a look inside. i plugged the computer into a VERY old dell monitor to see if the monitor would have the same problems but it didn't, the computer booted up just fine. i re-seated the graphics card and dusted out the case. i then plugged my usual monitor into the system and booted up expecting to be greeted with the awful beeping noise again, but no, this time it worked!! i have successfully booted up 4 or 5 times now with the monitor and haven't had any problems so far (knock on wood)
you are probably wondering why i'm so worried if everything seems to be working okay now, but i just can't accept the fact that all it took to correct my problem was reseating the card and dusting the case. i have a feeling there is more to it than that. does anybody have any suggestions what might be wrong here? i just can't sleep at night wondering if the next time i turn on my computer i could have the same problems.
I built this computer myself about 2 months and all parts were brand new when i bought them. here are the system specs:
-17inch viewsonic A75s monitor -M64 TNT2 32MB video card -128 MEG PC100 SDRAM -Abit BX6-Rev2.0 MB -Antec 250WATT ps and case -Celeron 400MHz (not overclocked) -Running Windows 98 (first edition)
...ummm i think that is all you need to know. if you need any other information, let me know.
thank you soooo much in advance for suggestions, matt
beeping without stoping could mean a bad power supply. i looked in a book i have and that is what it listed. but i also have seen video do this too. On Tue, 4 Jan 2000 02:30:18 -0500, "Ace" <ECruffry...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>a very strange thing happened tonight. a friend of mine came over today to >use my computer , so i turned it on and left the room to let windows boot >up. i came back in the room and noticed my monitor was blank (black screen). >it had only been about 5min. since i had left the room and the monitor is >set to go on low-power after 45min. i figured that maybe i had been gone >longer than i imagined, so i tried moving the mouse around to turn it on. >nothing i did seemed to work, so i hit the reset button. while the computer >was booting up, i heard loud, long beeps. i was pretty freaked out at this >point, so i turned the computer off without counting how many beeps i heard. >i immediately unplugged everything and let it rest for about 20min. after >20min i powered up the computer and everything worked just fine. i was very >relieved at this point and decided to run scandisk and defrag just for the >hell of it. scandisk found no errors and defrag completed successfully, so i >turned my computer off. i couldn't understand why this had happened because >before my friend came over, i was using my computer without a single >problem.
>about 45min. after my friend had left, i decided to go online and post my >problem. i turned on my computer and, to my amazement, heard those long, >loud beeps again. i decided to count them this time, figuring they would >give me a clue as to what the problem might be. after counting 20 beeps!! i >couldn't take it any longer and turned the damn thing off. i took it into my >work area and took the cover off to have a look inside. i plugged the >computer into a VERY old dell monitor to see if the monitor would have the >same problems but it didn't, the computer booted up just fine. i re-seated >the graphics card and dusted out the case. i then plugged my usual monitor >into the system and booted up expecting to be greeted with the awful beeping >noise again, but no, this time it worked!! i have successfully booted up 4 >or 5 times now with the monitor and haven't had any problems so far (knock >on wood)
>you are probably wondering why i'm so worried if everything seems to be >working okay now, but i just can't accept the fact that all it took to >correct my problem was reseating the card and dusting the case. i have a >feeling there is more to it than that. does anybody have any suggestions >what might be wrong here? i just can't sleep at night wondering if the next >time i turn on my computer i could have the same problems.
>I built this computer myself about 2 months and all parts were brand new >when i bought them. here are the system specs:
>-17inch viewsonic A75s monitor >-M64 TNT2 32MB video card >-128 MEG PC100 SDRAM >-Abit BX6-Rev2.0 MB >-Antec 250WATT ps and case >-Celeron 400MHz (not overclocked) >-Running Windows 98 (first edition)
>...ummm i think that is all you need to know. if you need any other >information, let me know.
>thank you soooo much in advance for suggestions, >matt
By you diskription it is not possible to solve your problem, since it could be almost anything: As said before, it might be the power supply. But to give you an example, what possible causes have to be taken into concieration: I had a running system, changed the old moitor for a new one and the trouble started: random lockups or resets and lockups with certain video-apps, changed back to old monitor: no problem. exchanged the grafik card, put in an old one: no problem with both monitors. Aha - defekt grafik card! Replaced it: problems were still there with new monitor. To make it short: it turned out that DDC-pin (Direct Data Channel) of the VGA cable was bend and touching ground. Since neither old grafik cards nor old monitors use this pin the problem only occured with the combination of the new devices and than only if an application used the DDC. Took 6 weeks to find out. What I'm trying to say: your problem can have almost any cause: power supply, mobo shorted, overheated grafik-chip, wrong Bios-settings (latency, AGP-divider, etc.), loose cable and so on. You need to find out exactly, under what circumstances this error occures. Than you might be able to get more specific help. Jörg
I have had bad KEYBOARDS cause the uncontrollable beeping you describe. Sometimes a stuck (dirt, coffee, coke, etc) key, a couple of blown fuses on the mother board (older MB's), etc. Be sure that your keyboard is solid before you go chasing a "monitor" problem that doesn't exist - and I doubt it is the monitor.
In article <84s7g8$lp...@bob.news.rcn.net>, ECruffry...@hotmail.com says...
> a very strange thing happened tonight. a friend of mine came over today to > use my computer , so i turned it on and left the room to let windows boot > up. i came back in the room and noticed my monitor was blank (black screen). > it had only been about 5min. since i had left the room and the monitor is > set to go on low-power after 45min. i figured that maybe i had been gone > longer than i imagined, so i tried moving the mouse around to turn it on. > nothing i did seemed to work, so i hit the reset button. while the computer > was booting up, i heard loud, long beeps. i was pretty freaked out at this > point, so i turned the computer off without counting how many beeps i heard. > i immediately unplugged everything and let it rest for about 20min. after > 20min i powered up the computer and everything worked just fine. i was very > relieved at this point and decided to run scandisk and defrag just for the > hell of it. scandisk found no errors and defrag completed successfully, so i > turned my computer off. i couldn't understand why this had happened because > before my friend came over, i was using my computer without a single > problem.
> about 45min. after my friend had left, i decided to go online and post my > problem. i turned on my computer and, to my amazement, heard those long, > loud beeps again. i decided to count them this time, figuring they would > give me a clue as to what the problem might be. after counting 20 beeps!! i > couldn't take it any longer and turned the damn thing off. i took it into my > work area and took the cover off to have a look inside. i plugged the > computer into a VERY old dell monitor to see if the monitor would have the > same problems but it didn't, the computer booted up just fine. i re-seated > the graphics card and dusted out the case. i then plugged my usual monitor > into the system and booted up expecting to be greeted with the awful beeping > noise again, but no, this time it worked!! i have successfully booted up 4 > or 5 times now with the monitor and haven't had any problems so far (knock > on wood)
> you are probably wondering why i'm so worried if everything seems to be > working okay now, but i just can't accept the fact that all it took to > correct my problem was reseating the card and dusting the case. i have a > feeling there is more to it than that. does anybody have any suggestions > what might be wrong here? i just can't sleep at night wondering if the next > time i turn on my computer i could have the same problems.
> I built this computer myself about 2 months and all parts were brand new > when i bought them. here are the system specs:
> -17inch viewsonic A75s monitor > -M64 TNT2 32MB video card > -128 MEG PC100 SDRAM > -Abit BX6-Rev2.0 MB > -Antec 250WATT ps and case > -Celeron 400MHz (not overclocked) > -Running Windows 98 (first edition)
> ...ummm i think that is all you need to know. if you need any other
From everything you've said, the problem was probably the video card which had begun to work its way out of the slot. Continuous long beeps usually means bad or badly seated CPU, RAM or video card. By re-seating the video card, you probably fixed the problem.
> a very strange thing happened tonight. a friend of mine came over today to > use my computer , so i turned it on and left the room to let windows boot > up. i came back in the room and noticed my monitor was blank (black
AGP cards are notorious for wiggling themselves loose. The double-row pin design is at fault. If reseating the AGP card firmly has fixed the problem, that's probably your culprit. I used to build over 50 systems a day for a commercial computer manufacturer, and when AGP first came out, it drove us nuts. We'd get the systems up and running, and drive them to our client's location in the van, and when they got there, half of them would have constant beeps and no video until we opened the case and reseated the video cards! Intel was definitely not thinking about idiot-resistance when they designed the AGP slot.
> AGP cards are notorious for wiggling themselves loose. The double-row pin > design is at fault. If reseating the AGP card firmly has fixed the problem, > that's probably your culprit. I used to build over 50 systems a day for a > commercial computer manufacturer, and when AGP first came out, it drove us > nuts. We'd get the systems up and running, and drive them to our client's > location in the van, and when they got there, half of them would have > constant beeps and no video until we opened the case and reseated the video > cards! Intel was definitely not thinking about idiot-resistance when they > designed the AGP slot.
...or transit vibrations, or normal thermal expansion/contraction...
I'm really glad you posted this message; it confirms my personal experience (on a much smaller sample). :-)
