blank screen and motherboard beep

[WSFuser]

My computer:

Thermaltake 430W PSU
Chaintech 7NIF2
Athlon XP 2400
2 x 256 pc2100
80GB Western Digital
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

Situation:

I just replaced the chipset cooler with a Zalman NB47J and when I assembled the computer back together, I just got a 4 second beep that repeats and the monitor was blank. No BIOS screen or anything.

Heres what Ive tried so far:

*I thought it was because of a misconfiguration of the front panel connector, so I looked up the manual and put the cables as they should be. I tried various configurations with no luck.

*I tried clearing the CMOS and also taking out the battery.

*I disconnected/removed any cards or disks, just leaving the motherboard, fans, and memory.

*I tried booting with each ram stick individually and also put them in opposite slots.

*I connected the monitor to the integrated graphics instead of my ATI card.

My dad thinks its possibly fault of the Zalman heatsink. Should I try putting back the previous cooler?

Any other suggestions?

P.S. I dont think the PSU is at fault. Its fairly new and should provide enough power.

[lodore]

what type of bios does it have?
phoenix? award? ami?
if you know what type of bios it has you can search for for example phoenix beep codes in to google and find out what the beeps mean.

make sure the cooler is seated properly. but also make sure to find out or remember what bios type is to so you can search for the beep codes.

normaly if you have tryed with the minimum stuff needed to boot then its eiether the motherboard or PSU.

[WSFuser]

The BIOS is Phoenix-Award. I dont know where to find the beep codes for it though; I usually just see Phoenix or Award.

[^Ale]

WSFuser this is what I found:

- one long and three short beep = video card fault
- long repeated beep = memory fault
- short repeated beep = PSU or mainboard fault
- continuous low and high beep = CPU overheating

Hope it helps

^Ale

[markymoo]

Try no mouse or USB etc except video. It's a longshot try blowing,blasting some air into the RAM sockets. On dusty or not motherboards it's prevented the RAM making a good connect failing to post.

Pull out all the memory and m/b cables and power it on. Does it continously beep if you do?

It wont be the PSU as it beeping.

It might be the motherboard...I hope not

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes

the '-' indicates a brief pause between beeps.

1 - 1 - 2 CPU / motherboard failure Bad CPU / motherboard
1 - 1 - 3 CMOS read/write failure Bad motherboard
1 - 1 - 4 BIOS ROM failure Bad BIOS chip
1 - 2 - 1 Timer failure Bad motherboard
1 - 2 - 2 DMA failure Bad motherboard
1 - 2 - 3 DMA failure Bad motherboard
1 - 3 - 1 Memory refresh failure Bad memory
1 - 3 - 2 64K memory failure Bad memory
1 - 3 - 3 64K memory failure Bad memory
1 - 3 - 4 64K memory failure Bad memory
1 - 4 - 1 Address line failure Bad memory
1 - 4 - 2 Parity error Bad memory
1 - 4 - 3 Timer failure Bad motherboard
1 - 4 - 4 NMI port failure Bad motherboard
2 - 1 - 1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 1 - 2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 1 - 3 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 1 - 4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 2 - 1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 2 - 2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 2 - 3 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 2 - 4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 3 - 1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 3 - 2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 3 - 3 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 3 - 4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 4 - 1 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 4 - 2 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 4 - 4 64K memory failure Bad memory
2 - 4 - 4 64K memory failure Bad memory
3 - 1 - 1 Slave DMA failure Bad motherboard
3 - 1 - 2 Master DMA failure Bad motherboard
3 - 1 - 3 Interrupt controller failure Bad motherboard
3 - 1 -4 Slave IC failure Bad motherboard
3 - 2 -2 Interrupt Controller failure Bad motherboard
3 - 2 - 3 <RESERVED>
3 - 2 - 4 Keyboard control failure Bad motherboard
3 - 3 - 1 CMOS batter failure Bad CMOS battery
3 - 3 - 2 CMOS configuration error Incorrect setting
3 - 3 - 3 <RESERVED>
3 - 3 - 4 Video memory failure Bad video card or memory
3 - 4 - 1 Video init failure Bad video card or memory
4 - 2 - 1 Timer failure Bad motherboard
4 - 2 - 2 CMOS shutdown failure Bad motherboard
4 - 2 - 3 Gate A20 failure Bad motherboard
4 - 2 - 4 Unexpected interrupt Bad processor
4 - 3 - 1 RAM test failure Bad memory
4 - 3 - 3 Timer failure Bad motherboard
4 - 3 - 4 RTC failure Bad motherboard
4 - 4 - 1 Serial port failure Bad motherboard
4 - 4 - 2 Parallel port failure Bad motherboard
4 - 4 - 3 Coprocessor failure Bad motherboard or CPU.
9 - 2 - 1 Video adapter incompatibility Use a different brand of video card

{QUOTE-> Award BIOS Beep Codes
Award BIOS uses beeps of varying duration. A long beep will typically last for 2 seconds while a short beep will last only 1 second. Award BIOS also uses beeps of different frequency to indicate critical errors. If an Award BIOS detects that the CPU is overheating it may play a high pitched repeating beep while the computer is running

1 Long, 2 Short Video adapter failure Bad video adapter
Repeating (Endless loop) Memory error Bad memory or bad connection
1 Long, 3 Short Video adapter failure Bad video adapter or memory
High freq. beeps (while running) CPU is overheating CPU fan failure
Repeating High, Low beeps CPU failure Bad processor <-QUOTE}

[markymoo]

@WSFuser

Any luck ?

Go by the AWARD BIOS codes for Phoenix-Award.


Times like this those POST Diagnostic cards come in pretty handy.

[WSFuser]

No luck but I found a mobo/cpu special at Fry's.

I hope I dont screw that mobo up :-\

[Ragzarok]

Hello,
Double check the seating of the components, particularly CPU and video card. This happens often when these components are not seated right.

[HAN]

{QUOTE-> Hello,
Double check the seating of the components, particularly CPU and video card. This happens often when these components are not seated right. <-QUOTE}

Agreed! I have a desktop at work that is VERY fussy about the video card position. When it's good, all is right with the world. When it's not, the PC refuses to boot...

[WSFuser]

Ive reseated the components various times but its not important anymore.

Ive successfully installed the new mobo and CPU :thumb:

[HAN]

Congrats! :D

[ccsito]

I wonder if this is a manufacturing defect? If a particular circuit pathway was not properly soldered on the circuit board, how would you be able to see it other than trying to power it on and running tests? The main question is if the manufacturing plant tested the item?

[markymoo]

Yes HAN good point. I have also found the back end of the graphics card is not pushed very firmly down it fail to POST. Certain cases make this problem worse. I was going to suggest trying the components out of the case, but you no need now. About the time of AGP graphic cards, companies sent out Pc's in mail and customers found there Pc wouldn't turn on. It was because of this same problem. The cards had lifted out in transit which they remedied now by fitting plastic hook that hangs off the PCI-E slot to hold it in place.

It seems Frys is a great place for bargains.