Primarygun Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 I spent nearly one hour to boot up my computer after I turned off the power plug. I heard two sound from my computer, first is two long , second one is three long. What's the matter? I hope someone can help me, give me treasure advice.
Kedas Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 what sounds do you have when you start it up then look if you find the answer in this table: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
5614 Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 i have different lights on my computer when this kinda problem occurs although this is obviously the same thing. it'll be a hardware error and it basically means your in deep trouble! it'll normally mean that some hardware is not responding at all. this'll be because it is loose or it is not properly installed. if you recently opened your computer i'd say that something might have come lose. if you recently installed new hardware i'd say it was that.
JaKiri Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 what sounds do you have when you start it up then look if you find the answer in this table:http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm Even the link itself says that it isn't to be relied upon, because that's the beep codes for one specific mobo manufacturer. To find out the answer, op, you must check your mobo's manual.
Dave Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 I spent nearly one hour to boot up my computer after I turned off the power plug. I heard two sound from my computer, first is two long , second one is three long. What's the matter? I hope someone can help me, give me treasure advice. That sounds like a hardware problem. When you turned it off at the wall, it probably struck one of the components in there as quite a surprise, so something's borked (seriously). But as Jakiri said, you need to check your mobo manual for the sound code.
5614 Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 When you turned it off at the wall, it probably struck one of the components in there as quite a surprise, so something's borked (seriously). i didnt know people STILL did that... you all know (or do now!) that it is very bad for a computer to be turned off directly by the mains or by holding down the power switch until it shuts down... you should turn it off using the proper shut down menu, which for windows is in the start menu... on an OLD machine i had to just quit windows to DOS from where i could safely press the power button (but that was a 10 year old exception). Primarygun, look in your comp's manual and tell us what it says the beepy noise means and we can help ya as to how to fix it.
JaKiri Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 i didnt know people STILL did that... you all know (or do now!) that it is very bad for a computer to be turned off directly by the mains or by holding down the power switch until it shuts down... you should turn it off using the proper shut down menu, which for windows is in the start menu... on an OLD machine i had to just quit windows to DOS from where i could safely press the power button (but that was a 10 year old exception). It doesn't actually matter as much any more. NTFS is less likely to become fragmented, and Windows XP is exceptionally stable. I've had to do a physical shutdown many times over many PC's since the two mentioned features became common, and there has been no obvious detriment to the running of any of them.
5614 Posted December 29, 2004 Posted December 29, 2004 im not saying it is a terrible thing which must never be done... im merely saying that in the long run it is a bad risk and it is not recommended reguarly doing what you'd call a 'physical shutdown' as it can cause hardware faults. as dave suggested, this is obviously a hardware fault, however what and why we dont yet know, however dave suggested that it could be a results of a 'physical shutdown' which made me type my last post. at the same time i totaly agree with your statement: "It doesn't actually matter as much any more."... indeed it doesnt matter AS MUCH, however it can still in the long run lead to possible hardware strain which can result in the inevitable failure of hardware, as uncommon and rare as these are they DO happen and using proper shutdown methods can reduce the (already small) possibilty of hardware breakdown.
Primarygun Posted December 30, 2004 Author Posted December 30, 2004 My BIOS is up-to-date, so I don't think it is the source of the problem. Thank you anyway. I turned down my computer properly and I dislike the noise from the computer, so I switched off the power plug. In the past, it will still operate properly after that, but in the recent months, I don't know what errors have come out.
5614 Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 having an up-to-date BIOS is no way of saying it is not broken... however it is an ICC (intergrated circuit chip, you know those black things in circuits) so its kinda hard to tell if it is not working. as JaKiri pointed out, it is unlikely but still possible the physical shutdownshas damaged something. what does your computer manual say the meaning of the beeps are? if you turn your computer on, what happens exactly in order? (i wanna know everything that you see/hear) also i was once told from a kinda 50/50 reliable source that there are viruses which can screw up your BIOS and that if it got into your system the only thing you could do was replace your BIOS chip inside your computer, however, apparently that was an old virus and may not still be around... also as i said it was not the most reliable source! how a virus can destroy hardware (BIOS chip) i dont know, i could see it re-writting the BIOS, but that wouldnt ruin your computer, youd just have to go and change it back because in the BIOS it is a hardware mainframe if you like, the user can edit little things like booting order... a virus could change that, but then you just change it back.. but whatever i dont know about that last part!
JaKiri Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 A BIOS virus could easily destroy things; change the voltage settings of different components, for example.
5614 Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 but do you know if a BIOS virus exists? The CIH virus, also known as Chernobyl http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/cih.html caused possibble damage to CMOS, but only effects windows 95, 98, Me and NONE others and is therefore classified as out of date and no longer really seen anywhere and could possibly be out of circulation entirely. there is a lot of mentions about BIOS 'locks' and BIOS virus protection, however i can find no mention of a still-active BIOS virus.
JaKiri Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 Frankly, not knowing if one exists is worse than knowing you're protected against one that does.
5614 Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 well the thing is that there (from doing loads of google searches) was obviously a big scare about BIOS viruses, there's a lot of articles about BIOS virus protection and BIOS lock mechanisms, however NOWHERE can i find a mention of the dreaded BIOS virus... hence i suspect it of being a scare and not a reality... does anyone know?
Primarygun Posted December 31, 2004 Author Posted December 31, 2004 Shall I reinstall the BIOS again? I have downloaded one.
JaKiri Posted December 31, 2004 Posted December 31, 2004 Shall I reinstall the BIOS again? I have downloaded one. It's almost certainly a physical error. And how are you going to install the BIOS if the computer doesn't start up?
Primarygun Posted December 31, 2004 Author Posted December 31, 2004 What should I do? When I press F11 to look in the BIOS,my computer reboots and wastes me a lot of time.
JaKiri Posted December 31, 2004 Posted December 31, 2004 It's very difficult to diagnose a computer remotely, and even more difficult to treat it. See if you can get a local computer shop to take a look at it: they can test things you can't (individual components, mostly).
5614 Posted December 31, 2004 Posted December 31, 2004 indeed it is... just outta interest, primarygun, do you now KNOW that it is the BIOS which is dodgy?, i mean we were talking about it, however unless you know that's your problem dont go making random assumptions!!! also how did you manage to download a BIOS from a computer which wont start (or did you use another one?) and how are you going to instal it on a computer which wont start? what operating system do you have? (asking so i know about boot disks and reinstallation methods)
JaKiri Posted December 31, 2004 Posted December 31, 2004 Well, it's fairly clear he has access to another computer, otherwise he wouldn't be able to post here.
Primarygun Posted January 2, 2005 Author Posted January 2, 2005 System:Window XP. CPU:Intel Pentium 4 Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D845BG Hard Desk: Maxtor 6E040L0 I checked the BIOS even log. There are two remarkable notes: 1. Keyboard not functional 2.Memory size decrease How to solve these problems?
5614 Posted January 2, 2005 Posted January 2, 2005 well memory size decrease suggests that you have more than one RAM stick and that one of them has failed... although this shouldn't cause this kinda problem as your computer should boot up with less RAM... unless all your RAM has failed, which i've never heard of and possibly something like this could happen (although i dont know). keyboard not functioning could be a hardware problem or a software problem, although taking into account you have a hardware prob at the moment it could be hardware related. id advise you to unplug your computer from the mains and then look around inside it for any lose components or anything which has snapped in half or something. have you got service pack 2 for windows XP? have you ever upgraded your computer's hardware? what was the last few things you did on that computer before you shut it down for the last time? (when i buggered up my computer it worked fine UNTIL the reboot at which point it couldnt reload the files i'd played with... so tell me everything you did from the time it was turned on to when it was turned off, that is only the last time you used the computer!)
5614 Posted January 4, 2005 Posted January 4, 2005 Shall I reinstall the BIOS again? I have downloaded one. as the BIOS is a piece of hardware how is it possible to download one?
Sayonara Posted January 4, 2005 Posted January 4, 2005 Because many CMOS chips sold now are flashable.
Primarygun Posted January 5, 2005 Author Posted January 5, 2005 Well, I have downloaded pack2 and updated.
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