Boot up problem- stops after read attempts to floopy

[jonathanyam]

The computer was turned on for a few hours, and then I found it was making some random beep sounds (it has never beeped in anyway before) and the screen was blank. So I turned it off.

After that I powered it on again, and it would stop right after it checks for the floopy drive (I can hear the attempt to read from the floopy drive). The screen was blank by then. If I leave it on for some time (real long enough) I'm starting to hear beep sounds. This happens everytime.

I'm using ABIT IS7 series socket 478 system board Pentium 3.2GHz CPU. Can anyone suggest what's the problem? Thanks!

Also where can I find out the meaning of the beep sequences? I can't find it anywhere in the user manual of the system board.

 

[jcmoral]

Do you know what BIOS you're using? Can you describe the beeps (one long, three short, etc.)? A description of the error beep codes should be in the manual.

EDIT: Found an online copy of the manual can't find anything about beep codes either. Any changes made to the computer hardware or software before this happened?

 

[kaname]

Try clearing your CMOS, load default settings, and reboot. Try checking if you have the latest BIOS also, if your board is relatively new then it should have it. Also check your video card and RAM make sure they're working correctly. I have an IS7 in my old computer and the only time I ran into a problem like that (blank screen, no beeps) I reset the CMOS and it ended up working ok after that.

 

[brady]

OWNED!


You can look up beep codes on the Interweb...
But, b/c Im nice :

Beep Code: Description of Problem:
No Beeps --------> Short, No power, Bad CPU/MB, Loose Peripherals
One Beep -----> Everything is normal and Computer POSTed fine
Two Beeps ------> POST/CMOS Error
One Long Beep,One Short Beep ----> Motherboard Problem
One Long Beep, Two Short Beeps ------> Video Problem
One Long Beep, Three Short Beeps -------> Video Problem
Three Long Beeps -------> Keyboard Error
Repeated Long Beeps -------> Memory Error
Continuous Hi-Lo Beeps ------> CPU Overheating

 

[jonathanyam]

My BIOS is Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00PG, 11/04/2003-i865PE-W83627-6A79AA1BC-17.
I haven't made any changes to the BIOS or hardware, and it's the first time this problem occured since I have been using the computer two years ago.

There have been only one beep sound at the startup (which is normal), and the computer remains silent up to the blank screen. If I wait long enough (around 15 minutes), some random beeps can be heard. They come in groups of one, two or three, at intervals of 3 to 15 seconds. They appear totally random to me so I don't think it has anything to do with the beeping sequences of the system board.

If I reboot right after the random beeps occur (ie the computer is heated up by now), the time until beeps occur this time is much shorter, which is around 1 minute instead of 15. When I reboot during the beeps then go to CMOS menu to see the temperatures, the temp for Sys, CPU and PWM are 56C, 77C, 79C respectively. Are they normal?

The System fan speed is 0 rpm as seen from the CMOS menu. Then I enabled the fan test for Sys fan and the two-tone siren can be heard during boot up, so I suspect the fan is out of order. But when I open the computer, I can see both the fans on the mother board (one is for CPU, the other is for memory controller hub according to the layout diagram in the manual) are working. And of 'coz the external fan on the external case is working too.

Or does "system fan" refer to a fan other than the above?
Is it a fan problem anyway?

 

[Nitestick]

try disconnecting the floppy drive and disabling "halt on floppy error" in BIOS

by the way: if i have missed any info in your posts it's because i'm still partially under the effects of general anasthaesia

 

[jonathanyam]

Tried disconncting the floopy and set the comp to "halt on no errors" but still can't boot up.

Is it possible the harddisk is out of order? How to check if it is?

 

[jonathanyam]

After changing the booting sequence, the machine is bootable with CD-ROM drive. Does that indicates the harddisk is out of order?

How to check if the harddisk is working?

 

[brady]

you can boot up to checkdisk program...


there are a few that are listed here : http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Download one (on a different computer) and burn it to CD. Boot to it and it will check your HDD out.

 

[jonathanyam]

The computer can be booted by CD-ROM or floppy. I used a diagnostic tool to check the harddisk and it is working fine.

Can anyone suggest why the working harddisk is unbootable? How to fix this?

Also, how can I boot the machine in a way so that the files on the unbootable harddisk can be accessed (besides buying another harddisk)?

Thanks.