BIOS POST Error

  • Thread starter Thread starter dmulcahy
  • Start date Start date
D

dmulcahy

Hi,

My home PC crashed yesterday with an unhealthy beeping. The PC had
twice frozen on me in the previous week going to a blank screen and
requiring a reboot to sort it. This time when I tried a cold reboot I
got a screen full of zeros in groupings of 8 followed eventually by a
blank screen with no prompt. Every reboot I have tried since doesn't
even get to the boot stage but emits a BIOS POST error sequence, 1
log, 3 short, pause and 2 short. I know the final 2 short just means
a POST error encountered but I think 1 long and 3 short points to a
RAMDAC error or something similarly display related, which would
possibly explain the zeros on my screen if the binary to stream
translation had failed. This is a store bought PC about 13 or 14
months old and has no AGP graphics card or any other new hardware
installed so the monitor is connected to the motherboard. The PC in
question is a Dell Dimension 3100.

Is there anything I can do to check the motherboard?

Would installing a PCI graphics card solve the problem or does it
still rely on the RAMDAC on the motherboard?

Or am I going in completely the wrong direction here?

Any help is much appreciated as I'm a bit rusty at this kind of
troublshooting and I apologise in advance if my terminology above may
be out of date.

Thanks,
Damien.
 
Hi,

My home PC crashed yesterday with an unhealthy beeping. The PC had
twice frozen on me in the previous week going to a blank screen and
requiring a reboot to sort it. This time when I tried a cold reboot I
got a screen full of zeros in groupings of 8 followed eventually by a
blank screen with no prompt. Every reboot I have tried since doesn't
even get to the boot stage but emits a BIOS POST error sequence, 1
log, 3 short, pause and 2 short. I know the final 2 short just means
a POST error encountered but I think 1 long and 3 short points to a
RAMDAC error or something similarly display related, which would
possibly explain the zeros on my screen if the binary to stream
translation had failed. This is a store bought PC about 13 or 14
months old and has no AGP graphics card or any other new hardware
installed so the monitor is connected to the motherboard. The PC in
question is a Dell Dimension 3100.

Is there anything I can do to check the motherboard?

Would installing a PCI graphics card solve the problem or does it
still rely on the RAMDAC on the motherboard?

Or am I going in completely the wrong direction here?

Any help is much appreciated as I'm a bit rusty at this kind of
troublshooting and I apologise in advance if my terminology above may
be out of date.

Thanks,
Damien.
Click to expand...
Try a PCI graphics card, has its own RAMDAC.

Mike.
 
Try a PCI graphics card, has its own RAMDAC.

Mike.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike,

I'll try a PCI grahpics card in it so and see if it boots up.
Would I need to get an up to date one or would the 32-bit Diamond
Viper v770 out of my old Win98/Win2000 machine that I buried away in
the garage do the trick for test purposes?

Damien.
 
Thanks Mike,

I'll try a PCI grahpics card in it so and see if it boots up.
Would I need to get an up to date one or would the 32-bit Diamond
Viper v770 out of my old Win98/Win2000 machine that I buried away in
the garage do the trick for test purposes?

Damien.
Click to expand...

That should be fine for testing

Mike.
 
Michael said:
(e-mail address removed) wrote in message
On Jun 13, 7:09 pm, "Michael Hawes"
(e-mail address removed) wrote:-
(e-mail address removed) wrote in message



-
Hi,-
-
My home PC crashed yesterday with an unhealthy beeping. The PC had
twice frozen on me in the previous week going to a blank screen and
requiring a reboot to sort it. This time when I tried a cold reboo
I
got a screen full of zeros in groupings of 8 followed eventually b
a
blank screen with no prompt. Every reboot I have tried sinc
doesn't
even get to the boot stage but emits a BIOS POST error sequence, 1
log, 3 short, pause and 2 short. I know the final 2 short jus
means
a POST error encountered but I think 1 long and 3 short points to a
RAMDAC error or something similarly display related, which would
possibly explain the zeros on my screen if the binary to stream
translation had failed. This is a store bought PC about 13 or 14
months old and has no AGP graphics card or any other new hardware
installed so the monitor is connected to the motherboard. The PC in
question is a Dell Dimension 3100.-
-
Is there anything I can do to check the motherboard?-
-
Would installing a PCI graphics card solve the problem or does it
still rely on the RAMDAC on the motherboard?-
-
Or am I going in completely the wrong direction here?-
-
Any help is much appreciated as I'm a bit rusty at this kind of
troublshooting and I apologise in advance if my terminology abov
may
be out of date.-
-
Thanks,
Damien.-

Try a PCI graphics card, has its own RAMDAC.

Mike.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text --

Thanks Mike,

I'll try a PCI grahpics card in it so and see if it boots up.
Would I need to get an up to date one or would the 32-bit Diamond
Viper v770 out of my old Win98/Win2000 machine that I buried away in
the garage do the trick for test purposes?

Damien.
-

That should be fine for testing

Mike.
Click to expand...


Hi,

My name is Todd and I'm with Dell's online outreach program to hel
customers via blogs and forums. I saw your post and wanted to see i
you had been able to test that PCI video card, and if it helped?

If it didn't please let me know and I'll see if there is something els
we can try to test the system.

Thank you,

Todd

Customer Advocate
Dell, Inc.

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/11/19/3648.asp
 
Back
Top