Misbehaving PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter v_orgos
  • Start date Start date
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v_orgos

Hi,

I've been given an old P4 1.7ghz pc which is apparently faulty. In
short what is happening is this.

MB is Gigabyte GA-8IE
1 stick of 256MB of RAM

On power up, just after the CPU is shown and its about to display the
disks present, the computer starts beeping like crazy. On a few
occasions I've managed to go past it and when I press any key, like in
the BIOS Setup or DOS, its repeating like the key is stuck down. The
sound coming out of the speaker is like when the keyboard buffer is
full but its not one continuous beep.

I've reset the BIOS to default and safe settings, no change.
I've checked the memory using memtest, seems ok.
Sometimes, once its starts beeping it restarts itself or even locks up.

After a while, for no apparent reason, its started to work fine. I've
booted into XP ok and even installed Ubuntu and nothing has crashed or
misbehaved. So I thought that maybe something was loose or something.
Then last night it started acting up again.

One other odd thing about it is that when I turn the PC off, the CPU
and PS fan doesnt turn off. Checked the power cabling and all seems ok.

Anyone seen the like before? Nothing seems damaged/burned/blown. I'd be
a shame to throw it out.


thanks
Vic
 
Hi,

I've been given an old P4 1.7ghz pc which is apparently faulty. In
short what is happening is this.

MB is Gigabyte GA-8IE
1 stick of 256MB of RAM

On power up, just after the CPU is shown and its about to display the
disks present, the computer starts beeping like crazy. On a few
occasions I've managed to go past it and when I press any key, like in
the BIOS Setup or DOS, its repeating like the key is stuck down. The
sound coming out of the speaker is like when the keyboard buffer is
full but its not one continuous beep.
Click to expand...

without knowing the pattern of the beeps, I would guess a memory beep
I've reset the BIOS to default and safe settings, no change.
I've checked the memory using memtest, seems ok.
Sometimes, once its starts beeping it restarts itself or even locks up.
Click to expand...

once again faulty memory symptom or maybe a PSU problem disguised as a
memory problem
After a while, for no apparent reason, its started to work fine. I've
booted into XP ok and even installed Ubuntu and nothing has crashed or
misbehaved. So I thought that maybe something was loose or something.
Then last night it started acting up again.

One other odd thing about it is that when I turn the PC off, the CPU
and PS fan doesnt turn off. Checked the power cabling and all seems ok.
Click to expand...

sure your not just going into standby? hold the power button in for 6
seconds
 
JAD said:
without knowing the pattern of the beeps, I would guess a memory beep
Click to expand...

Maybe the memory controller? I let the memtest complete and it didnt
fail. Plus the fact that at one point I was able to boot in to xp/ubuty
says to me its not it.

I've even moved the ram stick to another slot just tobe sure.

the beep itself is random as far as I can tell. but if I press any key,
then the tone changes like its complaining about it.

I also noticed that the keyboard leds are not staying on steady when
this beeping is going on.
once again faulty memory symptom or maybe a PSU problem disguised as a
memory problem

sure your not just going into standby? hold the power button in for 6
seconds
Click to expand...

definately not. I am holding the button down to force it and the case
lights go off.

plus if I pull the cable from psu and put it back, the fans start up
again!

thx
 
Hi,

I've been given an old P4 1.7ghz pc which is apparently faulty. In
short what is happening is this.

MB is Gigabyte GA-8IE
1 stick of 256MB of RAM

On power up, just after the CPU is shown and its about to display the
disks present, the computer starts beeping like crazy. On a few
occasions I've managed to go past it and when I press any key, like in
the BIOS Setup or DOS, its repeating like the key is stuck down. The
sound coming out of the speaker is like when the keyboard buffer is
full but its not one continuous beep.

I've reset the BIOS to default and safe settings, no change.
I've checked the memory using memtest, seems ok.
Sometimes, once its starts beeping it restarts itself or even locks up.

After a while, for no apparent reason, its started to work fine. I've
booted into XP ok and even installed Ubuntu and nothing has crashed or
misbehaved. So I thought that maybe something was loose or something.
Then last night it started acting up again.

One other odd thing about it is that when I turn the PC off, the CPU
and PS fan doesnt turn off. Checked the power cabling and all seems ok.

Anyone seen the like before? Nothing seems damaged/burned/blown. I'd be
a shame to throw it out.


thanks
Vic
Click to expand...

Have you tried PHYSICALLY resetting CMOS? That is, remove the CMOS battery
and short the clear CMOS jumper for about a minute or so with the power cord
unplugged?

Keyboard controllers tend to fail quite frequently on mainboards. You have
some symptoms of a keyboard controller failure, but then I've never seen
that cause lockups/reboots before.

Still, I'd be tempted to try a different keyboard and mouse. If PS/2,
switch to USB. If USB, switch to PS/2. If the symptom changes at all by
switching the keyboard and mouse, then you are probably looking at a bad
keyboard controller which is a somewhat common problem. But that would
basically mean that the mainboard is history, as it won't be a cheap fix
(cheaper to replace it).

On second thought, it sounds like that mainboard might have more than one
problem. It's possible you have a keyboard controller going bad and
something else on the mainboard going bad. But first try clearing CMOS
(with the jumper) and then hook up a different keyboard mouse (both with a
different connection) before plugging the system back in. -Dave
 
With those fan issues that you are having, It sounds like an
motherboard error to me.
 
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