PC Difficult to Boot Up

mercman1969

Am starting to have trouble booting up my PC
When I initially turn it on it occasionally beeps at me after a few seconds.....and the just brings up a bios page?

This is getting more frequent....I can tell when it is going to boot up as you can hear a distinct change in speed/pitch of the fan/HDD which does not happen if it is going to fail?

Appreciate any feedback on what could be the problem?

PSU? this is only about 18 mths old after already having been replaced?


Regards

Pete

troubleuk

That's an error code and almost certainly means that there is a hardware fault. If you can find a manual for your system or phone the manufacturers referencing the number of beeps the you'll be able to work out what the error is. Also, check at the back of your system for unusual flashing lights. Some systems have these to aid in fault diagnosis.

Cerro

the beeps you hear are part of the POST (Power On Self Test), usually when you boot up a healthy computer, it gives only 1 short beep and then proceeds to detect devices and then load the OS. If its giving you extra beeps (short or long) then its picking up a hardware failure and then putting you into the BIOS by default - it recommends you load failsafe settings.

Note the different beeps, it will tell you want part has failed or what is causing the problem. If you have the PC under warranty then you will probably need it, as something is likely to need replacing. If you bought the PC from a company like Dell, their technical support will be able to diagnose the problem and replace the faulty part (if required)

mercman1969

Yep,

Tried it again and am getting a double beep.......
Like I said before can tell when it is going to boot up as the pitch and speed increases.

i think at that time the HDD spins up which is maybe what i am hearing

Is there a diagnosis test that can be done?

Regards

Pete

johnmc

Depends on the BIOS, but sounds like a memory problem.

If you've got more than one stick of memory remove all but one and try again. Should be easy to find the dodgy stick.

If no luck with that then it might be video ram. If you've got an addon card and an on board try removing the addon.