IDENTIFYING HARDWARE

ERROR: THE BEEP CODES

IDENTIFYING BEEP CODES

Beep codes produced by a computer is very

important for a Computer Technician. You can
save a lot of time troubleshooting by just
listening to these beep codes. That's why it is
very important to have your own PC speaker
especially when you are dealing with No
display PC’s. or if there is one, it is connected
the wrong way (+ to - and vice versa) so make
sure to check it first before doing anything
else.
In some applications, the PC speaker is affixed directly to
the computer's motherboard
The most common beeps that you will encounter 95% of the
time in repairing PC's are:

1 beep - computer ok
continous beeps / long beeps - memory error
continous short beeps - bios boot block/corrupted bios
1 long beep followed by 3 short beeps - video card error
 Pheonix beep codes

1-1-3 CMOS memory failure

1-1-4 BIOS failure
1-2-1 System timer error
1-2-2 Motherboard error
1-2-3 Motherboard error
1-3-1 Motherboard error
1-4-1 Motherboard error
1-4-2 Memory error
2-x-x Memory failure
3-1-x Chipset error
3-2-4 Keyboard controller error
3-3-4 Video adapter failure
4-2-4 Expansion card failure
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure
4-4-1 Serial port error
4-4-2 Parallel port error
4-4-3 Math co-processor error
AWARD BIOS beep codes

1 long - Memory error

1 long, 2 short - Video error
1 long, 3 short - Video failure
Continuous beeps - Memory or
video failure
 AMI BIOS beep codes

1 short - Computer ok
2 short - RAM failure
3 short - Parity RAM failure
4 short - System timer failure
5 short - Motherboard failure
6 short - Keyboard controller error
7 short - CPU failure
8 short - Video RAM failure
9 short - ROM BIOS error
10 short - CMOS read/write error
11 short - Cache RAM error
1 short, 3 long - Memory failure
1 short, 8 long - Video adapter failure
Standard IBM beep codes.

No beep - Power supply or motherboard

failure
1 short - System is ok
2 short - POST error (code displayed on
screen)
Repeating short - Motherboard failure
1 long, 1 short - Motherboard failure
1 long, 2 short - Video display adapter failure
1 long, 3 short - Video display adapter error
3 long - Keyboard error