BIOS Beep Codes
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What is a BIOS Beep Code? |
When you power on a
computer the BIOS immediately takes control of the computer and performs
the P.O.S.T (Power On Self Test). At the end of the POST the computer
will play an audible 'BEEP' through either the PC's internal speaker of
through speakers attached to the sound card (if you have a built-in
sound chip). If the POST completed successfully without detecting any
problems with then system will play a single short beep to let you know
the test is complete and the computer will continue to startup and load
the operating system.
If during the POST the BIOS detects a
problem it will normally display a visual error message on the monitor
explaining what the problem is. However, if a problem is detected before
the BIOS initializes the video card, or a video card is not present or
not detected then the BIOS will play several 'BEEPS' through the speaker
to let you know there is a problem. Depending on the type of the BIOS
you have the BIOS may play beeps in a specific pattern to indicate what
the problem is, or play the same beep a number of times indicating the
problem. It is very important that you pay close attention to the number
and/or pattern of the beeps your computer plays on startup. |
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Below is a table of the
most common AMI, Phoenix and Award BIOS beep codes. |
|
AMI (American Megatrends
International) BIOS Beep Codes. |
AMI BIOS uses beeps of the
same length and pitch. The error is displayed as a number of beeps. For
example, 4 beeps indicated a timer failure. |
BEEP CODE |
MEANING |
POSSIBLE CAUSE
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1
Beep (No video) |
Memory
refresh failure |
Bad
memory |
2
Beeps |
Memory
parity error |
Bad
memory |
3
Beeps |
Base
64K mem failure |
Bad
memory |
4
Beeps |
Timer
not operational |
Bad
motherboard |
5
Beeps |
Processor
error |
Bad
processor |
6
Beeps |
8042
Gate A20 failure |
Bad
CPU or Motherboard |
7
Beeps |
Processor
exception |
Bad
processor |
8
Beeps |
Video
memory error |
Bad
video card or memory |
9
Beeps |
ROM
checksum error |
Bad
BIOS |
10
Beeps |
CMOS
checksum error |
Bad
motherboard |
11
Beeps |
Cache
memory bad |
Bad
CPU or motherboard |
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Award BIOS Beep Codes |
Award BIOS uses beeps of
varying duration. A long beep will typically last for 2 seconds while a
short beep will last only 1 second. Award BIOS also uses beeps of
different frequency to indicate critical errors. If an Award BIOS
detects that the CPU is overheating it may play a high pitched repeating
beep while the computer is running. |
BEEP CODE |
MEANING |
POSSIBLE CAUSE |
1
Long, 2 Short |
Video
adapter failure |
Bad
video adapter |
Repeating
(Endless loop) |
Memory
error |
Bad
memory or bad connection |
1
Long, 3 Short |
Video
adapter failure |
Bad
video adapter or memory |
High
freq. beeps (while running) |
CPU
is overheating |
CPU
fan failure |
Repeating
High, Low beeps |
CPU
failure |
Bad
processor |
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Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes |
Phoenix BIOS uses beep code
patterns to indicate problems. In the table below the '-' indicates a
brief pause between beeps.
Example: 1 - 1 - 2 would sound like
BEEP <pause> BEEP <pause> BEEP BEEP |
BEEP CODE |
MEANING |
POSSIBLE CAUSE |
1
- 1 - 2 |
CPU
/ motherboard failure |
Bad
CPU / motherboard |
1
- 1 - 3 |
CMOS
read/write failure |
Bad
motherboard |
1
- 1 - 4 |
BIOS
ROM failure |
Bad
BIOS chip |
1
- 2 - 1 |
Timer
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
1
- 2 - 2 |
DMA
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
1
- 2 - 3 |
DMA
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
1
- 3 - 1 |
Memory
refresh failure |
Bad
memory |
1
- 3 - 2 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
1
- 3 - 3 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
1
- 3 - 4 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
1
- 4 - 1 |
Address
line failure |
Bad
memory |
1
- 4 - 2 |
Parity
error |
Bad
memory |
1
- 4 - 3 |
Timer
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
1
- 4 - 4 |
NMI
port failure |
Bad
motherboard |
2
- 1 - 1 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 1 - 2 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 1 - 3 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 1 - 4 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 2 - 1 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 2 - 2 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 2 - 3 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 2 - 4 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 3 - 1 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 3 - 2 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 3 - 3 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 3 - 4 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 4 - 1 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 4 - 2 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 4 - 4 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
2
- 4 - 4 |
64K
memory failure |
Bad
memory |
3
- 1 - 1 |
Slave
DMA failure |
Bad
motherboard |
3
- 1 - 2 |
Master
DMA failure |
Bad
motherboard |
3
- 1 - 3 |
Interrupt
controller failure |
Bad
motherboard |
3
- 1 -4 |
Slave
IC failure |
Bad
motherboard |
3
- 2 -2 |
Interrupt
Controller failure |
Bad
motherboard |
3
- 2 - 3 |
<RESERVED> |
|
3
- 2 - 4 |
Keyboard
control failure |
Bad
motherboard |
3
- 3 - 1 |
CMOS
batter failure |
Bad
CMOS battery |
3
- 3 - 2 |
CMOS
configuration error |
Incorrect
setting |
3
- 3 - 3 |
<RESERVED> |
|
3
- 3 - 4 |
Video
memory failure |
Bad
video card or memory |
3
- 4 - 1 |
Video
init failure |
Bad
video card or memory |
4
- 2 - 1 |
Timer
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 2 - 2 |
CMOS
shutdown failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 2 - 3 |
Gate
A20 failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 2 - 4 |
Unexpected
interrupt |
Bad
processor |
4
- 3 - 1 |
RAM
test failure |
Bad
memory |
4
- 3 - 3 |
Timer
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 3 - 4 |
RTC
failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 4 - 1 |
Serial
port failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 4 - 2 |
Parallel
port failure |
Bad
motherboard |
4
- 4 - 3 |
Coprocessor
failure |
Bad
motherboard or CPU. |
9
- 2 - 1 |
Video
adapter incompatibility |
Use
a different brand of video card |
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All rights reserved. Amptron International Inc. 17501 Rowland St., City of Industry CA., 91748 (626) 912-5789 |