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Computer won't come on without beep



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 15th 11, 06:06 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
metspitzer
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Posts: 555
Default Computer won't come on without beep

My niece says her computer will not always start after turning it off.
She says sometimes when she turns it on, the computer will not beep
and does not start. When she tries again and the computer beeps, it
will start.

I went to see them yesterday. I opened it up and made sure the memory
was seated and the power supply wires were plugged in. She said that
it still does it occasionally.

What else could be causing this?

--
O'Neil to General Hammond:
For the record Sir, I wanted to blow it the hell up.
  #2  
Old May 15th 11, 07:18 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Grinder
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Posts: 1,321
Default Computer won't come on without beep

On 5/15/2011 12:06 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My niece says her computer will not always start after turning it off.
She says sometimes when she turns it on, the computer will not beep
and does not start. When she tries again and the computer beeps, it
will start.

I went to see them yesterday. I opened it up and made sure the memory
was seated and the power supply wires were plugged in. She said that
it still does it occasionally.

What else could be causing this?


About any device hooked to the system could be failing and producing
something like this. Break the system down to its minimum components,
and replace what you can with known goods.
  #3  
Old May 16th 11, 01:15 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
JD
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Posts: 11
Default Computer won't come on without beep

Metspitzer wrote:
My niece says her computer will not always start after turning it off.
She says sometimes when she turns it on, the computer will not beep
and does not start. When she tries again and the computer beeps, it
will start.

I went to see them yesterday. I opened it up and made sure the memory
was seated and the power supply wires were plugged in. She said that
it still does it occasionally.

What else could be causing this?

--
O'Neil to General Hammond:
For the record Sir, I wanted to blow it the hell up.


You know what the beep is, right?

Power On Self Test or POST.

http://www.poweronselftest.com/post2.htm

Wish I could help more but "occasional" problems can be really hard to
diagnose.

--
JD..
  #4  
Old May 16th 11, 02:16 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul
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Posts: 13,364
Default Computer won't come on without beep

Metspitzer wrote:
My niece says her computer will not always start after turning it off.
She says sometimes when she turns it on, the computer will not beep
and does not start. When she tries again and the computer beeps, it
will start.

I went to see them yesterday. I opened it up and made sure the memory
was seated and the power supply wires were plugged in. She said that
it still does it occasionally.

What else could be causing this?


The computer should beep once. The purpose of having the computer beep
once, is to prove the internal case speaker is working. It's like
"lamp test" in a car, when you turn the ignition switch, to prove
your indicators are all working.

More complicated beep patterns, like two or three beeps, are reserved
for bad video card or bad or missing RAM.

Zero beeps, means no BIOS code is executing (or the speaker is broken).
Now, you know the speaker isn't broken, because the system does eventually
start.

Your problem is called a "cold start problem". Some initial condition
on the motherboard was not met, and the computer is not posting.
By either pressing the reset button, or trying the front power
switch, it may start on the second try. It can be a motherboard problem,
and in obscure cases, has been tracked to being leakage coming from
a monitor cable (i.e. if the computer cable from the monitor is
unplugged, it starts reliably each time). It's generally pretty hard
to fix, and can be expensive if you try the old "swapping" solution method.
You could swap a lot of stuff, and not end up happy.

If it isn't too inconvenient for your niece, just press the power button
twice :-) Better that, then the frustration of swapping stuff and not
getting an improvement.

Now, if the computer refuses to start until 30 minutes has passed,
or after hammering the power button twenty times in a row at 8:00AM
in the morning, then you're pretty well forced into fixing it. But
if it reliably starts with two presses of the power button, then
you know the lazy man's answer :-)

Good luck,
Paul
  #5  
Old May 18th 11, 09:30 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
nixiguf
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Posts: 2
Default Computer won't come on without beep

On 05/15/2011 10:06 AM, Metspitzer wrote:
My niece says her computer will not always start after turning it off.
She says sometimes when she turns it on, the computer will not beep
and does not start. When she tries again and the computer beeps, it
will start.


Maybe her power supply is too weak.





I went to see them yesterday. I opened it up and made sure the memory
was seated and the power supply wires were plugged in. She said that
it still does it occasionally.

What else could be causing this?

--
O'Neil to General Hammond:
For the record Sir, I wanted to blow it the hell up.


  #6  
Old May 19th 11, 02:44 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
edfair[_77_]
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Posts: 1
Default Computer won't come on without beep


If the power has been off it generally is the power supply not getting
the standby 5v up in time.
If it has been in hibernate (standby on) it would indicate a problem
with the switch or power up circuits on the motherboard.


 




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