Intermittent 3 long beeps before POST beep

[dannyboy75]

I built this system around 18 months ago (see system specs). The issue has been happening intermittently for a few months, but is becoming more frequent. About 60-70% of the time when I switch my PC on, it gives 3 long beeps, but then does its POST beep and boots normally. The rest of the time it just does the POST beep and boots.

From what I can find, it's related to RAM. I have two 8GB sticks of Patriot 3733MHz DDR4, so have tried one stick at a time (and in different slots), but still get the intermittent long beeps. I've tried disabling XMP too, but no joy.

Bit stumped at this point. I'll run MemTest, but it seems unlikely that both RAM sticks would become faulty around the same time. PSU possibly?

thanks
Danny

[atemporal]

I built this system around 18 months ago (see system specs). The issue has been happening intermittently for a few months, but is becoming more frequent. About 60-70% of the time when I switch my PC on, it gives 3 long beeps, but then does its POST beep and boots normally. The rest of the time it just does the POST beep and boots.

From what I can find, it's related to RAM. I have two 8GB sticks of Patriot 3733MHz DDR4, so have tried one stick at a time (and in different slots), but still get the intermittent long beeps. I've tried disabling XMP too, but no joy.

Bit stumped at this point. I'll run MemTest, but it seems unlikely that both RAM sticks would become faulty around the same time. PSU possibly?

thanks
Danny

have you checked the mobo specs? Compatible? I've had it where RAM just won't play with certain CPU memory controllers

[Jonj1611]

Depends on the bios, what bios do you have?

[markih]

I think three beeps point to a memory problem. First I'd suggest re-seating the RAM and if possible trying different RAM. You could also try removing all the RAM then adding back the memory one stick at a time booting after each stick is re-installed.

[Jonj1611]

I think three beeps point to a memory problem. First I'd suggest re-seating the RAM and if possible trying different RAM. You could also try removing all the RAM then adding back the memory one stick at a time booting after each stick is re-installed.

As I stated it depends on the bios and they also stated they already tried memory one stick at a time

[Jonj1611]

I built this system around 18 months ago (see system specs). The issue has been happening intermittently for a few months, but is becoming more frequent. About 60-70% of the time when I switch my PC on, it gives 3 long beeps, but then does its POST beep and boots normally. The rest of the time it just does the POST beep and boots.

From what I can find, it's related to RAM. I have two 8GB sticks of Patriot 3733MHz DDR4, so have tried one stick at a time (and in different slots), but still get the intermittent long beeps. I've tried disabling XMP too, but no joy.

Bit stumped at this point. I'll run MemTest, but it seems unlikely that both RAM sticks would become faulty around the same time. PSU possibly?

thanks
Danny

You have the AMI bios, are you sure its 3 long beeps?

[dannyboy75]

have you checked the mobo specs? Compatible? I've had it where RAM just won't play with certain CPU memory controllers

Yep I remember checking when I was choosing the parts for this build. It was fine for the first 12 months or so, then this issue started despite nothing having changed.

[dannyboy75]

You have the AMI bios, are you sure its 3 long beeps?

Yes pretty certain, as it's done it enough times over the last few months I would describe them as long beeps, as they're about 3 seconds each.

I'm wondering if it started with a BIOS update, can't remember for sure now but I have updated the BIOS several times since I built the system. I might ask MSI support if they can shed any light on this.

[dannyboy75]

Well this is the response from MSI:

Regarding your concern, please uninstall the CPU and check if there are any bend pins on the CPU socket. Then please unplug the power supply and CMOS battery for a while to try. Also please check if there is any obvious damage on the surface of the MB(front and back) near the DIMM slot. In addition, do you mean that the issue didn't appear before? If yes, have you done any update before the issue appeared? Thanks!

Seems like MSI are clutching at straws a little? Surely if there was a bent pin or board damage, the system wouldn't even POST? It POSTs every time, just sometimes does the 3 long beeps first.

I'm going to try the CMOS reset they suggest, but other than that they don't seem to have much of a clue...

[peterb]

If its been working for 12 months, then its unlikely to be a CPU installation problem!! (Statement of the blindingly obvious!)

CMOS reset is worth trying - but if it is generally working, I wouldn't worry. You could try setting it up to do a short POST (if that option is available) as a possible workaround.

[cptwhite_uk]

Try blowing pressured air into the RAM slots and wiping the connectors with the a microfibre cloth. Sounds stupid but I literally had this issue on a build a month ago which wouldn't POST at all, just beeping away. A quick clean with air (god bless industrial air compressors for cleaning PCs ) and the issue was resolved. It was just RAM not seating correctly due to dust elements in the dimm slot it seems. I had also tried re-seating before hand without success, so this doesn't necessarily fix the issue.

Might not work for you, but it's definitely worth a go.

[dannyboy75]

Well I've kind of drawn a blank with this. Updated the BIOS again yesterday as a new version was released - no change. Ran MemTest - no errors detected.

The CMOS reset didn't help either, and neither did MSI, who just say it's a RAM issue.

As it's not causing any problems other than to my ears, I'm just going to turn off the POST beep(s) in the BIOS and ignore it

[Jonj1611]

My PC randomly and I admit it is few and far between resets and gives 3 beeps and starts just fine, never did find out what the issue was.

[dannyboy75]

My PC randomly and I admit it is few and far between resets and gives 3 beeps and starts just fine, never did find out what the issue was.

Yeah I've come to the same conclusion.

[dannyboy75]

Apologies for the necro, but I finally figured out this issue, in case anyone stumbles across this while googling the same symptoms.

It was actually two issues for the price of one, which was muddying the waters somewhat. The 3 long post beeps were being caused by a dead CMOS battery - I noticed that BIOS settings were reverting to defaults, so replaced the battery and it's been perfect since. No more long beeps. If only every hardware issue could be resolved for 50p.

What had confused things and made me assume it was a RAM issue, was that I was also seeing errors in MemTest. After RMA'ing my Patriot Viper memory, I found I was still seeing errors. Their support was actually quite helpful, and after discussing with them and doing some 'process of elimination' testing, I figured out that I have two bad DIMM slots on my MSI mobo. So that's got to go back to MSI now, which is annoying as it means no PC for a few weeks. I guess I could buy another Z370 PC Pro as a stopgap, but I'm guessing Win10 will complain about being in a 'new' PC and wanting new product key?

[DanceswithUnix]

I guess I could buy another Z370 PC Pro as a stopgap, but I'm guessing Win10 will complain about being in a 'new' PC and wanting new product key?

If you send a motherboard back there is no guarantee you would get your actual board back from repair so Windows may well do that anyway.

Repairs should be allowed even on OEM Home license, but I think if you have Pro it should just need the key being re-entered. I didn't get any grief from Windows 10 on my last motherboard upgrade at least, I just gave it my old 7 Pro licence key number and it activated.