My Wife's Computer failed
Hello everyone
After a lot of years use my wife's computer has decided to quit. Now when it fires up nothing happens except there are 5 (repeated once) beeps.
It is a P4 PCU in a ASUS P4B533-E mobo. Does this code perhaps indicate a CPU failure please?
regards
acro666
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
have you gone to the ASUS website and/or checked the manual?
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
The motherboard manual does not seem to list any pure 5 beep codes - are they all of the same length, or are some quicker than others?
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Tried different ram in there at all ??
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Behemoth
Tried different ram in there at all ??
Or just one stick if there are multiple sticks?
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
This motherboard is supposed to give vocal messages!? Gotta be the motherboard is borked.
Perhaps we should open a new forum... Readers's Wives' Computers...
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Failing any help from Asus...
Her motherboard is complaining. Try reseating the memory and rebooting. If that doesn't help, you should consider another motherboard. You could probably get away with just replacing the CPU, but that's not too cost-effective. Its just time to upgrade!
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Asus use AWARD bios beep codes, don't they? This might be useful:
BiosCentral - Award BIOS Beep Codes
The only 5-beep pattern mentioned is this one:
#
Award BIOS 4.51PG/Gigabyte GA-BX2000: Five short beeps sound when the main BIOS is corrupted and the spare BIOS has to be loaded as only choice for successful boot. Submitted by Andy
Maybe try resetting the CMOS by disconnecting the PSU and either moving the CMOS reset jumber, or removing the CMOS battery?
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Thorsson
This motherboard is supposed to give vocal messages!? Gotta be the motherboard is borked.
Perhaps we should open a new forum... Readers's Wives' Computers...
Only if that option had been enabled in the bios.
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
timread
Asus use AWARD bios beep codes, don't they? This might be useful:
BiosCentral - Award BIOS Beep Codes
The only 5-beep pattern mentioned is this one:
#
Award BIOS 4.51PG/Gigabyte GA-BX2000: Five short beeps sound when the main BIOS is corrupted and the spare BIOS has to be loaded as only choice for successful boot. Submitted by Andy
Actually Award has many different BIOSes with different codes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Behemoth
Only if that option had been enabled in the bios.
Ah, well that would have been a good idea, but too late now...
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
So have we read the motherboard it's last rights ??
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Not necessarily - if there is some doubt about the 5 beep codes, The 5 beeps BIOS failure was one report from a Gigabit board. Another website gave this (unhelpful) report
Quote:
Your motherboard is complaining. Try reseating the memory and rebooting. If that doesn't help, you should consider another motherboard. You could probably get away with just replacing the CPU, but that's not too cost-effective. Its just time to upgrade!
If the BIOS is corrupt, it is unlikely that resetting the CMOS will make any difference (it holds variable parameters, not firmware) but worth a try. The BIOS itself might be re-flashable or replaceable, however that means removing the BIOS and either getting a replacement already programmed or reflashing it on an EEPROM programmer - from a BIOS image - which won't work if the chip itself has failed.
Is it worth it? It looks to be a pretty old board, so maybe it is time to retire it and get something a little more up to date. Shame though, it looks as if it was a very good mobo at the time.
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Quote:
Your motherboard is complaining. Try reseating the memory and rebooting. If that doesn't help, you should consider another motherboard. You could probably get away with just replacing the CPU, but that's not too cost-effective. Its just time to upgrade!
name and shame! that's pathetic :O_o1:
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MadduckUK
name and shame! that's pathetic :O_o1:
I couldn't possibly quote this site PC Hell: BIOS Error Beep Codes
But in fairness, information on the Award BIOS seems pretty scarce and most of the (few) sites I looked at only quoted the Award published codes - which doesn't include 5 beeps!
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Quote:
Time of day clock failure. Try running the setup program that comes with the computer. Check the date and time. If that doesn't work, replace the battery. If that doesn't work, replace the power supply. You may have to replace the motherboard, but that is rare.
the setup program that comes with the computer? WTH? away with thee vile fiend!
Re: My Wife's Computer failed
Hello everyone
Thank you for all your replies. I found a site which says that 5 short beeps is in fact a CPU failure.
Fortunately I am visiting a Computer Fair tomorrow (20th April, 2008) and will attempt to buy another CPU there.
Of course everyone who suggests a new computer is absolutely correct and the final solution must be this, but not yet, not yet!
regards
acro666