# one short beep then two long beeps?



## rwmacy (Sep 25, 2007)

Trying to figure out what is wrong in my compaq evo D51C

when I try to boot I get one beep then two longs beeps, I have tried everything possible too, switching out hardware/psu, etc.

I can't figure out what the beeps mean to fix the problem..

one short beep then two or three long beeps.

the computer turns on when I plug the power in so I guess the power button is broke, and the computer sometimes starts to post then shutsdown waits a few seconds starts up and gives the error messages.


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## Horizon (Sep 14, 2007)

Depends on the BIOS you have, but here are the error beep codes:

Award and Phoenix BIOS:

1 short beep: Normal
2 short beeps: CMOS error
1 long and 1 short beep: DRAM error
1 long and 2 short beeps: Video card error
1 long and 3 short beeps: Keyboard error, or video card error
1 long and 9 short beeps: ROM error
Long continuous beeps: DRAM not installed correctly, bad memory, or incompatable
Short continuous beeps: Bad power supply

AMI BIOS:

none power supply, motherboard, or PC speaker is no good.
1 short system RAM Refresh failure. 
2 short memory error
3 short same as 2 beeps; follow diagnosis above.
4 short system timer error
5 short cpu Failure. Replace the CPU or possibly the motherboard.
6 short keyboard error
7 short cpu or motherboard error
8 short video card error
9 short rom checksum error
10 short cmos error
11 short cache memory error
1 long, 3 short memory test failure.
1 long, 8 short Display test failure

Switch it on again and see if it's 2 or 3 shorts. If it's 2 it's probably the upper bios and your video card, if 3, well...might be few things.
Is the PC still under warranty? If so, get it to repair shop.

What are your specs?
If you have more than 1 stick of ram, try booting with only one (try both at a time) in different slots.
If you have a spare video card or even better a machine (go to a friends house), swap the video cards


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## rwmacy (Sep 25, 2007)

today the comper tech women at my school told me it is most likely my cmos battery thats dead, this sound correct?


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## Horizon (Sep 14, 2007)

And how did she conclude that? 2 short beeps or 10 short beeps are cmos error, and you get neither.
I mean, it might be that, but I just think she had a few cases where cmos was the problem so now any beeping in general is suspected to be cmos

Now that I re-read your post, you sure you get short beep first and couple of long ones after that?
Please boot again and post exactly what you hear (not sure if this is possible, but maybe you've got 2 separate errors, is there a pause between short beep and long beeps? - just thinking out loud, might be complete nonsense this last sentence)


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## rwmacy (Sep 25, 2007)

yeah I am sure of the beep code, and the computer was not used for a few months.

my computer turns on then shuts down then turns on and makes one short beep slight pause two long beeps.

she said that it is most likely the cmos battery or the ram is messed up.

both the ram sticks work fine in other computers and I tried switching them out.

she said she had two other computers that don't work with similar problems at the school and she just has not got the new cmos battery's in.

I also ran various] tests, everything in the system works fine besides a problem with the mobo, (ram works, video card works, processor works, mouse, keyboard, a drive, and disk drive are fine. I even tried a new psu) so the last thing I will check is the cmos battery then I am going to just say f*ck it the mobo is bad.


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## rwmacy (Sep 25, 2007)

bump


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## mt2002 (Sep 14, 2005)

What is your BIOS? (Please Include version number, is possible)

The one short beep is Okay. The beep error code is the last two beeps.

I do not think your CMOS battery is dead, as the system will not boot without it. It might be "dying" however. You can verify this if either Windows time+date get randomly set (or are incorrect), or BIOS settings being changed. There may be other possible things to look for.


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## avatar1976 (Apr 28, 2008)

I just had this problem myself, I found that pulling the power on the machine taking the ram out, giving it the mainbord and ram slots a blast out with some powerful air (air compressor or blower) seems to have stopped the issue. I also wiped the contact pins on the ram DIMMs with a soft cloth.


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