The Tech Library

When you first turn your PC on you will get a POST screen.  POST stands for Power On Self Test.  During this time your BIOs (Basic Input/Output System) is taking control of booting your PC to load the Operating System from the Hard-drive.  If 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 start-up and load the operating system.
Sometimes if your computer is having problems then you might hear more than one beep which lets you know there is an error with the system.  Now, you need to take note of the sequence of beeps and look for the sequence in the tables listed below

Below is a table of the most common AMI, Phoenix and Award BIOS beep codes.

AMI (American Megatrends International) BIOS Beep Codes. 
The error is displayed as a number of beeps. For example, 5 beeps indicated a Processor Error.

Code	Meaning	Possible Fix
1 Beep (No video)	Memory Refresh Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 Beeps	Memory Parity Error	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
3 Beeps	Base 64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
4 Beeps	Timer Not Operational	Bad Motherboard, Faulty CMOS Battery, Reset Time In BIOs
5 Beeps	Processor Error	Bad Processor, Reseat With Fresh Thermal Compound
6 Beeps	8042 Gate A20 Failure	Bad Processor or Motherboard
7 Beeps	Processor Exception	Bad Processor
8 Beeps	Video Memory Error	Reseat Video Card and Memory, Run Memtest, Bad Video Card or Memory
9 Beeps	ROM Checksum Error	Bad BIOS
10 Beeps	CMOS Checksum Error	Bad Motherboard, Faulty CMOS Battery
11 Beeps	Cache Memory Bad	Bad Processor or Motherboard
1 Long, 2 Short	Cache Memory Bad	Bad Processor or Motherboard
1 Long, 3 Short	Failure in Video System	Reseat Card
1 Long, 8 Short	Memory Test Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
Continuous	Display Test Failure	Reseat Card, Replace Card
1 Long	N/A	All Tests Passed

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.

Award BIOS Beep Codes

Code	Meaning	Possible Fix
1 Long, 2 Short	Video Card Failure	Reseat Card
Repeating (Endless loop)	Memory Error	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 Long, 3 Short	Video Card Failure	Reseat Card, Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
High freq. beeps (while running)	Processor is overheating	Reseat Heatsink with Thermal Compound, Ensure Fan is Spinning
Repeating High, Low beeps	Processor Failure	Bad Processor, Reseat With Fresh Thermal Compound

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

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes

Code	Meaning	Possible Fix
1 -pause- 1 -pause- 2	Processor/ Motherboard Failure	Reseat With Fresh Thermal Compound, Bad Motherboard
1 -pause- 1 -pause- 3	CMOS Read/Write Failure	Bad Motherboard
1 -pause- 1 -pause- 4	BIOS ROM Failure	Bad BIOs Chip
1 -pause- 2 -pause- 1	Timer Failure	Bad Motherboard, Faulty CMOS Battery, Reset Time In BIOs
1 -pause- 2 -pause- 2	DMA Failure	Bad Motherboard
1 -pause- 2 -pause- 3	DMA Failure	Bad Motherboard
1 -pause- 3 -pause- 1	Memory Refresh Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 -pause- 3 -pause- 2	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 -pause- 3 -pause- 3	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 -pause- 3 -pause- 4	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 -pause- 4 -pause- 1	Address Line Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 -pause- 4 -pause- 2	Parity Error	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
1 -pause- 4 -pause- 3	Timer Failure	Bad Motherboard, Faulty CMOS Battery, Reset Time In BIOs
1 -pause- 4 -pause- 4	NMI Port Failure	Bad Motherboard
2 -pause- 1 -pause- 1	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 1 -pause- 2	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 1 -pause- 3	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 1 -pause- 4	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 2 -pause- 1	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 2 -pause- 2	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 2 -pause- 3	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 2 -pause- 4	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 3 -pause- 1	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 3 -pause- 2	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 3 -pause- 3	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 3 -pause- 4	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 4 -pause- 1	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 4 -pause- 2	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
2 -pause- 4 -pause- 4	64K Memory Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
3 -pause- 1 -pause- 1	Slave DMA Failure	Bad Motherboard
3 -pause- 1 -pause- 2	Master DMA Failure	Bad Motherboard
3 -pause- 1 -pause- 3	Interrupt Controller Failure	Bad Motherboard
3 -pause- 1 -pause- 4	Slave IC Failure	Bad Motherboard
3 -pause- 2 -pause- 2	Interrupt Controller Failure	Bad Motherboard
3 -pause- 2 -pause- 3	RESERVED	RESERVED
3 -pause- 2 -pause- 4	Keyboard Control Failure	Check Keyboard Wiring
3 -pause- 3 -pause- 1	CMOS Battery Failure	Replace CMOS battery
3 -pause- 3 -pause- 2	CMOS Configuration Error	Incorrect setting
3 -pause- 3 -pause- 3	RESERVED	RESERVED
3 -pause- 3 -pause- 4	Video Memory Failure	Reseat Video Card and Memory, Run Memtest, Bad Video Card or Memory
3 -pause- 4 -pause- 1	Video init Failure	Bad Motherboard
4 -pause- 2 -pause- 1	Timer failure	Bad Motherboard, Faulty CMOS Battery, Reset Time In BIOs
4 -pause- 2 -pause- 2	CMOS Shutdown Failure	Bad Motherboard
4 -pause- 2 -pause- 3	Gate A20 failure	Bad Motherboard
4 -pause- 2 -pause- 4	Unexpected Interrupt	Bad Processor
4 -pause- 3 -pause- 1	RAM Test Failure	Reseat Memory, Run Memtest
4 -pause- 3 -pause- 3	Timer Failure	Bad Motherboard, Faulty CMOS Battery, Reset Time In BIOs
4 -pause- 3 -pause- 4	RTC Failure	Bad Motherboard
4 -pause- 4 -pause- 1	Serial port Failure	Bad Motherboard
4 -pause- 4 -pause- 2	Parallel port Failure	Bad Motherboard
4 -pause- 4 -pause- 3	Co-processor Failure	Bad Motherboard or Processor
9 -pause- 2 -pause- 1	Incompatible Video Card	Use a Different Brand of Video Card