Wretched Computer!

[justinw]

Hey there,

Would be great if someone could clarify what is wrong with my computer before I go off and spend a fortune on getting it fixed!

I have an old Hewlett Packard Pavillion 7970. About a week ago it seized up so I restarted it. On restarting I got a blue screen saying that I should restart again and if problems persisted I should follow the instructions. Annoyingly I didn't take much notice of the error and just restarted it.

On doing so the computer started but there was no picture to the monitor at all, I have since checked the monitor with another computer and it works fine.

Anyway I think I restarted it again and I got a series of long beeps. Just one beep repeated ad infinitum. I am not totally sure what this is as I am not totally sure what make the motherboard is. The HP site doesn't seem to specify. Anyway I think it could be the Ram. Unfortunately the PC comes witH RD ram which is much more expensive than the normal so am reluctant to spend £100 odd to replace it without being sure that this is the problem. Apart from anything else no new computers seem to be installed with this. I am tempted to just trash it and buy a new computer but being somewhat impoverished I want to try and fix it first!

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Justin

[justinw]

SOB!

Can no one help? *sniffle*

[chrisbliss18]

Your system has a Phoenix BIOS which has very complex beep codes. They either have a series of three or four beep codes. For example, a beep code combination of 1-3-4 (one beep, pause, three beeps, pause, four beeps) means that the motherboard is bad. You can see a full listing of the beep codes for Phoenix BIOS here. You say that it's one long continuous beep, but this doesn't make sense for your system. See if you can discern a pattern of beeps.

My guess is that your problem is either with your video card, RAM, motherboard, or power supply. How's that for a vague answer? If possible, see if you can get your hands on a friend's AGP video card and power supply to try in your system. This way, you can at least rule out those components.

[justinw]

Thanks Chris.

I listened quite carefully to the beeps and it just seemed to be a long beep followed by a pause followed by a long beep followed by a pause etc. Anyway I will have another listen later tonight or tomorrow when I get home and report the results!

[justinw]

I listened again to my beep codes and there is nothing other than one long beep which is repeated again and again. There seems to be no variation in beep lengths or pauses in between.

I think I shall have to take it down to my friendly computer shop in the morning. Although if anyone has any last minute ideas do please let me know!

Many thanks,

Justin

[justinw]

Hmm..

So I tested new memory and that didnt fix it. Is there any way I can test the motherboard and or the processor?

Thanks