Unable to boot up Tecra S1

[bethb]

I have a toshiba Tecra S1 laptop running windows XP. I am unable to boot it up. I get 2 short beeps, 1 long beep, a pause and 3 short beeps. Then the beeps start all over. This does not happen each time I try to boot, sometimes it just does nothing. I have tried to attach it to an external monitor and I was able to successfully boot it up once, but then I got an "unknown video error" and the screen changed resolution (The screens were huge). It had automatically reported the problem to Microsoft when it did boot this time and Microsoft came back with a possible resolution, but I was unable to read it due to the resolution and the system shut itself down. It wont boot up again on the monitor, just getting the beeping and sometimes nothing at all.
Prior to this I had been having a few crashes which reported a driver problem, but the system was unable to identify the driver which was having the problem.
First question, any Ideas what my problem is, I am guessing it is a problem with my video driver, but I am certainly no expert, and secondly, do you know of a way to retrieve the resolution from Microsoft - it just might have the answer.

Thanks in Advance - Beth

[DMR]

The meaning of BIOS "beep codes" can definitely be helpful, but they vary depending on the BIOS' maker. Is your BIOS an AMI, Award, Phoenix, or other?

The beep code pattern you describe does seem to have some common reference among the major BIOS makers though- it appears to point to a memory problem, and more specifically to an area of memory possibly reserved for used by the video card. Because the BIOS runs its device checks and initializations well before Windows even starts up, it would be more likely that a video card driver issue is the symptom of a lower-level problem, rather than the cause.

The first recommendation is to open your chassis and check your physical memory modules. A short description from another site:

" First check your SIMM's. Reseat them and reboot. If this doesn't do it, the memory chips may be bad. You can try switching the first and second banks memory chips. First banks are the memory banks that your CPU finds its first 64K of base memory in. You'll need to consult your manual to see which bank is first. If all your memory tests good, you probably need to buy another motherboard. "

[sherwood]

Mine was doing exactly the same thing, video crash with the ati board, a hex dump requiring a restart. It finally died for good this morning... 2 shorts a long and three shorts... Toshiba is taking it for repair (they said its a memory problem)... I'll post when I get it back. "d-u-u-u-de I shoulda got a Dell".

[sachin2525]

Toshiba S1 no post display but 3 beeps comping.
first 2 short beep & 1 long, after that all 3 short beeps coming.

[Chaky]

Your VGA is fried. You need to replace the motherboard.