Computer POST and beep codes!!

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PraveenAlexis
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Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by PraveenAlexis » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:50 pm

AMI BIOS beep codes
[Beep Code]__[Descriptions]
1 short:__ DRAM refresh failure
2 short:__ Parity circuit failure
3 short:__ Base 64K RAM failure
4 short:__ System timer failure
5 short:__ Process failure
6 short:__ Keyboard controller Gate A20 error
7 short:__ Virtual mode exception error
8 short:__ Display memory Read/Write test failure
9 short:__ ROM BIOS checksum failure
10 short:__ CMOS shutdown Read/Write error
11 short:__ Cache Memory error
1 long, 3 short:__ Conventional/Extended memory failure
1 long, 8 short:__ Display/Retrace test failed

AWARD BIOS beep codes
1 long, 2 short:__ Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information
Any other beep(s):__ RAM problem.

IBM BIOS beep codes
No Beeps:__ No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
1 Short Beep:__ Normal POST, computer is ok.
2 Short Beep:__ POST error, review screen for error code.
Continuous Beep:__ No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
Repeating Short Beep:__ No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
One Long and one Short Beep:__ Motherboard issue.
One Long and Two Short Beeps:__ Video (Mono/CGA Display Circuitry) issue.
One Long and Three Short Beeps:__ Video (EGA) Display Circuitry.
Three Long Beeps:__ Keyboard / Keyboard card error.
One Beep, Blank or Incorrect Display:__ Video Display Circuitry.

Macintosh startup tones
Error Tone. (two sets of different tones):__ Problem with logic board or SCSI bus.
Startup tone, drive spins, no video:__ Problem with video controller.
Powers on, no tone:__ Logic board problem.
High Tone, four higher tones:__Problem with SIMM

Phoenix BIOS beep codes
1-1-1-3:__ Verify Real Mode.
1-1-2-1:__ Get CPU type.
1-1-2-3:__ Initialize system hardware.
1-1-3-1:__ Initialize chipset registers with initial POST values.
1-1-3-2:__ Set in POST flag.
1-1-3-3:__ Initialize CPU registers.
1-1-4-1:__ Initialize cache to initial POST values.
1-1-4-3:__ Initialize I/O.
1-2-1-1:__ Initialize Power Management.
1-2-1-2:__ Load alternate registers with initial POST values.
1-2-1-3:__ Jump to UserPatch0.
1-2-2-1:__ Initialize keyboard controller.
1-2-2-3:__ BIOS ROM checksum.
1-2-3-1:__ 8254 timer initialization.
1-2-3-3:__ 8237 DMA controller initialization.
1-2-4-1:__ Reset Programmable Interrupt Controller.
1-3-1-1:__ Test DRAM refresh.
1-3-1-3:__ Test 8742 Keyboard Controller.
1-3-2-1:__ Set ES segment to register to 4 GB.
1-3-3-1:__ 28 Autosize DRAM.
1-3-3-3:__ Clear 512K base RAM.
1-3-4-1:__ Test 512 base address lines.
1-3-4-3:__ Test 512K base memory.
1-4-1-3:__ Test CPU bus-clock frequency.
1-4-2-4:__ Reinitialize the chipset.
1-4-3-1:__ Shadow system BIOS ROM.
1-4-3-2:__ Reinitialize the cache.
1-4-3-3:__ Autosize cache.
1-4-4-1:__ Configure advanced chipset registers.
1-4-4-2:__ Load alternate registers with CMOS values.
2-1-1-1:__ Set Initial CPU speed.
2-1-1-3:__ Initialize interrupt vectors.
2-1-2-1:__ Initialize BIOS interrupts.
2-1-2-3:__ Check ROM copyright notice.
2-1-2-4:__ Initialize manager for PCI Options ROMs.
2-1-3-1:__ Check video configuration against CMOS.
2-1-3-2:__ Initialize PCI bus and devices.
2-1-3-3:__ Initialize all video adapters in system.
2-1-4-1:__ Shadow video BIOS ROM.
2-1-4-3:__ Display copyright notice.
2-2-1-1:__ Display CPU type and speed.
2-2-1-3:__ Test keyboard.
2-2-2-1:__ Set key click if enabled.
2-2-2-3:__ 56 Enable keyboard.
2-2-3-1:__ Test for unexpected interrupts.
2-2-3-3:__ Display prompt Press F2 to enter SETUP.
2-2-4-1:__ Test RAM between 512 and 640k.
2-3-1-1:__ Test expanded memory.
2-3-1-3:__ Test extended memory address lines.
2-3-2-1:__ Jump to UserPatch1.
2-3-2-3:__ Configure advanced cache registers.
2-3-3-1:__ Enable external and CPU caches.
2-3-3-3:__ Display external cache size.
2-3-4-1:__ Display shadow message.
2-3-4-3:__ Display non-disposable segments.
2-4-1-1:__ Display error messages.
2-4-1-3:__ Check for configuration errors.
2-4-2-1:__ Test real-time clock.
2-4-2-3:__ Check for keyboard errors
2-4-4-1:__ Set up hardware interrupts vectors.
2-4-4-3:__ Test coprocessor if present.
3-1-1-1:__ Disable onboard I/O ports.
3-1-1-3:__ Detect and install external RS232 ports.
3-1-2-1:__ Detect and install external parallel ports.
3-1-2-3:__ Re-initialize onboard I/O ports.
3-1-3-1:__ Initialize BIOS Data Area.
3-1-3-3:__ Initialize Extended BIOS Data Area.
3-1-4-1:__ Initialize floppy controller.
3-2-1-1:__ Initialize hard-disk controller.
3-2-1-2:__ Initialize local-bus hard-disk controller.
3-2-1-3:__ Jump to UserPatch2.
3-2-2-1:__ Disable A20 address line.
3-2-2-3:__ Clear huge ES segment register.
3-2-3-1:__ Search for option ROMs.
3-2-3-3:__ Shadow option ROMs.
3-2-4-1:__ Set up Power Management.
3-2-4-3:__ Enable hardware interrupts.
3-3-1-1:__ Set time of day.
3-3-1-3:__ Check key lock.
3-3-3-1:__ Erase F2 prompt.
3-3-3-3:__ Scan for F2 key stroke.
3-3-4-1:__ Enter SETUP.
3-3-4-3:__ Clear in-POST flag.
3-4-1-1:__ Check for errors
3-4-1-3:__ POST done--prepare to boot operating system.
3-4-2-1:__ One beep.
3-4-2-3:__ Check password (optional).
3-4-3-1:__ Clear global descriptor table.
3-4-4-1:__ Clear parity checkers.
3-4-4-3:__ Clear screen (optional).
3-4-4-4:__ Check virus and backup reminders.
4-1-1-1:__ Try to boot with INT 19.
4-2-1-1:__ Interrupt handler error.
4-2-1-3:__ Unknown interrupt error.
4-2-2-1:__ Pending interrupt error.
4-2-2-3:__ Initialize option ROM error.
4-2-3-1:__ Shutdown error.
4-2-3-3:__ Extended Block Move.
4-2-4-1:__ Shutdown 10 error.
4-3-1-3:__ Initialize the chipset.
4-3-1-4:__ Initialize refresh counter.
4-3-2-1:__ Check for Forced Flash.
4-3-2-2:__ Check HW status of ROM.
4-3-2-3:__ BIOS ROM is OK.
4-3-2-4:__ Do a complete RAM test.
4-3-3-1:__ Do OEM initialization.
4-3-3-2:__ Initialize interrupt controller.
4-3-3-3:__ Read in bootstrap code.
4-3-3-4:__ Initialize all vectors.
4-3-4-1:__ Boot the Flash program.
4-3-4-2:__ Initialize the boot device.
4-3-4-3:__ Boot code was read OK.
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Neo
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Re: Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by Neo » Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:27 pm

Very useful one. Good to have this list with us. REP+
PraveenAlexis
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Re: Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by PraveenAlexis » Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:50 pm

Neo wrote:Very useful one. Good to have this list with us. REP+
awwe thanks, i found those IBM post codes from one of my dads books ;) others i serfed through the net :), ya i knew it would be usefull ;) since most of them dnt knw whats wrong with their pc and the just repair without any sence :roll:
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Re: Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by Neo » Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:41 pm

I had a AMI BIOS in my 386SX (way back in 1993). It was having Windows looking frames and icons. I was having 2MB RAM (not 2 GB ;) ) and I remember the 3 short beeps for Base RAM failure. Can you verify whether it is 64K or 640K. I remember the base was 640K where as the extended was the rest.

Later on, I can't remember anything other than the list type (DOS like) AWARD BIOS which is knows as the best BIOS.
PraveenAlexis
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Re: Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by PraveenAlexis » Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:08 am

acording to wiki and two other sites its 64k ;) tomarrow il edit the post, i found some new bios post erros sounds and colour codes :)
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Re: Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by Neo » Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:59 am

acording to wiki and two other sites its 64k ;) tomarrow il edit the post, i found some new bios post erros sounds and colour codes :)
Yes. You are correct. The AMI (American Megatrends Inc. How can I forget that name :D ) BIOS 3 beeps are to report a problem in first 64KB in memory.

However I was confused on the name given as Base. I thought it refers the Base memory (also known as conventional memory) which we used in the legacy era.

For your knowledge, I'll add about that.

Base memory (also known as Conventional memory) is 640 KB. I was using these to write TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident) those days (one of the fun stuffs I did with Turbo C/8086 Assembly. However TSRs are completely disappeared now since all modern OSs support multitasking).
IBM_PC_Memory_areas.png
IBM_PC_Memory_areas.png (5.42 KiB) Viewed 8778 times
Here are the reference links on Base memory.
Conventional memory
In DOS memory management, conventional memory, also called base memory, is the first 640 kilobytes (640 × 1024 bytes) of the memory on IBM PC or compatible systems.
It was required to load these sys files to be able to access the non-conventional memory area. UMBs are at 640KB to 1MB range. In this example config.sys, they haven't enabled the use of memory greater than 1MB (Extended memory).
At startup, drivers could be loaded high using the "DEVICEHIGH=" directive, while TSRs could be loaded high using the "LOADHIGH" or "LH" directive. If the operation failed, the driver or TSR would alternately automatically load into the regular conventional memory.

config.sys, loading ANSI.SYS into UMBs, no EMS support enabled:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS

autoexec.bat, loading MOUSE, DOSKEY, and SMARTDRV into UMBs if possible:

LH C:\DOS\MOUSE.EXE
LH C:\DOS\DOSKEY.EXE
LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE
Okay. So AMIBIOS guys are testing the first 64KB of Base memory (Not the whole 640KB base memory) as a part of their POST (Power On Self Test) routine.
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Re: Computer POST and beep codes!!

Post by PraveenAlexis » Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:42 am

ohhh :shock: i really didnt get anything 8-) anyway thank you, :)
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