faulty ram

[Nighthawk]

my pc wouldn't start today, instead when i turned it on it made 3 beeps (when working makes 1 beep) and had no display, i rang some guy and he said it was faulty ram, he told me to take it out and check it was in correctly. i took it out and gave it a clean, then put it back in. i booted the system and it started but didnt' make any beeps or do anything. After a few trys the monitor displayed a blinking underscore cursor in the top left corner

( like this: _ but pulsing on and off)

i restarted again and the system worked fine, the bios came up and reported cpu settings incorrect. i looked and they were on default (fine). i continued to check through the bios for anything that could be wrong and then the pc froze (argh!!). Restarted, and so far its been working fine. This isnt' the 1st time its done this, just wondering if you think the ram's faulty or perhaps theres more to it

[ferrite]

they wont help you in here unless you give out your pc specs..

[Elephant]

So have you upgraded a few things?

Just wondering as I have read a few previous posts.

Who was the "some guy?"

What motherboard do you have and what version of the BIOS is it?

One beep is normal as you say. Three beeps will indicate a hardware problem of some sort.

Is your BIOS Award, Pheonix or what? If so what version?

What motherboard have you and what RAM and CPU fitted?

[Elephant]

> they wont help you in here unless you give out your
> pc specs..

Well I'm sure that some people try to find out what the specs are but I don't have time to type in heaps of questions to enable me to give an accurate answer.

Nighthawk did at least explain reasonably well what He/She saw on the screen.

I am trying to point out to you that it is easier if we know the specs and if you changed anything recently and I guess that is what you are saying.

Not true though as we all have to go through the questions and answers until we can come up with the correct answer.

[Elephant]

> my pc wouldn't start today, instead when i turned it
> on it made 3 beeps (when working makes 1 beep) and
> had no display, i rang some guy and he said it was
> faulty ram, he told me to take it out and check it
> was in correctly. i took it out and gave it a clean,
> then put it back in. i booted the system and it
> started but didnt' make any beeps or do anything.
> After a few trys the monitor displayed a blinking
> underscore cursor in the top left corner
So did you get another motherboard, RAM or Video card etc from PBTech or elsewhere?

Did you have them fit it if you did?

Just picking up from a previous post.

[andrew93]

Hi Nighthawk,

according to this (http://www.amptron.com/html/bios.beepcodes.html) website, it sounds like you have faulty RAM (plus the symptoms you have described are consistent with faulty RAM).

I recommend you download a free RAM tester from this (http://www.memtest86.com/) website - read the instructions on their website, use the software download to create a bootable floppy, leave it in your floppy disk drive and restart your PC (if your OS loads instead of the RAM tester, check your BIOS settings to make sure that A is listed before C in the boot sequence).

Leave the programme running until it has done at least one complete pass - this may take a while depending on how much RAM you have. If you have numbers flashing up the screen and you can't see the test summary, then the test has failed and it is likely the RAM is faulty.

HTH, Andrew.

[mogwai]

Not sure exactly what your problem is -- but it does look like the RAM.
This would be first thing to eliminate as a fault.

My brother also had a similar problem, which was fixed by a BIOS update.

[Nighthawk]

hey everybody, im sorry about the brief post before.
i haven't got an upgrade yet, i will on saturday tho.

AMD Althon XP 2500+ Barton
Asus A7V600 / VIA KT600 Motherboard
512mb ddr 333 seitec/aria ram
geforce fx 5200
philips 107S5 monitor
seagate barracuda 40GB HD

im not sure what my bios version is but i have flashed it before to the latest version. when i turn on my computer it doesn't make any beeps anymore, it doesn't make any at all... the monitor doesn't respond but the fans and other sounds are working.

im afraid my floppy drive doesn't work at the moment. i dont know whats wrong. it says it cannot read or format the floppy disk. i checked the bios and the floppy drive was enabled... i ran a ram check and nothing bad came up. also sometimes it makes a beep when i boot it, and the 'asus' splash screen displays, but then it freezes on it.

[Nighthawk]

btw i took the ram out and tried it in the different slots and no beeps at all.
i put it back in the 1st one and after a few resets it finally works again. but im sure it will have the same problem sooner or later.

[Nighthawk]

NEWS FLASH - thanks for that link dude.

BEEP CODE MEANING POSSIBLE CAUSE
1 Long, 2 Short Video adapter failure Bad video adapter

1 Long, 3 Short Video adapter failure Bad video adapter or memory

I think my bios is Award BIOS and according to that site its the video adapter or memory, im not EXACTLY sure, but i think when my computer does do the beep beep thing it does 1 long, then 2 or MAYBE 3 beeps.
seems this is to do with the graphics card! im not surprised to much as my graphics card goes nutty sometimes in games and displays textures all messed up and slow, and its really hot as soon as i turn it on! and maybe thats the reason why the monitor doesn't work on boot or wont turn on after its been off for a while.. thanks very much.
1st i thought i had a bad psu, then i thought i had a bad motherboard, then i thought i had bad ram, now i think i have bad video card :-S

im planning to replace the video card anyway, but prices are kinda expensive at the moment

[Nighthawk]

>>who was the some guy?

the some guy was some guy from Glenfields PTL computers

Mr Victor Li
Unit 10/39-45
porana Rd
Glenfield (9-6pm)
ph 4446611
or 021 480 456

his english is very good and he sounds like Chang from The Edge FM

[Nighthawk]

i downloaded the newest bios for mi mb
seems i have to use a floppy disk :@$#%@#^
so i enabled my floppy disk in the bios and opened her up and made sure the drive was connected properly.
but when i put in a floppy disk windows says the disk isn't formatted
i choose 2 format it, msdos startup disk mode. and it came up with
unexpected I/O error.
i tried another disk and it got halfway in the formatting process but then the same error occured :S

[Pete O\'Neil]

Dude just take your PC back to E-one and demand a refund, you seem to fix a problem and then get another. The PC isnt fit for the purpose it was intended for.

Reminds me of a friend of mine, he would fix problems by creating other problems. When he finally gave up and got me to fix it there was a solid days work require to fix the thing.

[Nighthawk]

i dunno.. people have told me e-one sucks and they're not worth it, and that they dont even have decent parts 2 replace stuff with... ill email them about it tho

[Pete O\'Neil]

Just get your money back and go else where

[Nighthawk]

okay, anybody got anytips on how to rop a computer store? :-)

[KatiMike]

rop (http://www.rop.gov.om/) ???

[KatiMike]

or rop ? (http://mcoeweb.marin.k12.ca.us/rop/) ...not sure why the first link above only works sometimes ...

[Billy T]

OK! I'll play your silly game

1) Make a complete list of all the problems experienced with he computer but don't include any you believe to be caused by your own mucking around.

2) Spell check the list and get the punctuation and grammar right because you may need somebody else to actually understand it later. (See point 8)

3) Take the computer and list to E-one with a request that they repair it and restore to full working order within a reasonable time period. One week sounds right to me, two weeks at a stretch. Ask for (no, demand!) a 3 month warranty extension so that you can test their work thoroughly.

4) Tell them that if they cannot or will not do this you will go to the Disputes Tribunal for a full refund.

5) Get an adult (your dad, or any other adult who can hold their own in a possibly difficult discussion without losing their cool) to make an appointment to talk with the manager of E-one.

6) Go with them when they take the computer back to E-one so that you can fill in the gaps if quetions are asked.

7) Don't take no for an answer.

8) Go to the Tribunal if you don't get satisfaction.

If you or your dad can't be bothered doing this, or you have more money than you know what to do with, just go buy a new computer somewhere and get over it.

No point in prolonging the agony.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)

[Nighthawk]

rob*

[Nighthawk]

ok thanks i wont use pressF1 anymore cos i dont wanna piss u guys off 4 being soo annoying

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ CPU (333MHz FSB)/Barton, with AMD Fan (No Warranty on CPU's overclock, Please return the AMD original fan for Warranty Service)
ASUS A7V600, VIA KT600, Socket-A for AMD Athlon XP CPU, 400Mhz FSB,
DDR 400 (pc-2700) RAM/Seitec/Aria
40GB Seagate Barracuda ATA100/7200rpm, IDE HDD/2MB Cache
Samsung SW-252BRNS, 52x24x52 CD-ReWriter (8mb Buffer)
ASUS V9520 Magic/T GeForce FX5200, 128MB DDR, AGP8X, with Tv-out
Philips 17" 107251 Real Flat SVGA Monitor (with 3 year warranty by Philips service agen within 25KM, call 0800 657 447 for service)
Dynalink 56K V90 PCI Fax Modem (OEM Pack)
1.44MB FDD
Foxcon Midi Tower ATX 179P Case with 300watt Hyena Power Supply
Aopen 023G Optical Mouse (Silver Colour)
Keybaord Win98 PS2, Black Colour
SD260 Milford Soun d 240watt PMPO Speaker


I bought this computer in august 03, the only problem is.....
it's annoyingly faulty.
The warranty is over but the consumer guarantees act says you can provide a remedy for the hardware faults, even though the warranty has just expired. The computer I bought has never functioned without problems now and then.
I am sure this is a hardware fault. I took my computer to you a while ago because the case fan was making a loud grinding noise for a few minutes on boot up. You said it was just a screw missing from the back of the case, but the problem still remains. Also, there is a problem with the hardware, (possible the psu, ram, motherboard, or graphics card are at fault)
The computer barely ever starts up, the bios does not beep, and the monitor does not respond.
Sometimes the computer beeps 3 times, indicating faulty video adapter or memory. I would really like this issue to be fixed and I would like to know if you are willing to provide service to fix and replace any parts that are to blame.

The full list of problems is below:
Computer Problems
System Boot Failure, happens more often than ever recently. Computer doesn't beep when turned on and there is no display, or just only a frozen display screen. Monitor doesn't respond to the video card. video card is DEFINITELY FAULTY, and seems to be hot even after a few seconds after turning on the PC.
Sometimes the bios beeps 3 times when i turned it on for a day, fixes itself sometimes, works for a few days, then the problem comes back.
Looking on websites, this says there is a video adapter or memory fault. (when it has 1 long beep, followed by 2 or 3 short beeps.)
Also, sometimes when it comes right, the bios is displayed and it says the cpu was set to an incorrect value, but i have never adjusted or overclocked it.
Whenever i turn on the computer, the rear fan below the power supply makes a grinding noise for about 3 minutes, as if it's not lubricated or something. I dont mind paying for a fan replacement. But there definitely is something wrong with the case fan.
Sometimes, but rarely. An error comes up when loading windows saying there was a hardware fault, it gives me an option to load a previous configuration.
Graphics display problem - As seen above, display comes corrup when in games. Usually colours are all red, or just messed up. Most probably a hardware problem as I have tried many software things, (different drivers etc). Also once, the graphics display was weird even out of games, even in safe mode!
Most definitely there is a fault with my graphics card, and i would like to upgrade it as it isn't a very fast one anyway.
Weird Loading corruption - Sometimes games or programs crash when loading.
Especially Doom3 (Doesn't start properly, have to restart and try again)
I double click its exe, and it comes up with the loading screen and says 'initialising user interface', but nothing happens

I press Ctrl + Alt + Del and it says Doom3.exe is not responding,
so i either end the program, or wait and then it comes up with that error displayed on the other page (apparently related to memory corruption)
If i try to start Doom3.exe again, it displays a blank screen, but when i press Ctrl + Alt + Del it says Doom3.exe is running, i can also hear the intro movie playing. Just cannot see anything. Most probably a Memory realated problem.
If i restart sometimes it works, (says 'loading game' instead of 'initialising user interface' and works) but then sometimes it freezes when loading or crashes to desktop.
Last problem. The speakers dont work very well or not at all. they
crackel and stop working, either the left or the right) and im forced to use
headphones because of it.

[Pete O\'Neil]

>(No Warranty on CPU's overclock, Please return the AMD original fan for Warranty Service)
What does the mean? Does that youve overclocked your PC?

[Nighthawk]

>>What does the mean? Does that youve overclocked your PC?
its just what it says on the invoice, overclocking viods warranty thats all.

[Pete O\'Neil]

It might pay to use bullet points or something to clearly seperate the problems. For alot of PC retailers english isnt their first language, so make it as clear and consise as possible. Do you know anybody personally who could possibly have a look at the PC and help write the report about the problems?

[Nighthawk]

yep, but the bullet points dissapeared when i pasted it in hotmail. and i pasted it from there 2 here.

>Nighthawk is a dude ;-) And a master player of such games as:
CS. DC. Farcry. Doom3, etc :D

[Billy T]

> ok thanks i wont use pressF1 anymore cos i dont wanna
> piss u guys off 4 being soo annoying

You are not pissing us off nighthawk, and you are not being annoying, but this is your second thread on this problem and you are still going around in circles & not taking the advice offered (up until now that is).

Don't try to sort this out yourself, you'll be on a hiding to nowhere. Get your dad involved and follow the steps I outlined.

Your list of problems is a great start and if you get nowhere with E-one and front to a Disputes Tribunal with that lot you are highly likely to get you money back. Just make sure you hold onto the computer until the time comes to hand it back in exchange for the money.

That means that if it all turns to custard, you get it back off them before you go to the Tribunal.

Don't expect a Tribunal Referee to understand the problems, they won't, you just have to make it clear that it is not right and the supplier won't fix it or refund your money.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)