UKT Support logo

Home
What's New
Contact Us


Search the Site
powered by FreeFind

Acer
Advent
Amstrad
Apple
Canon
Compaq
CTX
Epson
Hewlett Packard
Mitsubishi/Apricot
Packard Bell
Other Manufact.

File Extensions
Humour
Links
Microsoft
Reference
Scanner Support





 


BIOS Beep Codes

When a PC starts up, the first thing it does is run a Power-on Self Test (POST) to test the computers hardware. If it detects an error, you will be notified by either a number of audio beeps or an error message on the screen. This page helps to explain what the error message or audio beeps mean.


Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes

CodeDescription
  
1 short beepSystem is OK
2 short beepsPOST Error - error code shown on screen
No beepPower supply or system board problem
Continuous beepPower supply, system board, or keyboard problem
Repeating short beeps     Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beepSystem board problem
1 long, 2 short beepsDisplay adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beepsDisplay adapter problem (EGA)
3 long beeps3270 keyboard card

IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions

CodeDescription
  
100 - 199System Board
200 - 299Memory
300 - 399Keyboard
400 - 499Monochrome Display
500 - 599Colour/Graphics Display
600 - 699Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter
700 - 799Math Coprocessor
900 - 999Parallel Printer Port
1000 - 1099Alternate Printer Adapter
1100 - 1299Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1300 - 1399Game Port
1400 - 1499Colour/Graphics Printer
1500 - 1599Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1700 - 1799Hard Drive and/or Adapter
1800 - 1899Expansion Unit (XT)
2000 - 2199Bisynchronous Communication Adapter
2400 - 2599EGA system-board Video (MCA)
3000 - 3199LAN Adapter
4800 - 4999Internal Modem
7000 - 7099Phoenix BIOS Chips
7300 - 73993.5" Disk Drive
8900 - 8999MIDI Adapter
11200 - 11299     SCSI Adapter
21000 - 21099SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller
21500 - 21599SCSI CD-ROM System

AMI BIOS Beep Codes

CodeDescription
  
1 Short BeepSystem OK
2 Short BeepsParity error in the first 64 KB of memory
3 Short BeepsMemory failure in the first 64 KB
4 Short BeepsMemory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory
or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning
5 Short BeepsThe CPU on the motherboard generated an error
6 Short BeepsThe keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode
7 Short BeepsThe CPU generated an exception interrupt
8 Short BeepsThe system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty
9 Short BeepsThe ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS
10 Short BeepsThe shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed
11 Short BeepsThe external cache is faulty
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps  Memory Problems
1 Long, 8 Short BeepsVideo Card Problems

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes

Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.

CodeDescription
  
1-1-3CMOS read/write failure
1-1-4ROM BIOS checksum error
1-2-1Programmable interval timer failure
1-2-2DMA initialisation failure
1-2-3DMA page register read/write failure
1-3-1RAM refresh verification failure
1-3-3First 64k RAM chip or data line failure
1-3-4First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure
1-4-1Address line failure first 64k RAM
1-4-2Parity failure first 64k RAM
2-_-_ Faulty Memory
3-1-_Faulty Motherboard
3-2-4Keyboard controller Test failure
3-3-4Screen initialisation failure
3-4-1Screen retrace test failure
3-4-2Search for video ROM in progress
4-2-1Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure
4-2-2Shutdown test in progress or failure
4-2-3Gate A20 failure
4-2-4Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
4-3-1RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh
4-3-2Faulty Motherboard
4-3-3Interval timer channel 2 test or failure
4-3-4Time of Day clock test failure
4-4-1Serial port test or failure
4-4-2Parallel port test or failure
4-4-3Math coprocessor test or failure
Low 1-1-2System Board select failure
Low 1-1-3     Extended CMOS RAM failure