[RESOLVED] Compaq beeping on start-up

My brother-in-law asked me to take a look at his PC.
Compaq Presario SR5450F, Intel Dual Core E2180.

I said when he tried to boot it up the other day, nothing. No monitor or anything but he could hear the fans and it lights up.

When I hooked it up and switched it on, I get 1 long continuos beep.
I looked here:
Compaq BIOS Beep Codes:

and it says:

Quote:

---

Memory error. Bad RAM. Replace and test

---

I tried removing each stick of Ram and changing slots, every permetation I could think of. Still beeps.
I also double checked every connetion and pushed them, in case something had come loose.

Any suggestions?

some additional information:

my brother-in-law said he was working on the PC (adding a recent picture to his screen saver) when the screen went all blurry and the PC started the beeping, he also said it beeped every time he tried to restart it.

I also just tried installing some Ram from my working PC and got the same long beep when I tried to restart it. I also tried the Ram in each slot.

A long bleep can mean graphics card problems on some systems, so make sure that is seated properly, etc.

It well could be the ram on the video card too.

On-board video.

I went thru and re-plugged or snugged eveything down. Still beeping.


Scratching my head on this one. He said he was working on it and te screen just got wired and then quit entirely. Could the on-board video go out? I may have an extra PCI-E card to try.
Can't hurt to try.

Yes, onboard can go out.

It certainly can. It's definitely worth trying a different card if you have one to hand.

Good info, I'll try one tonite.

Nuts, no luck there either.

I installed a spare PCI-E video card, but still long beep with no video.

Do I need to disable the on-board video in the bios? (HOW do I do that if I can't get it to boot up & no video)

bummer, I thought that might be it.

He told me thanks for trying, he'll just take it to the Geek Squad, but I know they'll screw him over.

Any other thoughts?

Yes, you sometimes do need to disable the onboard video first. Unfortunately, as you rightly surmise, in this case it's pretty much impossible to do so. If the onboard graphics have failed, about all you can do is to replace the mobo :(

mobo? ouch!

That's what I was hoping it wasn't.

bummer, I don't even have a spare dual-core to test it.

Scratching my head.

Normally, if it was a PC I built, I'd just order the same mobo or do some research and buy a similar (or even better) one.

Since this was a built PC and already had Vista (yuck) installed on it, I'm sure it will be problematic if I buy an aftermarket mobo, and expensive if I buy a Compaq to replace it.

Any suggestions on Next Step for replacing the mobo?

Thinking about it a little bit more.

how would these mobos be?
Intel D945GCPE Motherboard - Intel 945GC, Socket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA $50
(looks like limited to 2 RAM slots, that's what the current one has. and no video slot)

Biostar G41-M7 Motherboard - Socket 775, Intel G41, MicroATX, DDR2, PCIe, USB 2.0
this one might be better, with a PCI-e slot $55

ASUS P5KPL-AM SE Motherboard - Intel G31, Socket 775, µATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, 10/100 LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA
this one also has a PCI-e and very good review ratings

and I was going to talk him into running Win7.

thoughts?

Those boards should all take youe existing processor, adn are all from decent manufacturers. The Biostar has 1 more PCI slot and more SATA ports thatn the ASUS, which has a serial port if you ever needed one. I'd rank the Biostar first, ASUS second, and Intel last of your choices. All should take your existing processor.

The biostar will take * GB of ram.

And you will need a OS cs too.

Picked up an ASUS P5QPL-AM from Micro Center on my way home from work last night (man I like that place! cheaper than NE & TD!! and no shipping or delay!)

Worked like a charm! Had the old one out, cleand the CPU, relocated the CPU cooler to the new board, and had it fired up in less than 1/2 hour. (I had to temporarily install his HDD in my PC and copy off his Pictures, Docs, and Favorites. Installed Win7, loaded the drivers and up and running again, better than new!

Thanks guys! That's 2 mobos I've replaced this year! Hope it's my last.
:D
MPTech

I'm glad to hear that you got it all fixed :) :)