[RESOLVED] Two beep Dell

[Rekusu]

What ho one and all,

Have a old Dell Optiplex780 (SFF), W7 OS, that we only use for watching DVD and on-live TV. 2 x 2gb of RAM, all very basic but does (did?) the job.

It has become more and more reluctant to boot and yesterday, will not, giving two beeps. All searches tell me this is RAM related.

Have removed the sticks, cleaned and re-seated; tried only one in slot 1, then slot 3, also slots 2 and 4. Tried both in slots 1 & 3 (as is has always been) and slots 2 & 4.

Removed and reinserted every cable and SATA connection.

The result every time, two beeps. Also have lights 1,2,&3 showing. The HDD lights initially but following the beeps; goes out.

What next?

Grateful of any suggestions as I am not convinced that two RAM stick hve gone bad at the same time.

Thanks and toodle pip

[jdc2000]

Possibly useful links:

Diagnostic LEDs:

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/e...tic-indicators

Beep Codes:

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/e...ell-desktop-pc

Other links:

https://www.dell.com/community/en/co...ccf8a8de80925d

https://www.dell.com/community/en/co...ccf8a8de12f41e

Things to check:

The BIOS/CMOS battery may be bad. This can cause errors if the correct configuration data was lost. Try a new battery.

Also, the RAM memory controller can also go bad. This will give memory errors even with good memory modules.

Check to see if there is a repeating pattern of beeps, and also check the diagnostic LED pattern as well for any additional details.

[fink]

Since our email alert system doesn't work you may want to look at your updated thread on Firefox security updates...

https://discussions.virtualdr.com/sh...fox-ESR-and-W7

[Rekusu]

Thanks for the replies. There is no repeating pattern of beeps, just the two followed by lights 1,2,3 and a steady mains button.

I will investigate a new battery but I did re-seat it and tweaked the contacts.

Fink: don't understand what you mean by 'email alert system not working?'

[fink]

The site does not send an email when someone replies to one's post/thread.

See my signature
\/ \/ \/ \/

[Rekusu]

Gentlemen. Thank you for your support.

Was prepared to fire up an older computer but thought to give this one a last chance. replaced the CMOS battery and still two beeps; re-seated the RAM again; tweaked any and every plug and crucially, (may be?) cleaned the dust from the CPU cooler.

Would you believe it, started as it should, no beeps. So tonight, we celebrate with a glass of wine and watch the first episode of Kaos.

[jdc2000]

Thanks for the update. With any luck, it should continue working normally for a while longer now.

[Rekusu]

Thanks for flagging the Resolved button.

As an aside, I checked the voltage of the old battery. The new CR2025 is 3v; the old was 2.4v.

If that was the issue, as seems likely, it is weird that the beeps codes indicated RAM; surely they could implement a low CROM voltage code,