GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[PaRaDoX]

Hey guys, I need some serious help.My computer can't seem to start properly anymore.All it does is beep then stop then beep again and repeat.I am using the laptop but I prefer my computer.My dad said that if it doesn't get fixed we'll defenitely get a mac.Since our first pc was a mac but it broke after some long years, and we barely have this pc for 2 years and it's already acting strange.I am fine with having a mac since they are way easier to work with.But still, do you guys have any idea what might be wrong? It can't be a virus since I scanned the pc multiple times before...

Last edited by PaRaDoX on Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:57 am; edited 1 time in total

[acceptable67]

Hmm [PC's are bettter than macs lol] I'm not sure what the problem is. Something is def. out of order though. Maybe the powersupply? Is this a laptop or desktop? its a problem with your hardware or hardrive, might need to get it checked out. I've heard of this happening before
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Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[radorn]

with that little info is hard to give you any reasonable diagnose.
that beeping sounds like a hardware problem.
There's probably a BIOS beep codes meaning guide somewhere.
Why don't you bring the computer to some technical service?

Anyway nowadays everything is cheaply manufactured and you can't trust anything, not even big names like apple. I don't know about older macs, but nowadays apple products are just as failure prone as anything else. I wouldn't trust apple that much.

Plus, choosing apple means you are going to miss on almost anything we do in this community...
Emulation, onlineplay, cheatdevice and backup unit support, hacking tools... most of that is PC/Windows only.

EDIT: beep codes http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml you need to know what kind of bios your motherboard has.

[PaRaDoX]

Yeah I know I'll miss out. As for the "little info" you say I have, it is so because that's bassicaly all my pc does now.we had it fixed before and the guy that "fixed" it said that he didn't find anything.Here is my pc doing it all over again only this time it's worse.the better option would be to buy a new pc again.....sigh...

[radorn]

Not sure if it will be of any use, but, try this.
remove all hard disks, optical drives, unneeded addin cards (leave, at the very least, the video card). Then look for the CMOS battery and remove it for like 30 seconds so BIOS configuration volatilizes. If you have the manual of your motherboard you can also check the CMOS erasure procedure. It's usually a jumper you have to bridge, but just removing the battery for a while will be enough to erase the CMOS.

This is an attempt to restore the PC to something close to factory defaults, and see if that allows you to boot again.

If you get to see the BIOS screen, then it means the hardware you have connected so far works (at least works enough to boot the computer, something you can't do now).

Once you are at that point, you could try to sequentially plug one device after another and check if the computer still boots. If after connecting one of them, the problem reappears, then that part could be faulty.
To be more sure about it, you could disconnect all other devices but that one and the video card and try to power on and see what happens.

Well, hopefully you get the idea.

[fantsu]

if it totally shuts off and starts again it might be the power supply. the power switches arent stuck in any way? the connectors from the supply are firmly connected to the mother board?

[acceptable67]

fantsu wrote:

if it totally shuts off and starts again it might be the power supply. the power switches arent stuck in any way? the connectors from the supply are firmly connected to the mother board?

Most likely it's burnt out.

There cheap to buy.
_________________

Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[acceptable67]

This reminds me. I think my friend had a similar incident, where it was his motherboard that was a little faulty. I would still check on that power supply though.
_________________

Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[Dragonsbrethren]

acceptable67 wrote:

This reminds me. I think my friend had a similar incident, where it was his motherboard that was a little faulty. I would still check on that power supply though.

Yeah, I had a similar issue myself, and it was the mobo that time. It would be easiest to swap out the PSU first, and if that doesn't fix things then look into getting a replacement mobo. (After following Radorn's advice first, of course.)

[zoinkity]

That is definately a BIOS beepcode. I scrape computers together off the road a lot, so you see it with crazy hardware setups. This only happens with critical hardware errors, like you put your RAM in upside-down or the IDE controller failed to initialize or your video output isn't found. Stuff like that.
The BIOS itself--that screen that whips by like lightning at startup--would stop if something attached to the computer but not absolutely necessary, like a hard disk or video card, failed to start or some change occured in its hardware state.

The BIOS beeps at you only when there's some kind of hardware problem. The codes are different from BIOS to BIOS, and sometimes you get false readings as well.
Don't go out and replace your power supply--at least not yet. A power supply failure will do one of three things:
1) Your computer won't start.
2) Your computer runs for some length of time, the PS overheats, then shuts down.
3) Devices attached to the computer will not recieve power, so they don't initialize, and this gives a false device error message.

Digression: the annoying thing is that number 1 and 2 up there can also be caused if your CPU fan blows out.

+_+

If you don't just send it out for repair:
Now, first thing you should do is look up your computer model on the internet and find out what BIOS it uses. With that info, then look up the beep codes. Radorn can probably help you from there.

Also, if you go around removing devices, a word of warning. Don't wear wool or other static-prone stuff. If you have a grounding strap use it, and if you don't be certain that you are always touching the case in some way at all times. This will help prevent accidentally discharging against your hardware and seriously screwing it up.

General stuff from that point, if you can't work it out any other way:
Certainly you can try resetting the BIOS. In my experience this doesn't help much, since settings usually can't cause a stop like this one. Still, it is a possibility.

Trick 1 is to clean your computer. Physically. This is probably the no.1 biggest trick to use. There's two reasons for this. One is that dust, when it builds up into a sheet, can cause short circuits. The other is that when dust builds up in stuff like the fans, it increases load on the fan and decreases the air moved. Both can create false positives within the BIOS.
If you can get ahold of compressed air, more power to you. I've had to very carefully use napkins, and this is not recommended at all.
Clean as thoroughly as possible--spotless, in other words--then try again.

Trick 2 is to test if stuff is initializing. Try removing any audio, video, network or other cards you may have installed. Disconnect the power to the CD/DVD/ETC drives. Start up again. If it is a problem with a device initializing, that should get past the beep codes and give you a full-blooded BIOS error instead ;*)
+On success, try reattaching things one by one. You may have a failed device, or it may not be getting enough power. You can read or look up the power consumption for each device and add it up, but in reality power supplies don't necessarily put out as much as they should. The only real way to test for that would be to try the device in a different computer or try a different combination of devices. The device itself may not be faulty, but the PS may be failing. Yeah, fun stuff.
-On failure, you'll have to try for something more obscure.

Trick 3 is to check connections. Check that the power cable leading from the PS to the motherboard is firmly connected (disconnect then reconnect). Check that your RAM is firmly installed in place. Check all the cables leading from here to there are firmly in place. Test it again, and hope for the best.

Otherwise, it will probably be beyond the scope of what you can do at home.
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[acceptable67]

What Zoinkity says makes me want to say something.

When I took my RAM out, just because I wanted to make sure everything was in it's correct place, I put it back, my computer would power on, but not my monitor signal. I'm like 'Wtf..........' And it took me a while to figure out that it was the RAM. So I moved it over 1 Slot [So now it looks like 'RAM1, RAM2, EMPTY, RAM3] and it powered up everything just fine.

How does this happen?
_________________

Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[flopperr999]

I'm too lazy to read above, all I know is the beeping is coming from the motherboard, which indicates hardware malfunction...either something broke, or somethings not plugged in right, etc. Check with the manufacturer and see what the number of beeps indicates, then take a look..

radorn wrote:

Plus, choosing apple means you are going to miss on almost anything we do in this community... Emulation, onlineplay, cheatdevice and backup unit support, hacking tools... most of that is PC/Windows only.

Actually I've made the switch to Mac, and I must say I am impressed. I can do anything Windows users can do, because I have installed Windows XP Pro with a Apple application called Boot Camp. Its allows me to run basically any OS (XP, Vista, Linux, Mac OS within Mac OS, etc.)

Make the switch to Apple, my friend. I have a feeling one day this company with rule the world. (Well, not exactly but... )

[PaRaDoX]

well I already sent it out for repair, a few days later I found out the meaning of beep codes and according to it it seems it is a BIOS Motherboard faillure thingy,since it only beeps once and that's what the book says.It's been about 5 days now since it has been out for repair and I just hope the dude fixes it because I can't stand laptops, I'm gonna try to install Windows 7 Starter on pc when or if I get it back using the disc that came with the new laptop(not the pc, laptop is "newer").Installing it as simple as inserting the disc right?
NOTE: I only found the book after my mom sent it for repairs

[PaRaDoX]

Well we got a new pc. It is a Compaq Presario, I have never heard of it.It has AMD Athlon 2 Prccessor.
System Memory 2Gb
Hard Drive 500 gB
Optical Drive : SuberMulti DVD Burner with LightScribe Tech
Those this sound good?

[Wreck]

Sounds just like mine, though slightly upgraded (because it is newer). I don't really do much gaming on it, but it's been able to do everything I've needed it to. With your improved specs, it'd likely be even better.
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