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BIOS Beep Codes
If a hardware problem occurs the computer may emit a number of beeps from the
speaker. These are known as beep codes. The pitch and duration of the beep
codes may vary but there will always be a set number of beeps. These beeps stem
from the BIOS’s initial check on the system and will normally occur in the first few
seconds of power on.
Beeps codes represent a terminal error. If the BIOS detects a terminal error
condition, it outputs an error beep code, halts the POST, and attempts to display a
port 80h code on a POST card’s LED display.
Table 7 Beep Codes
Beeps
Description
1
One short beep before boot
1-2
Search for option ROM’s. One long, two short beeps on
checksum failure
1-2-2-3
BIOS ROM checksum
1-3-1-1
Test DRAM refresh, problem with memory on baseboard
1-3-1-3
Test 8742 keyboard controller
1-3-4-1
Memory error at address line XXXX
1-3-4-3
RAM failure on data bits XXXX of low byte of memory bus
1-4-1-1
RAM failure on data bits XXXX of high byte of memory bus
2-1-2-3
ROM copyright notice failure
2-2-3-1
Test for unexpected interrupt
