What are the standard POST warnings?

[Chris255]

I'm salvaging two computers nto one that works...except that it doesn't! The motherboard will not start up to the BIOS, but I do get the Power On Self Test beeps. The board is an ECS P4VXASD2+, and the processor is an Intel Celeron 1.8Mhz.

The frustrating part is that the instruction manual doesn't tell me what the different POST warnings are. I emailed ECS for support, and received an email back which said they are on vacation until Jan 2, please resend your email after that date, and by the way don't expect a fast return due the fact that we've probably got tons of support emails to process! Thanks a lot!

Good, now I've got that off my chest, can someone help me with this: I get an opening long beep, followed by eight short beeps...what does this mean?

I've tried disconnecting everything except the processor, memory and video card - still get the same. I swopped out the video card - still the same. I don't have another stick of memory, but I tried just taking the memory out to see if the POST warning changed - sure enough - three long beeps instead of eight short beeps. So I'm thinking the memory is probably OK.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanking you in anticipation.....

[doctorgonzo]

Here's a list of beep codes: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

I'm not sure what BIOS you have on that board, but the only explanation listed for 1 long 8 short on that page is a "Display/retrace test failed".

[Chris255]

Thanks Dr G...I have fixed it. So, eight beeps means it can't read the RAM on the video card...but having swopped out the video card, I knew that the card itself was not the problem. So I ran the motherboard out of the case - and it worked fine.

Close inspection revealed that the video card was not seating properly in the AGP connector - this was caused by the case not allowing the card to slide fully into the slot. There is some play in the positioning of the motherboard - I pushed the board forward about 2mm away from the rear panel - and now the video card sits down properly.

Thanks - that was definitely a case of Murphies law

Chris