Possible CPU failure?

jm240 · 16 Aug 2009 at 19:06

Hi all, I have a computer which has a MSI K8N-NEO4 mainboard which uses AWARD BIOS (Phoenix).

When I fire her up I get a 2 second continuous beep, with a 2 second pause then it repeats.

According to award this beep code indicates cpu problems. Can anyone esle shed some light?

If it is a cpu failure this will require a mobo, ram and cpu upgrade as socket 939 is no longer in use.

As my OS and files are located on the hard drive if I bought a new hard drive to expand the memory and installed a new os on the new hard drive can I still access the other hard drive through the new one within windows?

Or will there be format, security issues?

Thanks all. Hopefully I can resolve this without buying any new parts but it does look bleak.

Is there anythihng I can try before investing hard earned cash?

Thanks!

JonJ678 · 16 Aug 2009 at 20:07

Change anything immediately before it failed? Cpus do break, but they do so very rarely. The ram or motherboard is more likely to have just given up on you. Do you get different beeps with the ram removed, and can you test components in a different machine?

As long as you have the current hard drive unplugged while you install windows onto the new one, then connect it afterwards it'll be painless. Otherwise windows may write random crap all over the start of the old hard drive, try to install to the wrong place and all sorts of other rubbish.

I think you're probably upgrading, not much will still have warranty from march 06. Hopefully you're still reasonably interested in computers and will gain enjoyment from the new system running far, far quicker than the old

jm240 · 17 Aug 2009 at 12:44

JonJ678 said:
Change anything immediately before it failed? Cpus do break, but they do so very rarely. The ram or motherboard is more likely to have just given up on you. Do you get different beeps with the ram removed, and can you test components in a different machine?

As long as you have the current hard drive unplugged while you install windows onto the new one, then connect it afterwards it'll be painless. Otherwise windows may write random crap all over the start of the old hard drive, try to install to the wrong place and all sorts of other rubbish.

I think you're probably upgrading, not much will still have warranty from march 06. Hopefully you're still reasonably interested in computers and will gain enjoyment from the new system running far, far quicker than the old

Hi Jon thanks for the message.

I changed a faulty PSU back in november as the previous one failed. It's worked flawlessly ever since up until 2-3 days ago when the pc produced this problem.

I can test in a different machine i'll give that a go, but what if I remove the ram and the beeps change what does that indicate? surely the beeps will just tell me ram is missing?

with regards to the hard drive thanks for the info. I presume I need to set the new hard drive to primary and the existing one to slave? It is SATA=II not sure if that makes any difference.

And yeah conveniently the warranty will have expired on the hardware I bought in March 06. I'd love to see a new upgraded specc'd up machine I find the enjoyment of upgrading and building still very rewarding the only issue here is money!

Thanks Jon

tuppers360 · 17 Aug 2009 at 14:15

I am having the same problem do you have another rig? Luckily I do and have narrowed it down to MB or PSU!!

jm240 · 17 Aug 2009 at 20:13

I have another rig which is AM2 socket so different ram is used unfortunately. Hope you get it sorted.

jm240 · 1 Mar 2010 at 14:41

Hi peeps, I know I made this thread a good few months ago but I am still having issues (well sort of).

After I made this thread we ended up boxing everything up as we was moving house months in advance and my PC just sat in a box collecting dust while I used my Laptop.

Turns out, I have noticed a few issues:

1) The motherboard fan no longer spins but it does if I give it a push start with my finger!

2) I attached 2 power cables to the SATA-II hard drive which apparently can cause issues, so I fixed this.

3) The keyboard connection at the back seems a bit loose, unplugged it and plugged it back in, reset the CMOS and fired her up and she seems ok.

4) The ATX Power connectors to the motherboard seem to slip out or come loose, so I gave it a firm reseating - Surely though if it does come loose will I not loose power completely and the PC would shut down?

5)Overclocking - everytime I up the FSB a notch the problems occur, the PC will freeze I'll reboot and I get the beep again. I'll reset the CMOS and reboot and SOMETIMES it will come back on other times, I have to end up reseating everything.

It's a bit strange, but since removing the power connector to the HDD ( I had two previously) it's working as we speak. I have had to load bios defaults and no overclocking and it seems ok so far! - does seem a shame to run the 3800x2 at default 2Ghz though

Thanks for your help and maybe this will help someone else.