Problems with newly built machine - continuous beeping!

Artheas · 21 Mar 2006 at 18:56

I'm using...

Athlon 64 3000+
Abit an8-SLI
2 x 1GB Ballistix
7900GT
Enermax Noisetaker 600W

There is NO heatsink for the CPU.

When i power on, the system boots up fine, however there is a continuous beeping. I'd say it was 1 long, 1 short, 1 long, 1 short, etc etc with no gaps between beeps. I can get into the BIOS. All the fans turn, so power seems fine, GPU seems fine, as do CPU and RAM since i can get into the BIOS, right?

Then the machine turns itself off (beeping continues), however this is obviously due to the overheated CPU. so i need to turn off the PSU to get the beeping to stop.

Does anyone know why the beeping is happening? Could it be that the mobo has detected no conection to the CPU fan connector?

I've not had the chance to 'investigate' further due to the lack of heatsink (should be arriving from OCUK tomorrow), perhaps someone could enlighten me? This is quite frustrating!

MeatLoaf · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:03

You could well have fried your CPU. What posessed you to try it with no HSF? :confused:

G|mp · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:08

KizZ · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:12

Jesus its 99% possible that you've killed it! :eek:

CPU cooling is very important and should not be overlooked. A less than average CPU temperature prolongs CPU life (up to more than 10 years). On the other hand high CPU temperatures can cause unreliable operation, such as computer freezes, or slow operation. Extremely high temperatures can cause immediate CPU destruction by melting the materials in the chip and changing the physical shape of the sensitive transistors on the CPU. Because of this, never switch on the computer if your CPU has no cooling at all. It is an extremely stupid thing to do, the scenario of 'I'll just test whether my CPU works!' as by doing so, you would find that the CPU fries in less than 5 seconds and you will be off to buy a new one.

Artheas · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:15

Lol i bought my parts from 2 sites, the cpu cooler still hadnt arrived when it was due, so i said cancel it so that i'd get the rest of the stuff. I'll be getting the Freezer 64 Pro tomorrow.
I didnt think the temps would get high enough to have the mobo switch off for safety, if all i was doing was booting up the machine

The 3000+ is a temp until i get my Opteron in a few weeks.

The CPU is fine, i just wanna know why the beeping occurs. Do you think that it IS because the mobo has detected no connection to the CPU fan?

Gibbo · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:15

Hi there

That beep code is the high temperature and no-fan connected warning alarm going off.

Get the heatsink and fan connected up and power back on, hopefully all will be fine. The newer CPU's are more tolerable and the motherboards BIOS shut automatically shut the system down before things get hot enough to cause damage.

If you've burnt the CPU out then you've just chucked a load of money away as thats warranty void.

Artheas · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:20

Gibbo said:
Hi there

That beep code is the temperature warning alarm going off.

Get the heatsink and fan connected up and power back on, hopefully all will be fine.

If you've burnt the CPU out then you've just chucked a load of money away as thats warranty void.

Thanks, i couldnt find that info on the net based just on the beep code.
Although it is odd that that alarm went off the 1st time i booted up, about 5 seconds into the machine starting.

Well i guess i'll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks

nikebee · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:43

surely the motherboard manual would have had a section telling you what different kind of beeps mean what anyway?

but turning on a pc without a CPU heatsink is a big no no... don't worry we're all allowed one silly mistake when building our first machines

Artheas · 22 Mar 2006 at 08:26

nikebee said:
surely the motherboard manual would have had a section telling you what different kind of beeps mean what anyway?

but turning on a pc without a CPU heatsink is a big no no... don't worry we're all allowed one silly mistake when building our first machines

There are absolutely none. However there is an appendix full of POST codes that translate the LED codes from the mobo. Examples include 'Test 8254', 'Save all data in stack back to CMOS'. Seems to just be an indicator of what the mobo is u pto, rather than from troubleshooting.

Unless it's expecting me to shrink down and rescue all the data back to the safety of the CMOS.

I can't wait for the cooler to arrive today, not knowing whether i've inadvertently destroyed some part of the PC is driving me nuts.

ns400r · 22 Mar 2006 at 10:26

There is NO heatsink for the CPU.

What are you like? :eek:

That said, at least you will now have first hand experience of the AMD CPU overheat protection (or not).

Please keep us informed after the heatsink is fitted.

helpimcrap · 22 Mar 2006 at 10:52

CPU should be ok i imagine as built in protection should have kicked in. its what its there for right? fan failure?

you can run and engine with no coolant but only for so long.

Admiral Huddy · 22 Mar 2006 at 12:22

hang on.. the chap here is saying that the motherboard doesn't detect a CPU fan.. but that doesn't mean that it isn't working?

Is that correct TS?

Is the fan working - yes or no?

ns400r · 22 Mar 2006 at 13:42

Admiral Huddy said:
hang on.. the chap here is saying that the motherboard doesn't detect a CPU fan.. but that doesn't mean that it isn't working?

Is that correct TS?

Is the fan working - yes or no?

Read the first post again.
There is NO fan. There is NO heatsink. There ARE lots of beeps.

Admiral Huddy · 22 Mar 2006 at 15:10

ns400r said:
Read the first post again.
There is NO fan. There is NO heatsink. There ARE lots of beeps.

oh yeah!

No Fan = N00b!

Artheas · 22 Mar 2006 at 15:42

Admiral Huddy said:
oh yeah!

No Fan = N00b!

Reasoning for no fan was given in 1st post

I installed the fan it booted up without the beeping.. however not HDDs were detected. I fiddled with the BIOS for a bit, then they could be detected (i didnt actually DO anything).

But now i have another problem.
I've removed most of the hardware connected to the mobo, except from the CPU, GPU, RAM, DVD drive, HDD.
I try to install windows, setup starts, but when i get to 'setup is loading windows', the machine turns itself off!!

I've looked it up on the net, others seem to have the machine hang at this point, but not the machine shutting down.
They recommend removing all unnecessary hardware to see if it makes a diff, since at that point, windows does some sort of hardware check, but makes no diff for me.

The problem definitely isnt with the CD, i've tried different HDDs (SATA and IDE).

BIOS is up to date.
All temps are in the 20/30s, shutdown is always at that exact point.

Help...!

basmic · 22 Mar 2006 at 15:55

I can't help wondering if you've caused damage to your CPU.

The only way to know for sure is by putting another working CPU in it. If Windows installs fine with that, then you know it's the CPU - if not, rule out your motherboard and memory.

Disable all onboard devices, including USB, unless you need them.

Artheas · 22 Mar 2006 at 16:05

basmic said:
I can't help wondering if you've caused damage to your CPU.

The only way to know for sure is by putting another working CPU in it. If Windows installs fine with that, then you know it's the CPU - if not, rule out your motherboard and memory.

Disable all onboard devices, including USB, unless you need them.

I'm in the process of testing various things right now.

I had 2 x 1GB Ballistix RAM installed in dual channel mode.
I removed one of them, tried installing windows again, and when it reached that point, it stayed there for a few secs (can't remember how long it normally takes), and managed to continue!!
So it's something to do with the RAM. I'm going to test different configurations..

Would it be a problem with the RAM, or does windows not like installing with 2GB/dual channel RAM? lol..

basmic · 22 Mar 2006 at 16:10

Artheas said:
I'm in the process of testing various things right now.

I had 2 x 1GB Ballistix RAM installed in dual channel mode.
I removed one of them, tried installing windows again, and when it reached that point, it stayed there for a few secs (can't remember how long it normally takes), and managed to continue!!
So it's something to do with the RAM. I'm going to test different configurations..

Would it be a problem with the RAM, or does windows not like installing with 2GB/dual channel RAM? lol..

Not got any other RAM you can test with?

It could be that the motherboard doesn't like your chosen RAM.

Artheas · 22 Mar 2006 at 16:30

basmic said:
Not got any other RAM you can test with?

It could be that the motherboard doesn't like your chosen RAM.

Nope, my 1st desktop PC in a way.

The most bizarre thing is that i'm now installing windows, using 2GB in single channel mode. This time when it got the the 'setup is installing windows' point, it took considerably longer to get to the next stage.

Assuming the rest of installation goes without a hitch, i'll try switching back to dual channel later.

The ram is DDR500, it comes up as being DDR400 (most boards are like this, is that right?), but many other boards (eg a8n series) have the same max FSB and memory speeds, i cant think why it only has problems in dual channel really.

The RAM is also running at 2T now, dunno why that is =/

ted34 · 22 Mar 2006 at 17:41

If your not using a cpu fan then that causes the beeping as theres no fan detected on the cpu header. You can disable it in the bios. I had to on my board as i have all my fans connected to a fan controller and didnt bother connecting up the sensor wire of the fans to the fan headers. Other cause will be from cpu going over certain temp and causing the alarms to ring. This can also be changed in the bios but its prob best just to wait until a heatsink arrives before next turning it on