BIOS Beep codes – understanding the errors (Part-II)

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes

Code Description

1 short beep - System is OK

2 short beeps - POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem

1 long, 1 short beep - System board problem

1 long, 2 short beeps - Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)

1 long, 3 short beeps - Display adapter problem (EGA)

3 long beeps - keyboard card

IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions

Code Description

100 - 199 - System Board

200 - 299 - Memory

300 - 399 - Keyboard

400 - 499 - Monochrome Display

500 - 599 - Colour/Graphics Display

600 - 699 - Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter

700 - 799 - Math Coprocessor

900 - 999 - Parallel Printer Port

1000 - 1099 - Alternate Printer Adapter

1100 - 1299 - Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port

1300 - 1399 - Game Port

1400 - 1499 - Colour/Graphics Printer

1500 - 1599 - Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port

1700 - 1799 - Hard Drive and/or Adapter

1800 - 1899 - Expansion Unit (XT)

2000 - 2199 - Bisynchronous Communication Adapter

2400 - 2599 - EGA system-board Video (MCA)

3000 - 3199 - LAN Adapter

4800 - 4999 - Internal Modem

7000 - 7099 - Phoenix BIOS Chips

7300 - 7399 - 3.5" Disk Drive

8900 - 8999 - MIDI Adapter

11200 - 11299 - SCSI Adapter

21000 - 21099 - SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller

21500 - 21599 - SCSI CD-ROM System

AMI BIOS Beep Codes

Code Description

1 Short Beep - System OK

2 Short Beeps - Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory

3 Short Beeps - Memory failure in the first 64 KB

4 Short Beeps - Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory

or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning

5 Short Beeps - The CPU on the motherboard generated an error

6 Short Beeps - The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode

7 Short Beeps - The CPU generated an exception interrupt

8 Short Beeps - The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty

9 Short Beeps - The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS

10 Short Beeps - The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed

11 Short Beeps - The external cache is faulty

1 Long, 3 Short Beeps - Memory Problems

1 Long, 8 Short Beeps - Video Card Problems

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes

Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.

Code Description

1-1-3 - CMOS read/write failure

1-1-4 - ROM BIOS checksum error

1-2-1 - Programmable interval timer failure

1-2-2 - DMA initialisation failure

1-2-3 - DMA page register read/write failure

1-3-1 - RAM refresh verification failure

1-3-3 - First 64k RAM chip or data line failure

1-3-4 - First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure

1-4-1 - Address line failure first 64k RAM

1-4-2 - Parity failure first 64k RAM

2-_-_ - Faulty Memory

3-1-_ - Faulty Motherboard

3-2-4 - Keyboard controller Test failure

3-3-4 - Screen initialisation failure

3-4-1 - Screen retrace test failure

3-4-2 - Search for video ROM in progress

4-2-1 - Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure

4-2-2 - Shutdown test in progress or failure

4-2-3 - Gate A20 failure

4-2-4 - Unexpected interrupt in protected mode

4-3-1 - RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh

4-3-2 - Faulty Motherboard

4-3-3 - Interval timer channel 2 test or failure

4-3-4 - Time of Day clock test failure

4-4-1 - Serial port test or failure

4-4-2 - Parallel port test or failure

4-4-3 - Math coprocessor test or failure

Low 1-1-2 - System Board select failure

Low 1-1-3 - Extended CMOS RAM failure