Computer Trouble shooting - BIOS beep codes and STOP message

[DNR]

Here are some quick reference tips to trouble shooting computer problems:

BIOS Beep Codes:
There are any different beep codes for different motherboards, But, most motherboards now days adhere to the IBM standard beep codes with the exception of a few OEMs.

Below are the IBM beep codes:

No Beeps Power Short, No power, Bad CPU or Motherboard or Loose Peripherals

1 Short Beep Normal Post. The computer booted fine and everything is normal

2 Short Beeps POST Error – Error code usually shown on screen

Continuous Beep Power Supply, Motherboard or Keyboard problem

Repeated Short Beeps Power Supply or Motherboard problem
1 Long, 1 Short Beep Motherboard problem
1 Long, 2 Short Beeps Video Card Problem (check if its working and fully pushed in)
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Video Problem
3 Long Beeps Keyboard Error

Repeated Long Beeps Memory Error (check RAM is working, correct type and fully pushed in)

Continuous High-Low Beeps CPU is Overheating (check thermal paste, heatsink seated correctly and fans are spinning)
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Beep Code Manual, Better Than Gold Techies, American Megatrends Int. & Phoenix

The two most-used brands are AMI (American Megatrends International) and Phoenix.

Below are listed the beep codes for AMI systems, and here are the beep codes for Phoenix systems.

AMI Beep Codes

Beep Code Meaning
1 beep DRAM refresh failure. There is a problem in the system memory or the motherboard.
2 beeps Memory parity error. The parity circuit is not working properly.
3 beeps Base 64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory.
4 beeps System timer not operational. There is problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
5 beeps Processor failure. The system CPU has failed.
6 beeps Gate A20/keyboard controller failure. The keyboard IC controller has failed, preventing gate A20 from switching the processor to protect mode.
7 beeps Virtual mode exception error.
8 beeps Video memory error. The BIOS cannot write to the frame buffer memory on the video card.
9 beeps ROM checksum error. The BIOS ROM chip on the motherboard is likely faulty.
10 beeps CMOS checksum error. Something on the motherboard is causing an error when trying to interact with the CMOS.
11 beeps Bad cache memory. An error in the level 2 cache memory.
1 long beep, 2 short Failure in the video system.
1 long beep, 3 short A failure has been detected in memory above 64K.
1 long beep, 8 short Display test failure.
Continuous beeping A problem with the memory or video.

Phoenix Beep Codes

Phoenix uses sequences of beeps to indicate problems. The "-" between each number below indicates a pause between each beep sequence. For example, 1-2-3 indicates one beep, followed by a pause and two beeps, followed by a pause and three beeps. Phoenix version before 4.x use 3-beep codes, while Phoenix versions starting with 4.x use 4-beep codes.

4-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-1-3 Faulty CPU/motherboard. Verify real mode.
1-1-2-1 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-2-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize chipset registers with initial POST values.
1-1-3-2 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize CPU registers.
1-1-3-2
1-1-3-3
1-1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-1-4-1 Level 2 cache error.
1-1-4-3 I/O port error.
1-2-1-1 Power management error.
1-2-1-2
1-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-2-2-1 Keyboard controller failure.
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
1-2-3-1 System timer error.
1-2-3-3 DMA error.
1-2-4-1 IRQ controller error.
1-3-1-1 DRAM refresh error.
1-3-1-3 A20 gate failure.
1-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-3-3-1 Extended memory error.
1-3-3-3
1-3-4-1
1-3-4-3 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
1-4-1-3
1-4-2-4 CPU error.
1-4-3-1
2-1-4-1 BIOS ROM shadow error.
1-4-3-2
1-4-3-3 Level 2 cache error.
1-4-4-1
1-4-4-2
2-1-1-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4
2-1-3-2 I/O port failure.
2-1-3-1
2-1-3-3 Video system failure.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4 I/O port failure.
2-1-4-3
2-2-1-1 Video card failure.
2-2-1-3
2-2-2-1
2-2-2-3 Keyboard controller failure.
2-2-3-1 IRQ error.
2-2-4-1 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
2-3-1-1
2-3-3-3 Extended memory failure.
2-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-3-2-3
2-3-3-1 Level 2 cache error.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3
2-4-1-1 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-4-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-4-2-1 RTC error.
2-4-2-3 Keyboard controller error.
2-4-4-1 IRQ error.
3-1-1-1
3-1-1-3
3-1-2-1
3-1-2-3 I/O port error.
3-1-3-1
3-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-1-4-1
3-2-1-1
3-2-1-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-2-1 Keyboard controller error.
3-2-2-3
3-2-3-1
3-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-4-3 IRQ error.
3-3-1-1 RTC error.
3-3-1-3 Key lock error.
3-3-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-3-3-3
3-3-4-1
3-3-4-3
3-4-1-1
3-4-1-3
3-4-2-1
3-4-2-3
3-4-3-1
3-4-4-1
3-4-4-4 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-1-1-1 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
4-2-1-1
4-2-1-3
4-2-2-1 IRQ failure.
4-2-2-3
4-2-3-1
4-2-3-3
4-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-2-4-3 Keyboard controller error.
4-3-1-3
4-3-1-4
4-3-2-1
4-3-2-2
4-3-3-1
4-3-4-1
4-3-4-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-3-3-2
4-3-3-4 IRQ failure.
4-3-3-3
4-3-4-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-2 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-3 Faulty motherboard/CMOS read-write failure.
1-1-4 Faulty BIOS/BIOS ROM checksum error.
1-2-1 System timer not operational. There is a problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
1-2-2
1-2-3 Faulty motherboard/DMA failure.
1-3-1 Memory refresh failure.
1-3-2
1-3-3
1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-4-1 Address line failure.
1-4-2 Parity RAM failure.
1-4-3 Timer failure.
1-4-4 NMI port failure.
2-_-_ Any combination of beeps after 2 indicates a failure in the first 64K of memory.
3-1-1 Master DMA failure.
3-1-2 Slave DMA failure.
3-1-3
3-1-4 Interrupt controller failure.
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failure.
3-3-1
3-3-2 CMOS error.
3-3-4 Video card failure.
3-4-1 Video card failure.
4-2-1 Timer failure.
4-2-2 CMOS shutdown failure.
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure.
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode.
4-3-1 RAM test failure.
4-3-3 Timer failure.
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure.
4-4-1 Serial port failure.
4-4-2 Parallel port failure.
4-4-3 Math coprocessor.

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STOP Messages:
Stop 0x0000000A: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL - This Windows stop error indicates that a kernal mode process or driver tried to access a memory location that it did not have permission to access, or at a IRQL that was too high (a kernal mode process can only access a IRQL that is lower than or equal to its own IRQL).
This stop message usually means that there is incompatible or faulty hardware. In personal experience its usually bad ram.

Stop 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL - Note the "Driver" part at the start off the message, this isnt the same as the error message above - This Windows stop error indicates that the computer tried to access memory using a kernal process which had a IRQL that was too high (as kernal processes can only access IRQLs that it is either equal to or IRQLs that less than it). This is usually caused by incorrect or incompatible drivers.

Stop 0x00000024: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM - This Windows stop error typically indicates that a problem occured with the file NTFS.sys such is the driver that allows the operating system to read and write to NTFS formatted harddrives. This can often be caused by harddrive problems.

Stop 0x000000ED: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME - This Windows stop error is caused by a Input/Output sub-system tried to use the boot volume but failed. This error can occur during an upgrade to Windows XP Professional on computers that use faster ATA harddrives or have controllers with the wrong cabling. This can sometimes be caused by a
failing hard drive.

Stop 0x00000050: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA - This Windows stop error indicates that information that the operating system was looking for was not found in memory (ram). This occurs when the system looks for information in the ram that doesn’t exist. This is usually caused by defective RAM (including Ram on your motherboard, L2 cache and
video card ram).

Stop 0x0000002E: DATA_BUS_ERROR - This Windows stop error indicates an error in the system memory. It is caused when the system tries to access a memory address that doesn’t exist. This usually is caused by defective or failed RAM (including those on your motherboard, Level 2 case or the memory on your video card). This can also indicate hard drive damage caused by viruses or other computer problems.

Stop 0x0000007B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE - This Windows stop error indicates that Windows XP Professional is unable to access the boot volume or system partition of your harddrive during startup.
Installing incorrect drivers for your harddrives or updating the storage adapter hardware usually causes this error. It is also possible that the boot volume or system partition was damaged either by hardware failure or a virus infection.

Stop 0x000000EA: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER - This Windows stop error indicates that there is a problem with a device driver (such as the video card driver) that is causing the system to pause indefinitely. This problem is usually causes when the video card driver is waiting for the video card hardware to become idle but never does. This usually
indicates that there is a hardware problem with the video device or the video card driver is faulty.

Stop 0x0000008e: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA - This is typically caused by faulty RAM or the RAM configuration you are running is incompatible with Windows XP.

Stop 0x00000044: MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS - This problem is primarily limited to Windows 2000 as is caused by a bad driver called "falstaff.sys". This can be stopped by updating this driver from the vendor at http://www.in-system.com

Other codes:

Stop message 0x0000001E Descriptive text: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

Stop message 0x000000EA Descriptive text: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER

Stop message 0x00000050 Descriptive text: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Stop message 0x000000BE Descriptive text: ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY

Stop message 0x0000000A on an existing installation Descriptive text: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Stop message 0x0000000A on a new installation Descriptive text: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Stop messages 0x00000023 and 0x00000024 Descriptive text: FAT_FILE_SYSTEM or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

Stop message 0x0000007B Descriptive text: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Stop message 0x0000007F Descriptive text: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

Stop message 0x0000009F Descriptive text: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

Stop message 0xC000021A Descriptive text: FATAL_SYSTEM_ERROR

Stop message 0xC0000221 Descriptive text: BAD_IMAGE_CHECKSUM

Stop message 0xC0000218 Descriptive text: UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 85339.aspx
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For useful diag tools check the downloads section on suck-o.com

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reference:
technibble.com
technet.microsoft.com
makelinux.net/books

DNR

[Still_Learning]

Thanks this will come in handy for studying for my A+ exam

I also found these flash cards for boot error codes, makes it easy to remember

Code: Select all

http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/cards.php?title=-2006-common-boot-error-codes-1

[DNR]

updated beep codes /bump

DNR

[bad_brain]

cool, now I don't have to google for anymore when I need it...