# MAJOR issue, 3 long beeps NEED HELP



## Space1 (Feb 28, 2011)

i turned on my computer last night, and it gave me three long beeps and there was no video signal. I have opened the case and made sure nothing was loose, took out the graphics card and dusted it, also did this with the ram. I unhooked the HDD and DVDROM, but it still gives me three beeps and no video signal, and it was working fine the other day when i last turned it on. my computer is a gateway with a p4 3,2 GHz LGA775 bus, 1gb DDR1 ram, 512 mb pny graphics card. NEED HELP PLEASE!!!


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

3 long beeps is usually bad ram on most boards but without the make and model of the board its hard to be sure.
I would try running the system with only 1 ram stick and then another until you find the bad one or ones.


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## Space1 (Feb 28, 2011)

it worked , thank you a lot, also i know these are things not to do but can you do it if you want to, use 2 different brands of ram and 2 different sizes, also could a board built for pc3200 also run pc2700


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

While it is possible to mix RAM specs it commonly results in problems. You have to try it to be certain.
Using PC 2700 on a Mobo that can use PC 3200 shouldn't be a problem.
If we knew the Brand & Model of the Mobo we could be more detailed.


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## Space1 (Feb 28, 2011)

i was just wondering in case my memory goes bad which i doubt. because all i have is pc2700, i also had a pc a while ago using both 3200 and 2700 at the same time which can't be good. i want to know if one of my 512 mb sticks from before is still good would i be able to use it along with my 1gb stick i replaced the bad ram with, even if they are different brands but same specs. the board i know is an intel server board made for gateway, i will repost soon to give the exact board.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

It is never a good idea two mix two ram speeds. If a single stick of ram works but multiple of the same do not work correctly it is either because a stick is bad or because the ram is basically incompatible. Often times 1 stick of incompatible ram will run a system but add more of the same and they won't. I would run memtest86 which makes a boot-able cd on each ram stick to check. Run 4 complete tests. Each test has 8 passes.
memtest86.org - mem test 86 Resources and Information.


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