# Infernal siren-like sound from motherboard



## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

I can't stand it much longer. This sound is HIDEOUSLY annoying. The only reason I am on this computer is that it is the only access I have to the internet.

Ever since yesterday, my computer was been screwing up. Big lags and eventually restarts. Today, this beeping started. And hasn't stopped. I eventually found out that the CPU fan 3-prong connector was unplugged, and I got it back in, but it is STILL making the sound, even though the CPU fan is still working. I even ran everest and got this:

Temperatures: 
Motherboard 22 °C (72 °F) 
CPU 26 °C (79 °F) 
WDC WD2500JB-00GVC0 21 °C (70 °F) 
SAMSUNG SP0802N 22 °C (72 °F) 

Voltage Values: 
CPU Core 1.76 V 
Aux 0.14 V 
+3.3 V 3.26 V 
+5 V 5.16 V 
+12 V 12.16 V 
-12 V -12.03 V 
-5 V -5.15 V 
+5 V Standby 5.04 V 
VBAT Battery 3.23 V 
Debug Info F FF FF FF 
Debug Info T 22 26 255 
Debug Info V 6E 09 CC C0 C8 23 33 (01) 

Does anyone have ANY idea what is going on? I have to end this beeping, or there is going to be violence in the house. It is literally so annoying that tempers are flaring, but again, only computer in the house.

If you need any more everest information, let me know. Fast answers appreciated, even though I know I can't really expect them.


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## steelman2202 (Jun 1, 2005)

Unplug the PC from the wall

Open the PC up.

Take out the CMOS battery for 10-15 minutes

Replace, close the PC back up, and plug back in.

Try running and see what happens?


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

This probably sounds very silly, but...any advice for popping this puppy out? Tried it once, couldn't seem to get it out. It seems fully surrounded in plastic except for a small tab on one side, but I can't figure out how to use the tab to leverage the battery out. I am always very paranoid around my hardware. Hell, I get nervous installing ram. Popping in a CPU would probably kill me...


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## steelman2202 (Jun 1, 2005)

I assume that clip holds the battery down and in place...?

If so, I would try to use a small nonmagnetic flathead screwdriver, or another small flat metal object to push the clip out or away from the battery. There may be only one part of the clip that is the latch, while the rest is stationary. Find the piece that moves and move it out of the way. 

Be sure to properly ground yourself on something metal and unplug the PC before sinking your hands into it.

Also, if you have found the clear CMOS jumper, that should be sufficient.


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Actually, it looks like it's attached to the battery, or perhaps below the battery even...I'll scrounge for something small enough. My girlfriend suggested tweezers, but luck has it I don't own any. The battery is in a pretty crappy place, I have to yank out some SATA cables just to be able to have a chance at reaching it each time I go for a try.


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Ok, I did that...Although now I am starting to regret it.

When I first got it out, I waited a few seconds then popped it back in and plugged the computer back in. Everything was the same, so I came to reply and saw "15 minutes", not seconds. So I took it all down again, popped it out and waited the oh so long 15 minutes.

After that was over, I turned it on and lo! The siren stopped! Huzzah! But...crap. The computer wasn't working at all now. it turned on fine, and power seemed to be going (I could open both my CD and DVD drives, and when they closed I could hear it try and read) but the monitor stayed on power save. I replugged in the monitor to the video card, hell, even ended up taking the video card out and putting it back in to ensure it wasn't loose or something, but nothing. I gave up and went to sleep in frustration.

This morning came around, and things are now even worse. When I try and start the computer, the siren is back. Even worse, not only does it not seem to send anything to the monitor (automatically going into power save again), but it also beeps at me. While making the two-tone siren. Didn't sound like any beep code I've heard though, it made one beep, paused, then made 6-8 short beeps.

So here I am at the local public library waiting for time to get help. With a computer that doesn't work and makes a siren noise that gives people headaches. The only computer I own. And winter semester just started. *sigh* Does anyone have any idea what might be happening now? The local computer repair place not only takes a week before they even GET to your computer, but they charge way too much. Not "best buy: we charge you $50 to install ram for you" much, but I literally have no money right now.

Any ideas, particularly fast ones, would help.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Reseat the video card again and make sure if the card needs a power plug from the psu it is pluged in.

Reseat the ram, hopefully you will then have video.

Make sure the 20/24 pin connection and the 4 pin connection from the psu to the motherboard is tight

The siren is usually a indication that the cpu is overheating but if the cpu fan is pluged into the wrong connector on the motherboard the siren will go off because the board thinks the cpu fan has failed. If you look real close the correct place to connect the fan should be labled "cpu fan"


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Alright, I reseated the video card when I got back, and it went back to the night before: The siren wasn't going off, but it wouldn't show any video either. No siren OR warnings, just no real seeming connection. I'll check all the plugs tomorrow as well, and reseat the ram.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

When you replaced the battery are you sure you installed it the right way, writing up is the way it should be


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Yeah, I am not THAT stupid.

I am, apparently, fairly stupid though. The + part has to go DIRECTLY a certain way. I was off by about 10 degrees, and it took me until just now to correct it. It booted up, with the siren going off, but it actually freaking worked! The bios screen loaded. At first I told it to just load defaults and go, and it seemed to lock up. I panicked, but turned it off and tried again. This time I went into the bios, dicked around a bit, COMPLETELY out of my league, and found two things like 'Load standard options' and 'Load maximum options' or something along those lines. Chose standard, and looked around some more. Ye gods! THERE WAS AN OPTION TO TURN OFF THE SIREN. BLESSED BE YE BIOS, FOR THOU ART GOOD TO ME!:laugh:

So now, I have that secondary concern on my mind. The computer is up and working with only a need to adjust date and time bad...but the siren is still going off, silently. While I was in those options screen, it showed fan speed 0, but I can visibly see the fan running...what is going on?

Thinking about getting a new CMOS battery, but no clue if that would help anything...


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

I never meant to imply you are stupid, I was covering all the bases so nothing gets missed, we sometimes don't know the knowledge of the people we help and have to check the simple things.

Did you check the cpu fan is connected in the right place.



> The + part has to go DIRECTLY a certain way. I was off by about 10 degrees


Thats not possible, my guess it was not making a good contact somehow and by moving it the contact was made.

Keep a good eye on the cpu temp


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

No worries, I said "I am not stupid" in ironic contrast with my statement right after that I WAS still pretty stupid. Not in a "I am taking offense way". I am too elated to take offense at anything.

And I am fairly sure I have it in the right place. There are two 3 pronged things next to the fan, 1 that says pwrfan and one that says cpufa1. I put it in the first.

And I guess it is possible that it just wasn't making perfect contact, but damn it's really freaking sensitive to it. Nothing about it "feels" different to the touch. And I've removed and put in the battery at least 10 times over the previous weekend, with mixed results, more or less the same way every time, and all the time it snapped in and felt all the way in while pressed. Still, hey, I don't have the knowledge to disagree.


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Oh, and the comp has been on about half an hour now and Everest is giving me a 68-70 degrees on all temps.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Put it on cpufa1 and see what happens


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Can you confirm this in bios, if so then you need to make sure the cpu's heatsink is tight and reapply thermal paste.

Here's directions on how to apply, use artic silver5 if possible, clean the heatsink and top of cpu with the highest percent isopropyl achohol you can get.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

I'm a little hesitant to start right back in on the computer, if you can understand where I am coming from. Just got it working and all, as much as I probably need to still try to fix it instead of keeping the siren off, I don't want to jump into the computer again or into the bios if I can help it. Can I safely give it a few days perhaps?

The motherboard is up to 75 degrees now. What temperature should I watch out for or get worried if it climbs to?


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Also, thank you for taking so much time to help me. It's awesome that there are people who just help for free, and deal with idiots like me and still feel like helping people for free. Thank you.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Your welcome and I am glad to help.

But you still have problems 75C is way hot or is this F,and I am afraid you could damage something, thats why I asked if you could confirm this reading in bios. Is this reading the motherboard temp or the cpu temp?

You mentioned in your original post that the motherboard was 22C and cpu 26C so that would not set off the siren because it was well with in the acceptable limits so I figuard it was the fan connected wrong.

Please confirm

1)Temps you list are in C
2)The fan is connected to the cpufa1
3) the heatsink on top of the cpu is tight


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Oh no, that's F, my bad. F is just so much more accurate than C, I tend to use it unless I absolutely have to do otherwise, even when it's simply a conversion. The comp has heated up some, but is just at 27C.

I haven't readjusted that 3-pronged fan plug yet, because I've had to catch up on so much schoolwork I haven't turned off the comp yet. But, as I said, I can visibly see the heatsink fan running. I guess I could still try that later though.


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## Scharfschuetze (Jan 16, 2008)

It is also my understanding that there are several warning sounds if you do not have things connected, such as the power connector to the video card. Perhaps the watts or amps are not sufficient for one of these connections? Or perhaps the power supply is not providing enough current in one of the voltages?

If it were mine. I would remove all cards and drives and check the cable ends for damage and ensure that all power cables for every device are connected. Maybe even blowing dust out of the slots and checking with a flashlight for any damaged edge connectors on the cards and slots on the motherboard. I have had one occurance of an edge connector slot on the motherboard with one single pin bent over. Perhaps even using a voltage meter on the power connectors to check if the wires are intact and providing the correct voltage. You can check the power supply also by removing just one device to see if it handles the power load at that point.
:4-dontkno

Schreeching sound could also be a fan bearing, or hard drive bearing giving out.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

27c is actually a good temp a cpu won't overheat till upwards of 60c, you should swap the fan connection over and turn the siren back on as a precaution but if the computer is stable meaning no freeze ups or random rebooting you should be ok


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Argh, I really need a new damn computer. I hate this.

It's acting up again. When I got up today, I started the computer up, and then took a shower. By the time I got out, it apparently wasn't working again.

It's back at the stage where it gets power, but nothing shows up on the screen. I can't seem to fix it. On another note, I plugged in the 3-prong into spufa1 and the heatsink fan still works. Not sure if that will solve the siren issue, as it won't boot though.

Got a new CMOS battery, but it still won't start. Could it be that maybe the fitting is loose or something? When I tryed booting it without the battery in, it did the same thing, power but no signal to monitor and no apparent hard drive reading. Could the battery not be making a proper connection or something? If so, how would I fix it?

This is mind bogglingly frustrating.


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

ANY ideas on how to make sure it is making contact? It does a feel a bit loose in the holder... Would it be safe to use, like, electrical tape to hold it down or something?


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

I do believe the battery is loose and not making contact, there is a little lever that you pinch back to remove the battery, this also holds the battery in place and down tight. Make sure this is holding the battery down if not it maybe needs bending in toward the battery a little. This also touches and makes contact with the top of the battery the + side.

Underneath the battery there are two contacts that make contact with the - side bend these up slightly


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

what power supply is installed?
and what are the complete specs of this system?
did you try this with the side off and a fan blowing in?


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Well, it's all moot now. My last post was from a friend's house, which is usually where I can seek help when my computer is on the fritz. When I came back home, the computer wouldn't even boot. All the plugs are in, but it doesn't so much as make a sound when the power button is pressed.

What pisses me off the most, is every single time this computer has gotten worse in this past hellish week and a half, I have not been there. It never had the courage to fail to my face, always waiting while my back was turned for it to screw up. That REALLY ticks me off.

Oh well. It's dead now as far as I can tell. Dead as a doornail. Unless I am missing something, my only real recourse right now is to salvage disk drives, hard drives, video card and ram. All work fine. I think my only recourse as of now is to get one of those cheapo crappy monthly bill type computers offered by companies catering to people who are poor and need cheapo crappy computers. I'm nearly broke, and I have a paper due in about 2 weeks in religion, and I NEED word processing and internet.

RIP my computer
2002-2008
Peace at last, you tough old bird.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

If the computer does nothing when you push the power button it is usually the psu is dead, there is a simple test for this but you will have to remove it, let me know if you want to try


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

Um, well, sure, I could give it a try I guess. Depends on what I need to test it. I don't have a spare PSU laying around or anything. Sadly, I don't know when I can next check this topic.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

This is only a test to see if the psu is dead and is the reason the computer is dead, it does not mean the psu produces the required volts just that it is cabable of turning on.

Remove the psu from the computer, plug into a wall outlet and touch the green and any black wire with a paper clip, this should turn the psu on, you can tell by the fan running.

If it won't turn on its time for a new one


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## Tensaiga (Jan 13, 2008)

On an almost completely unrelated note...does anyone have any idea how best to transfer data from my current hard drive, in a currently dead computer to a new computer without just popping it in the new computer as a slave drive or something? Say, the new computer doesn't have room for more than 1 drive. IS there any way to do it without a huge hassle?


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