Chapter 4 53Beep CodesBeep codes are used by the BIOS to indicate a serious or fatal error to the end user. Beep codes are usedwhen an error occurs before the system video has been initialized. Beep codes will be generated by thesystem board speaker, commonly referred to as the PC speaker.AMIBIOS displays the checkpoints in the bottom right corner of the screen during POST. This display methodis limited, since it only displays checkpoints that occur after the video card has been activated.Not all computers using AMIBIOS enable this feature. In most cases, a checkpoint card is the best tool forviewing AMIBIOS checkpoints.Beep Symptom Cause and DescriptionOne short beep System is ready.System is OK.Continuous one long beep Memory not installed or memory error.One long beep and two short beeps thenrepeat.VGA not installed or VGA error.Graphics card error/not installed, graphics card memoryerror or graphics card BIOS checksum error.One long beep then two short beep BIOS damaged.BIOS is damaged, BIOS POST jumps to Boot Block toexecute the default procedures.Two short beeps CMOS damaged.CMOS checksum error or CMOS battery loss occurs.
