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#1
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Beeps of death
Hi,
My computer was running fine until Sunday evening when I found it sitting there with a faint smell of burning and no image on the monitor. It was still running so I rebooted only to hear 1 long and 3 short beeps. It continued to reboot normally (as proven by my wireless music player starting up). No image on screen though. Apparently the beeps mean that there is a graphics card problem (Award BIOS). I have removed the card (an FX5200 - AGP) to look for damage but cannot see any. I have also heard that the problem may be the slot. I do not have a spare AGP card to test though. My next thing is to buy a new AGP card but cannot afford to buy one only to find that it was the slot after all. If the slot has gone, I guess I will have to buy a new PC as a new motherboard would mean an upgrade of memory, CPU, Hard Drive, OS (OEM XP at the mo) etc etc. Any suggestions? Thanks, Kroma (obviously from another PC) |
#2
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Beeps of death
Kroma wrote:
Hi, My computer was running fine until Sunday evening when I found it sitting there with a faint smell of burning and no image on the monitor. It was still running so I rebooted only to hear 1 long and 3 short beeps. It continued to reboot normally (as proven by my wireless music player starting up). No image on screen though. Apparently the beeps mean that there is a graphics card problem (Award BIOS). I have removed the card (an FX5200 - AGP) to look for damage but cannot see any. I have also heard that the problem may be the slot. I do not have a spare AGP card to test though. My next thing is to buy a new AGP card but cannot afford to buy one only to find that it was the slot after all. If the slot has gone, I guess I will have to buy a new PC as a new motherboard would mean an upgrade of memory, CPU, Hard Drive, OS (OEM XP at the mo) etc etc. Any suggestions? Thanks, Kroma (obviously from another PC) Free stuff: - Try the video card from "another PC" in your machine. - Try your video card in "another PC". |
#3
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Beeps of death
Kroma wrote:
Hi, My computer was running fine until Sunday evening when I found it sitting there with a faint smell of burning and no image on the monitor. It was still running so I rebooted only to hear 1 long and 3 short beeps. It continued to reboot normally (as proven by my wireless music player starting up). No image on screen though. Apparently the beeps mean that there is a graphics card problem (Award BIOS). I have removed the card (an FX5200 - AGP) to look for damage but cannot see any. I have also heard that the problem may be the slot. I do not have a spare AGP card to test though. My next thing is to buy a new AGP card but cannot afford to buy one only to find that it was the slot after all. If the slot has gone, I guess I will have to buy a new PC as a new motherboard would mean an upgrade of memory, CPU, Hard Drive, OS (OEM XP at the mo) etc etc. Any suggestions? The power supply is also suspect. It's failure, or partial failure, can produce wildly different results. |
#4
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Beeps of death
Kroma wrote:
Hi, My computer was running fine until Sunday evening when I found it sitting there with a faint smell of burning and no image on the monitor. It was still running so I rebooted only to hear 1 long and 3 short beeps. It continued to reboot normally (as proven by my wireless music player starting up). No image on screen though. Apparently the beeps mean that there is a graphics card problem (Award BIOS). I have removed the card (an FX5200 - AGP) to look for damage but cannot see any. I have also heard that the problem may be the slot. I do not have a spare AGP card to test though. My next thing is to buy a new AGP card but cannot afford to buy one only to find that it was the slot after all. If the slot has gone, I guess I will have to buy a new PC as a new motherboard would mean an upgrade of memory, CPU, Hard Drive, OS (OEM XP at the mo) etc etc. Any suggestions? Thanks, Kroma (obviously from another PC) Inspect the video card when the power comes on in the computer. Is the fan spinning ? Chances are your fan stopped turning, and the GPU got real hot. It may not be the slot itself that is bad, but the card. Paul |
#5
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Beeps of death
"Kroma" wrote:
Hi, My computer was running fine until Sunday evening when I found it sitting there with a faint smell of burning and no image on the monitor. Follow your nose. Where is the burning smell coming from? Jon |
#6
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Beeps of death
I don't have another AGP enabled computer to test on (or a spare AGP card)
so the simple and free swap test is unavailable. Have tried the nose test and there is a faint smell of burning from a specific area near to the connectors but it is strongest a little bit away. Cannot sniff test the motherboard as my nose is too short! ) Have now noticed that a single capacitor on the graphics card is a little bulged - in fact there may have been a little leakage from the top. Could it still function like this? What would be the likely cause of a bulging capacitor? Thanks, Kroma |
#7
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Beeps of death
Kroma wrote:
I don't have another AGP enabled computer to test on (or a spare AGP card) so the simple and free swap test is unavailable. Have tried the nose test and there is a faint smell of burning from a specific area near to the connectors but it is strongest a little bit away. Cannot sniff test the motherboard as my nose is too short! ) Have now noticed that a single capacitor on the graphics card is a little bulged - in fact there may have been a little leakage from the top. Could it still function like this? What would be the likely cause of a bulging capacitor? Thanks, Kroma It will function for as long as it takes the electrolyte to drain and dry up. You're a victim of "capacitor plague". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague The fact that there is a burning smell, means there could be collateral damage. In other words, when the capacitor fails, it can kill MOSFETs or coils next to it. If enough current is drawn, it might even be possible to burn a trace in the motherboard. The power supply, while it may have overcurrent protection, will engage that overcurrent feature at a very high current. If the faulty component draws less than the magic current number, the power supply will happily continue to burn the defective component. If the GPU loses power, it is also possible for all of the AGP bus drivers, to be working into a short circuit. So in theory, even the Northbridge on the motherboard, could be damaged. The fact that the computer boots, suggests it isn't that bad. That is the thing with bad caps. If you detect a problem early enough, only the capacitor itself is a victim. If you force the machine to keep running, and ignore the symptoms, then the damage becomes more expensive. See if you can borrow an AGP card. It is only fair to inform the person you are borrowing it from, that it could get damaged when inserted in your motherboard. Since the "bottom of the barrel" video cards are pretty cheap, you may be able to find a new one for test purposes, at about $30 or so. To do maintenance on a computer, does require a certain number of spare components on hand. You can trade the purchase price of a test video card ($30), versus the prices a repair shop might charge to do the testing for you. Unless the shop has cheap pricing, getting the card yourself will be cheaper. Paul |
#8
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Beeps of death
Kroma wrote:
I don't have another AGP enabled computer to test on (or a spare AGP card) so the simple and free swap test is unavailable. Have tried the nose test and there is a faint smell of burning from a specific area near to the connectors but it is strongest a little bit away. Cannot sniff test the motherboard as my nose is too short! ) Have now noticed that a single capacitor on the graphics card is a little bulged - in fact there may have been a little leakage from the top. Could it still function like this? What would be the likely cause of a bulging capacitor? This is virtually useless. If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com (or equivalent), ensure you quote enough for the article to make sense. Google is only an interface to Usenet; it's not Usenet itself. Don't assume your readers can, or ever will, see any previous articles. More details at: http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/ -- [mail]: Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) [page]: http://cbfalconer.home.att.net Try the download section. |
#9
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Beeps of death
"Kroma" nospam@nospam wrote in message ... I don't have another AGP enabled computer to test on (or a spare AGP card) so the simple and free swap test is unavailable. Have tried the nose test and there is a faint smell of burning from a specific area near to the connectors but it is strongest a little bit away. Cannot sniff test the motherboard as my nose is too short! ) Have now noticed that a single capacitor on the graphics card is a little bulged - in fact there may have been a little leakage from the top. Could it still function like this? What would be the likely cause of a bulging capacitor? Well, just thought I'd post to update anybody with similar problems. I've been logging into the graphic-card-less PC remotely for the last couple of weeks, so I knew that everything non-graphics-related was fine and, as far as the AGP slot is concerned, it would seem that I was very lucky. I ordered a new graphics card which arrived today (costing GBP 23) - based on an Nvidia 5500 chip (a stage up from my old one). The advantage is that this one has a fan rather than just a heatsink. I installed it in seconds, switched on the PC and everything was fine. I had to reinstall the drivers (I thought that this step wouldn't be necessary as it is the same family of card as my old one but maybe running it without a card somehow 'self-uninstalled' the old drivers). I'll keep an eye on things but I suspect that the bulging capacitor had been coming on for months without any side effects until it caused something to burn. I honestly had no reason to suspect that anything could be wrong. I've now read that Leadtek (the manufacturer of my old card) had a spate of bad capacitors a few years back - I expect that I am a victim of this. Anyway, thanks to those who helped and boo-hiss to those who made sarcastic comments ) Thanks again, Kroma (and his working PC) |
#10
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Beeps of death
Kroma wrote:
"Kroma" nospam@nospam wrote in message ... I don't have another AGP enabled computer to test on (or a spare AGP card) so the simple and free swap test is unavailable. Have tried the nose test and there is a faint smell of burning from a specific area near to the connectors but it is strongest a little bit away. Cannot sniff test the motherboard as my nose is too short! ) Have now noticed that a single capacitor on the graphics card is a little bulged - in fact there may have been a little leakage from the top. Could it still function like this? What would be the likely cause of a bulging capacitor? Well, just thought I'd post to update anybody with similar problems. I've been logging into the graphic-card-less PC remotely for the last couple of weeks, so I knew that everything non-graphics-related was fine and, as far as the AGP slot is concerned, it would seem that I was very lucky. I ordered a new graphics card which arrived today (costing GBP 23) - based on an Nvidia 5500 chip (a stage up from my old one). The advantage is that this one has a fan rather than just a heatsink. I installed it in seconds, switched on the PC and everything was fine. I had to reinstall the drivers (I thought that this step wouldn't be necessary as it is the same family of card as my old one but maybe running it without a card somehow 'self-uninstalled' the old drivers). I'll keep an eye on things but I suspect that the bulging capacitor had been coming on for months without any side effects until it caused something to burn. I honestly had no reason to suspect that anything could be wrong. I've now read that Leadtek (the manufacturer of my old card) had a spate of bad capacitors a few years back - I expect that I am a victim of this. Anyway, thanks to those who helped and boo-hiss to those who made sarcastic comments ) Thanks again, Kroma (and his working PC) Yes, uninstalling the old drivers, and then reinstalling, is a good idea. The installer may do something different for each installed card (different files or registry entries). Removing the old driver and running the installer again, will then give the right results for your new 5500. The capacitor issue affected many companies, but some seemed to buy a lot more of the bad ones than other companies. One motherboard company even lost a class action lawsuit about it, and had to repair a bunch of their products. http://web.archive.org/web/200501230...ettlement.com/ Paul |
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