One beep on startup means RAM or HDD problem?

Hi, hope someone can help with this.
When I press the power on button I get a single beep. This only happens when my macbook has been switched off for quite some time e.g. overnight or after getting back from work I power up and get a beep but if I shut it down and power up again it doesn't happen. The beep is not continuous and doesn't occur when using OSX.
Recently I installed a new HDD - 500GB western digital. I checked it with disk utility and onyx and they both say it's working fine. I also re-seated the RAM (2GB) and they both show up in system profiler.
Now everything points to the new HDD as being the cause as I never had this problem before so is this beep a sign its dying already? I did notice on disk utility it's SATA 2. Could this be the cause?
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks

Perhaps having the RAM show up in the System Profiler vs the POST is not exactly the same info...one beep should indicate..(no RAM)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1547
I installed RAM on a friends MacBook...it just beeped..took more force to seat it correctly..I am not sure if your mention of reseating the RAM was a trouble shooting step ?

Similar Messages

What does 3 short, 3long, 3 short beeps on startup mean on iMac

I have an iMac, it froze, it was difficult to shut down, upon restart I got a blank screen with 3 short beeps, 3 long beeps, & e short beeps. What do I do now?

Have a look here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5860?viewlocale=en_US

3 beeps at startup

What does three beeps at startup mean???

It usually means the machine can't detect any RAM. Try reseating the RAM modules (directions are in the users guide that came with the machine).
Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2

1 beep at startup, DRAM refresh failure? Board/RAM problem? Bios needs changing?

I am new to PC building, and I have just put together my first system. So I have everything assembled, system turns on, and I hear 1 short beep. I can go into my motherboard BIOS screen, and even begin installing Windows 7. However, after about 4-5 minutes, the computer will just turn itself off. According to my motherboards beep codes, 1 short beep means a DRAMS refresh failure. Is this RAM related? Now I tried to unhook the ram, switch the spots on the board, and plug it back in, but I got the same problem. Is this perhaps faulty RAM? Or is a motherboard/power supply issue? Here are the components I am using:
Patriot Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model PGS34G1333ELK
MSI H55-GD65 Motherboard
Intel Corei5 750 Processor
eVGA GTS 450 Video Card (01G-P3-1450-TR)
Cooler Master 650W Power Supply ATX 12v
I am new when it comes to all this, so is it possible I need to set ram timing in my BIOS? As far as I know, the 2 ram sticks should be compatible with my motherboard.
Any help would be great, and I can supply more information if need be.

When you the system continues to booting something (e.g. Windows Setup CD), then that one beep is probably a power-good signal or indicates an installed USB device, however, it cannot really be a sign of a critical error, otherwise the system would simply halt when it beeps and you would probably see nothing on the screen at all.
Test with one memory module only and make sure the memory command rate is set to 2T. If you still experience sudden shut-downs or reboots, please check the CPU Temperature in BIOS Setup (H/W Monitor section) to make sure this is not a simple overheating issue. Often, such reboots indicate a problem with the PSU. So, you might want to check that as well.

2011 Macbook pro upgrade to 16gb RAM -- 3 beeps on startup

My macbook pro is a 15" 2.2ghz quad i7 model purchased June of 2011. I read and researched everywhere and found that this model could support 16gb of RAM so I ordered this, Corsair 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SODIMM. When I installed the ram and attempted startup I just got a black screen and 3 consecutive beeps and then learned this is a problem directly related to the ram installed. I installed the old ram (4gb) and that is how I'm typing this. Why would this happend if it proved so successful for so many others, according to amazon. Do I need to revert back to snow leopard? Any advice will help thanks.

it is actually that simple since i ran into the same problem when i went 16GB on my mbp.
heard it click but on both banks, turn the computer on and nothing 3 beeps.
took the ram out, put it back in straight, looked at both notches and make sure it's aligned then click again.
turned it on, and i'm back in business.
quick question, what speed did you get?

MOVED: 1 beep at startup, DRAM refresh failure? Board/RAM problem? Bios needs changing?

This topic has been moved to Intel Core-iX boards.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=142656.0

When you the system continues to booting something (e.g. Windows Setup CD), then that one beep is probably a power-good signal or indicates an installed USB device, however, it cannot really be a sign of a critical error, otherwise the system would simply halt when it beeps and you would probably see nothing on the screen at all.
Test with one memory module only and make sure the memory command rate is set to 2T. If you still experience sudden shut-downs or reboots, please check the CPU Temperature in BIOS Setup (H/W Monitor section) to make sure this is not a simple overheating issue. Often, such reboots indicate a problem with the PSU. So, you might want to check that as well.

One beep means memory

See my Sig.
I get one beep from BIOS when my computer starts. I looked up beep codes and one beep is a memory issue. I've set the timings and the voltage manually (to that specified by GSkill) and to default. Other than just plain incompatibility is there something I can check. Ran Memtest and the mem checks out fine.
I have a history here of being clear as mud so if I am again lemme know, eh?
Ahumado

One beep is regular post, if there is memory problem you can't even boot and beeps would be different.

One beep......NO BOOT....(but it will eventually)...win 7 64bit

Hi......on a first boot in the morning....I get silence for about 5 seconds and then ONE BEEP a bit longer than the normal start up beep. My HDD is spinning, GPU fan is spinning as is the PSU fan....but no post, no monitor or keyboard lights.....zip. Thinking
it was the ram....I re seated it....no use.....I re seated the cpu....no use...back to the ram swapped slots....and I finally got a boot. Next morning..same again....but wasn't able to get a boot until Id done all of the above 3 or 4 times. That night I swapped
out the ram sticks for different ones and again shut down for the evening. Yes it hot boots fine. Next morning.....normal boot first go..so I figured it was solved. HOWEVER.....next morning again I was reseating everything one thing at a time until it booted.
The system is all new 12 months ago. When its running I put it through Memtest and I used a GPU test program as well...all passed. Does anyone have any ideas?? I am thinking I might swap out the PSU and see if that's failing...I have noticed that without
doing all the reseating, if I try turning it of and on several times it will eventually boot. Thanks in advance for any offers that may help.

Well I wont be taking it anywhere....I spent several years as a PC tech building and repairing...and gave it up as a bad joke! I have run this issue past many so called "pc techs" and NONE have any clue.
Lets move on shall we? I don't have to take it apart to start it....I can simply push the power button several times and it boots up. The CMOS states I have 12gb ram......win 7 says I have 22gb (16 available)....and yet another area within windows tells
me me I have 18bg with 14 available. Clearly this is all crap....there is in fact 24 gb ram installed. The more I delve into it the sillier it gets. I am thinking I will turf it in the bin and start again. From what I see most of the drama is shit hardware
and shit software on the market...all designed to blow you $$ for little more than a year or two of service!

Something beeping on startup

Ok this is a bit concerning
I went to start up my G5 today & while it was booting up something was making a beeping noise
it was a kind of counting beep 3 low beeps then one high pitched beep it did this 4 or 5 times then after it got past the screen with the logo & the spinning icon below it then went to a bright blue screen the beeping stopped
On first startup it froze on the blue screen i then shut down & restarted again the beeps till i got the blue screen this time is stuck on the blue screen for around 30 seconds then started up as normal
Any Ideas guys
Thanks

Hi kenny,
1 beep = no RAM installed
2 beeps = incompatible RAM types
3 beeps = no good banks
4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)
5 beeps = processor is not usable
In addition to the beeps, on some computers the power LED will flash a corresponding number of times plus one. The LED will repeat the sequence after approximately a 5-second pause. The tones are only played once.
Note: In this case, a flash is considered to be 1/4 second or 250 ms or greater in length.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1547
In your case it may be the RAM slots solder problem, and heating it a little makes contact.

G4 beeps on startup

I got a new HD and new 512MB stick of ram put into my G4. It seemed fine after the HD was installed but a few days later when I bought some second hand ram and slapped it in I got a faint beep on startup. I tried every combination of the ram, but couldn't get rid of the beep untill I unplugged the new HD. So I took it in to the Mac store where I got the HD installed and we couldn't hear the beep!! Took it home and it beeps again, but only when the new HD is plugged in. One strange thing is that the total ram only shows up as 1.19 when it should add up to 1216 MBs; that is two 512's, one 128, and one 64mb stick.
Any ideas?

Hi, Mike -
Welcome to Apple's Discussions.
One strange thing is that the total ram only shows up as 1.19 when it should add up to 1216 MBs; that is two 512's, one 128, and one 64mb stick.
1216MB is correct, and 1.19GB is correct. RAM math is a bit odd because it is base2. One GB = 1024MB, not 1000MB. So, 1216MB divided by 1024MB/GB yields 1.19GB.
Is it possible the drive itself is beeping? Some few have been known to do that, but when that happens it usually presages a drive failure - not something expected with a new drive.
Is the drive jumpered correctly? If your Mac is older than a G4 (MDD) model, you should not use Cable Select jumper settings.
There are some beeps at startup which can indicate RAM issues -
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58442
However, those will replace the normal startup chime. That is, if you hear the normal startup chime and then the beeps, it's not a RAM issue.
At least one person posted a similar issue a few years ago. Careful listening finally traced it to the user's UPS - it was alerting that it was running on battery.

How to test RAM and HDD (Hard Drive).

Introduction
HP machines have built-in Bios testers for RAM and HDD's.
To use them you need to enter Bios by pressing F10 on startup. They are placed under ' Diagnostics menu '.
Why I wrote this guide and complicate whole situation?
There are three reasons:
This testers are not so great and sometimes they do not detect problems which you may have with your hardware. It's recommended to use more advanced tester for RAM and manufacter diagnostic programs to test HDD's.
Not always you will be able to enter Bios. Sometimes corrupted hardware is blocking possibility to run it.
Advanced diagnostic softwares for hard drives allow to fix some problems.
Table of Contents:
A How to test RAM with Memtest86+.
B How to test HDD (Hard Drive).
** Say thanks by clicking the "Thumb up" icon which is on the left. **
** Make it easier for other people to find solutions, by marking my answer with "Accept as Solution" if it solves your issue. **

Ad. A
There are few possibilities to run this program. In this guide I will present how to run it from:
CD
       and
USB Flash Drive.
First we need to burn Memtest86+ on a CD or prepare properly USB Flash drive with a special tool.
Here you will find Memtest86+ home page from which you will be able to download correct version of this software.
Solution 1. CD:
        Download ' Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip) ' and extract it with 7-Zip(free) or WinRar.
        Download CDBurnerXP from here. Install this program and run it.
        Choose ' Browse ISO image '.
        and point Memtest86+ iso file.
        Click ' Burn disc '.
        Wait until burning process will finish.
        Choose ' OK '.
        Exit from program.
Solution 2. USB Flash Drive:
         Download ' Auto-installer for USB Key (Win 9x/2k/xp/7) ' and extract it with 7-Zip(free) or WinRar.
         Connect USB Flash Drive to one of USB ports. Run ' Memtest86+ 4.10 USB Installer '.
         Click ' I Agree '.
         Select USB Flash Drive and check box to format it.
     Caution!
          Format process will erase all information from USB Flash Drive. If you have there something important then please backup this data first.
           Choose ' Create '.
           Wait until process will finish and click ' Next '.
           Exit from program by choosing ' Finish '.
How to run Memtest86+.
Leave USB Flash drive in USB port or CD in CD/DVD drive. Restart your system and on startup press F9 key repetitively:
After this step you will be able to select from which device you want to boot. Choose from the list ' USB Hard Drive ' if you have prepared USB Flash Drive (like on below photo) or ' Optical Disk Drive ' if you have prepared CD:
How to use Memtest86+ to test RAM?
Do at least 2 - 3 passes. In Errors column may show up only 0. If it's other number then you need to replace corrupted RAM stick.
** Say thanks by clicking the "Thumb up" icon which is on the left. **
** Make it easier for other people to find solutions, by marking my answer with "Accept as Solution" if it solves your issue. **

Three loud beeps on startup

I have been experiencing three loud beeps on startup with my Macbook Pro.
Aftter the beeps, the computer stays on a blank screen until I force a shutdown and restart, sometimes taking 3 tries to get past the beeps. Otherwise, It runs great, never crashes or locks up.
I tried reseating the RAM (2-1 gig dimms) after someone told me they thought that the distinctive 3-beep warning was a "bad ram" message. That did not make a difference.
Does anyone know what this may mean?
Thanks,
Dave Kowalski
[email protected]

2nd that - first check the ram is firmly seated - sometimes it's not all the way in the slots..
Take a look here;
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58442
Best of luck.

T500 Beeping on Startup

One week ago, my computer (Lenovo ThinkPad T500) has started beeping upon startup (one long, two short) and will not allow the system to start. I have to shut down and restart a considerable amount of times before the display finally shows up. The odd thing is that it has informed me that this indicates a video problem, and yet I have run diagnostics and the such, and there is nothing wrong. Furthermore, my computer runs perfectly, if not even better than before the beeps started.
This problem is starting to get annoying and I'm afraid that I might irreversibly damage my computer if I keep trying to start it up when it is beeping. How can I fix this?
Thanks for all of your help!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

katrimc, welcome to the forum
according to the Hardware Maintainance Manual, (pdf p. 52), the beep code means that you possibly have a problem with either your System Board, Display or Memory. I suggest removing and reseating your memory, (pdf p. 78 or look here), and if the problem persists to run memtest86 to check your memory. Let it make at least 3 full passes.
If your memory passes and the symptoms still persist you should call support.
Let the forum know how you get on.
Andy ______________________________________
Please remember to come back and mark the post that you feel solved your question as the solution, it earns the member + points
Did you find a post helpfull? You can thank the member by clicking on the star to the left awarding them Kudos Please add your type, model number and OS to your signature, it helps to help you. Forum Search Option T430 2347-G7U W8 x64, Yoga 10 HD+, Tablet 1838-2BG, T61p 6460-67G W7 x64, T43p 2668-G2G XP, T23 2647-9LG XP, plus a few more. FYI Unsolicited Personal Messages will be ignored.
Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español English Community Русскоязычное Сообщество
PepperonI blog

P35 NEO-2 FR won't boot. One beep every few seconds.

Hello, I hope someone can help me
Out of the nothing my computer crashed. There was a blue screen, but only for a split second, so I couldn’t get any information from that. After I tried to turn it back on I only got a black screen.
Messages from my PC:
One beep every few seconds. -- Means: DRAM refresh failure.
The LEDs on the board have the combination red-red-green-green. -- Means: Decompressing BIOS Image to RAM for fast booting.
Obviously I tried another RAM module. But it didn’t help. I don’t know what I should do, because I can’t even get to the BIOS. The screen just stays black.
PS: I didn’t OC or try to flash a new Bios version.
My system:
P35 NEO-2 FR, BIOS v. 1.8, S/N: 601-7345-100B0805092463
Intel Q9300
G.Skill 2 GB DDR2 PC2-6400 CL5-5-5-15 (also tried brand new Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 MHz CL5-5-5-18)
MSI N460GTX Hawk
beQuit Straight Power 600W

Okay, please have a look at this document:
http://www.ami.com/support/doc/AMIBIOS8_Checkpoint_and_Beep_Code_List_PUB.pdf
As you can see, there are two main routines going on after you hit the power-on button:
1. Bootblock Initialization
__ and __
2. POST Code
Your problem description ...
Quote
The LEDs on the board have the combination red-red-green-green. -- Means: Decompressing BIOS Image to RAM for fast booting.
... indicates that your system halts in the first of the two main routines I just mentioned. To be more precise, it hangs at Bootblock Initialization Checkpoint D5, which is defined as follows:
Quote
Bootblock code is copied from ROM to lower system memory and control is given to it. BIOS now executes out of RAM. Copies compressed boot block code to memory in right segments. Copies BIOS from ROM to RAM for faster access. Performs main BIOS checksum and updates recovery status accordingly.
In the last two phases of this checkpoint:
Quote
Copies BIOS from ROM to RAM for faster access. Performs main BIOS checksum and updates recovery status accordingly.
The actual BIOS Code is copied into RAM and checked for integrity. When BIOS corruption is detected (=wrong BIOS checksum), the system will automatically jump into BIOS Recovery Mode (which is a sub-routine of the Bootblock Initialization routine).
Now, this brings us to the actual meaning of the beep(s) you hear:
Quote
One beep every few seconds. -- Means: DRAM refresh failure.
The BIOS Recovery mode (which is not part of the actual P.O.S.T. Routine, but a sub-routine of the Bootblick Intialization Routine) has its own set of Beep Code definitions which are described on page 15 of the document I linked you to:
Quote
Boot Block Beep Codes
Number of Beeps -- Description
1 -- No media present. (Insert diskette in floppy drive A:)
2 -- ‘AMIBOOT.ROM’ file not found in root directory of diskette in A:
3 -- Insert next diskette if multiple diskettes are used for recovery
4 -- Flash Programming successful
5 -- File read error
7 -- No Flash EPROM detected
10 -- Flash Erase error
11 -- Flash Program error
12 --‘AMIBOOT.ROM’ file size error
13 -- BIOS ROM image mismatch (file layout does not match image present in flash device)
Consequently, the meaning of that single beep, that repeats every few settings is not "DRAM refresh failure" (this would be its meaning in the P.O.S.T. Routine, but we are looking at the Recovery Routine), but it actually means:
Quote
1 -- No media present. (Insert diskette in floppy drive A:)
What you have to do is this:
1. Hook up an internal (!!) floppy drive to your mainboard
2. Prepare an AMI BIOS Recovery disk:
--> Download the latest BIOS Archive for your board from the product site
--> Extract the actual BIOS File and rename it to AMIBOOT.ROM
--> Copy the renamed BIOS File to an empty & formated floppy disk
3. Put the disk that contains the AMIBOOT.ROM file into the internal floppy drive that you connected to the mainboard.
4. Pray that the system finds the disk, reads the file on it and performs a recovery flash

I have a Apple Power Mac G5 Dual 2.3 GHz/6GB RAM/500GB HDD/Superdrive PowerPC Desktop and just bought an Airport Extreme card for it. The card is recognized but will not see the in-house network. This is a pre-intel computer. Do I need an antennae?

I have an Apple Power Mac G5 Dual 2.3 GHz/6GB RAM/500GB HDD/Superdrive PowerPC Desktop and just bought an Airport Extreme card for it. The card is recognized but will not see the in-house network. This is a pre-intel computer. Do I need an additional antennae? If so, which one because my research is confusing me about what is supposed to work with this computer.

Please check out the following Apple Support article to see if your particular Power Mac model supports an external Wi-Fi antenna.

One beep on startup means RAM or HDD problem?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for