[Ste]

Hi, my system has had two random crashes over the last week whilst playing a game. I thought it had been overheating as it just turned off completely, no blue screen. (on turning it back on straight after the crash, it turned itself off straight away). I have just finished blowing dust out of the whole box with a compressor and re-seated the ram. I have also applied new thermal grease. 

 

Now I seem to have changed the problem, or maybe it has developed into something else. On boot up I now hear 12 short beeps before the system fires up as normal. After that it's fine and has not crashed, but I have been unable to find out what the beeps mean. 

 

I am suspicious of the processor, but all seems normal apart for the beeps. I will try to give other info as required. Thanks.

 

Ste

Edited by Ste, 26 May 2024 - 01:12 PM.

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Have you made sure that you do not have any USB thumbdrives plugged in, if the boot order has been changed somehow the boot sequence may have been changed to boot from a USB device first and the actual boot drive second.

 

If there are no USB thumbdrives plugged in, see the below;

 

Restore the MBs default factory settings in the BIOS, they are sometimes listed as one of the following " factory defaults" "most stable" or on newer boards "optimized" please note that if you have both the "most stable" and the "optimized" options in the BIOS you should choose the most stable" option as in this instance the "optimized" settings are a form of overclocking that can cause instability.  

 

Save the new settings, exit the BIOS, restart the computer, test by using the computer as you normally would, post back with an update once you have done this.

[phillpower2]

Have you made sure that you do not have any USB thumbdrives plugged in, if the boot order has been changed somehow the boot sequence may have been changed to boot from a USB device first and the actual boot drive second.

 

If there are no USB thumbdrives plugged in, see the below;

 

Restore the MBs default factory settings in the BIOS, they are sometimes listed as one of the following " factory defaults" "most stable" or on newer boards "optimized" please note that if you have both the "most stable" and the "optimized" options in the BIOS you should choose the most stable" option as in this instance the "optimized" settings are a form of overclocking that can cause instability.  

 

Save the new settings, exit the BIOS, restart the computer, test by using the computer as you normally would, post back with an update once you have done this.

[Ste]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I think I have done the procedure you described correctly but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference. There are no other drives attached to the system.

 

 

Don't know if it helps but I am attaching photos to show the BIOS pages.

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[phillpower2]

Thanks fo the pictures, any chance that we can have one of the boot sequence as opposed to the OC profiles.

 

Regarding the BIOS error beeps, any chance that you are getting 11 and not 12, ASUS does not list a 12 beep error code with 11 being the most listed.

 

Download then run Speccy ( free ) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s. 

 

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

1. In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.
2. In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
3. Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

[Ste]

Hi, well this is getting a bit embarrassing, but for the second time, (this post and my previous post, entitled ‘Window auto inputs incorrect pin on boot’):

https://www.geekstog...ct-pin-on-boot/

things seem to have corrected themselves, although I can also assume that your previous advice had a delayed effect i.e. ‘bios settings’ and did the trick.

 

I am wondering if there could be a connection with the two issues?

 

So, this morning I booted the system without the beeps (yes, I had counted the beeps to be 12 about three times but I wouldn’t put my life on it) and no other drives installed; no problem. Next, I connected my other drives, two internal and two external and again there was no problem booting, just the one beep as usual.

 

Due to these last issues, I am still a little suspicious of the stability of my system so I have followed your instructions regarding speccy. Having said that I did not understand the need for the link to the CCleaner page so I am adding the link below showing the results and also attaching photo 3 of the boot options, which I think at other times has been set to ‘Windows Boot Manager’, though I don’t know if that would make any difference:

Speccy Link:

https://speccy.pirif...WSfYZGjJKgSJ0hH

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[phillpower2]

Don't worry, computers can be fickle and especially older ones that have their ways.

 

I can also assume that your previous advice had a delayed effect i.e. ‘bios settings’ and did the trick.

 

 

Did you restart the PC after restoring the MBs default factory settings.

 

Your boot order is shown to be correct.

 

The amount of error beeps is a mystery as ASUS definitely have a max of 11 and the amount of beeps heard also depends on what version of BIOS the board has.

 

 

I have followed your instructions regarding speccy. Having said that I did not understand the need for the link to the CCleaner page 

 

 

Just a fyi,, both are owned by the same company and hey if they want to advertise CCleaner while we use a free program of theirs to help fix peoples computer issues I think it is a small price to pay tbh.

 

Looking at your list of hardware hooked up, including the additional screen, can I ask what the brand and model name or number of the PSU is and is it still in warranty.

[Ste]

Yes, after resetting the bios yesterday it still had the problem, but not today.

 

I don’t have an additional screen?

 

I found this info on the monitor:

 

Corsair RM850x (2018)-850W Plus Gold Fully Modular

(Purchased July 2020 so I think any warranty will have run out).

[phillpower2]

When was the last time that the MBs CMOS battery was replaced.
 

 

 

Monitor 1

Name: BenQ LCD on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070

Current Resolution: 2194x1234 pixels

Work Resolution: 2194x1194 pixels

State: Disabled

Multiple displays: Disabled

Monitor Width: 3840

Monitor Height: 2160

Monitor BPP: 32 bits per pixel

Monitor Frequency: 60 Hz

Device: \\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0

Monitor 2

Name: BenQ LCD on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070

Current Resolution: 2194x1234 pixels

Work Resolution: 2194x1194 pixels

State: Enabled

Multiple displays: Enabled

Monitor Width: 3840

Monitor Height: 2160

Monitor BPP: 32 bits per pixel

Monitor Frequency: 60 Hz

Device: \\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor1

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070

 

 

Strange that you only have one monitor as Speccy is telling us that you have two, we can also see that in addition to any keyboard and mouse you do have at least one USB device plugged in, an incorrect boot sequence could have the BIOS checking this device for an OS.

 

USB Audio 2.0

Device Kind: Audio device

Device Name: USB Audio 2.0

Vendor: Midiman

Comment: M-Track 2X2

 

 

Likewise any port that the printer is connected to would get checked if USB ports or external storage device was set as first in the boot order.

 

A solid brand and spec of PSU that has a ten year warranty so the only concern there would be checking to see if any of the modular cables had come loose.

[Ste]

Hi, having two copies of the monitor, it looks like the system has been remembering the same monitor twice. I had thought about clearing the cmos but as you didn’t mention it, I wasn’t concerned.

 

I had to replace the mainboard about three years ago. It was a used board but I can’t remember if I put a new battery in or not; so it is at least three years old. Do you suggest replacing it?

 

Could the cmos have become confused when I changed to the cloned drives? I have always preferred to do that if I had a problem, and as I mentioned in my post about the automatic input of the wrong pin when logging in. I had tested the other two clones to see if they also put in the wrong pin which they did (or should I say, the wrong pin was automatically entered when I tried them) although they booted after the challenge, i.e. ‘A1B2C3’.

That made me think of the bios/cmos but I didn’t know how this could come about, it was over my head.

 

As the system seemed to right itself, I was just left puzzled, but everything was then working ok.

As you can see, I used speccy with all drives connected. Though the two external backup drives are both usb, I have noticed that the smaller one is regarded as ‘Seagate BUP portable usb’, and think that is the one you are referring to 'showing as usb'. As I said I only connected the other four drives after finding that the repeated beeps had gone.

 

I checked the cables when I cleaned out the case, they seemed to be fine.

[phillpower2]

Sorry but I did not read the previous thread as it was not deemed relevant being that the previous thread was software related and this a hardware, problem is that we now know that you are using a cloned OS which means that any previous OS problems can affect the boot sequence thus becoming a hardware issue.

 

Are you aware that you are having the same failed Windows update and how you need to go about fixing the issue, your cloned OS is not fit for purpose and this highlights why I always do a clean install of Windows on its own 250GB SSD or the same size of partition on a larger capacity drive.

 

 

As you can see, I used speccy with all drives connected. Though the two external backup drives are both usb, I have noticed that the smaller one is regarded as ‘Seagate BUP portable usb’, and think that is the one you are referring to 'showing as usb'. As I said I only connected the other four drives after finding that the repeated beeps had gone.

 

 

I was not referring to your USB drives but the fact that your USB audio device and USB printer ports could be getting checked by the BIOS as part of the power on self test ( POST ).

 

Restoring the MBs default factory settings is what clearing the CMOS does albeit without removing the CMOS battery or shorting out any pins on the MB, the best way to clear the CMOS requires a bit more time and work to do it properly.

 

If the issue happens again I would replace the CMOS battery, they don't last forever and are relatively inexpensive.

[Ste]

Yes, I overlooked the M-audio usb connection, but the printer is hardly ever on when I boot the system. I did become aware of the problem of having other usb devices connected when I left a phone charging and also when a memory card was connected. I soon learned to disconnect them to allow the correct boot drive to be used; right now, that seems to be ok though, and there is no request to choose the correct boot device.

 

Now that you mention the update problem, I was getting round to looking into that; the code (0x80070643) which I get, seems to relate to needing more space for the update to install correctly. If that is the case I will investigate soon.

 

I have been putting off getting a new system altogether, but finances and the time to setup and reinstall everything as I like it, have been put on hold; the same goes for a clean install, timewise that is. Perhaps I will soon have no option.

[phillpower2]

Yes, I overlooked the M-audio usb connection, but the printer is hardly ever on when I boot the system. I did become aware of the problem of having other usb devices connected when I left a phone charging and also when a memory card was connected. I soon learned to disconnect them to allow the correct boot drive to be used; right now, that seems to be ok though, and there is no request to choose the correct boot device.

 

 

Too late now but mentioning the highlighted above in your OP could have saved us both time by not having us go all around the houses looking for potential causes 

 

The failing Windows update is caused by there not being enough room on the Windows recovery partition, there are two possible fixes, deleting and then recreating a new/larger recovery partition or clean installing Windows and the system drivers, this the reason why I said that your clones were not fit for purpose.

[Ste]

Hi, I am not sure if you are misunderstanding me regarding a request to choose the correct boot device. I was only pointing out that it occurred at other times in the past and if it had shown up with the beeping problem, I would have made the changes in the bios to correct it.

 

 

With the beeping though, it had not shown that request, it would just beep several times and then boot as normal.

 

I am happy with the effect resetting the bios has had, and have noted the procedure which you suggest regarding the update, but I presume it would not be fitting to delve into that here. Thanks for the link.

Edited by Ste, 29 May 2024 - 04:30 AM.

[phillpower2]

Best Answer

Yep crossed wires there but no harm done and if you are happy that restoring the MBs default factory has resolved the 12 beep issue then so am I 

 

Resizing the partition is an OS related thread so yes not appropriate to go off topic here.

 

 

You are welcome btw 

[Ste]

Yes, thanks very much for your help. It just crossed my mind that the 12th beep (if there was one) may have been the 'normal single beep' added to the 11 fault beeps, as it then booted up? Just a thought. Bye for now.

 

Regards,

Ste