Diagnostic Beep Codes; System Messages - Dell Vostro 470 Owner's Manual

Diagnostic Beep Codes

The computer may emit a series of beeps during start-up if the display cannot show errors or problems. These series of
beeps, called beep codes, identify various problems. The delay between each beep is 300 ms, the delay between each
set of beeps is 3 seconds, and the beep sound lasts 300 ms. After each beep and each set of beeps, the BIOS should
detect if the user presses the power button. If so, BIOS will jump out from looping and execute the normal shutdown
process and power system.
Code Cause and Troubleshooting Steps
1 BIOS ROM checksum in progress or failure
System board failure, covers BIOS corruption or ROM error.
2 No RAM detected.
No memory detected
3 Chipset Error (North and South Bridge Chipset, DMA/IMR/ Timer Error) , Time-Of-Day Clock test failure , Gate
A20 failure , Super I/O chip failure , Keyboard controller test failure.
System board failure.
4 RAM Read/Write failure.
Memory failure.
5 Real-time clock power fail.
CMOS battery failure.
6 Video BIOS test failure.
Video card failure.
7 Processor failure.
Processor failure.

System Messages

If your computer has an issue or error, it may display a System Message that will help you identify the cause and action
needed to resolve the issue.
NOTE: If the message received is not listed in the following examples, see the documentation for either the
operating system or the program that was running when the message appeared.
Table 9. System Messages
System Message
Alert! Previous attempts at booting this system have failed at
checkpoint [nnnn]. For help in resolving this problem, please
note this checkpoint and contact Dell Technical Support
CMOS checksum error
CPU fan failure
System fan failure
Hard-disk drive failure
56
Description
The computer failed to complete the boot routine
three consecutive times for the same error.
Possible motherboard failure or RTC battery low.
CPU fan has failed.
System fan has failed.
Possible hard disk drive failure during POST.