4 Solving BIOS Problems
The board reports POST errors in two ways:
By sounding a beep code
By displaying an error message on the monitor
BIOS Beep Codes
The BIOS beep codes are listed in Table 42. The BIOS also issues a beep code (one long tone
followed by two short tones) during POST if the video configuration fails, or if an external
ROM module does not properly checksum to zero.
Table 42.
Beep Codes
Number of Beeps
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Solving BIOS Problems
Description
Refresh failure
Parity cannot be reset
First 64 Kb memory failure
Timer not operational
Processor failure (Reserved; not used)
8042 GateA20 cannot be toggled (memory failure or not present)
Exception interrupt error
Display memory R/W error
(Reserved; not used)
CMOS Shutdown register test error
Invalid BIOS (such as, POST module not found)
95