Hi All, Can you help?

I am having random motherboard beeps in windows. They are not very often but seem to be getting worse. I also have another problem and wonder whether the two are connected. When I leave my computer off for a day or so I have problems getting it to boot. I have the Digidoc 2 post code front panel installed and this displays 'D3' and the system hangs. I have to press the reset button several times to get it to boot and then it boots fine. I have checked my motherboard manual for this 'D3' and it is not listed. I have contacted Chaintech and my emails just get returned to me!.....Great customer service! A friend of mine had a similar problem where he had a continuous beep and this turned out to be the PSU so I'm thinking the same. What do you guys think???



Thanks in advance

Mark.


System Specs:

Chaintech 7NJS Zenith
AthlonXP 2600+
768MB RAM
Gigabyte Geforce 6600GT
1X160GB, 1X40GB Hard Drives
350W PSU
CD/DVD Writers.

Does it have an Award Bios?

If so, here are the beep codes:
http://bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm

Chaintech seems to be having issues with their website. Quite a few pages would not load....


PS Welcome to SAF!

Hi Thanks for the reply, It does have the Award bios and acording to the link you gave me it says it could be a CPU heat problem...but my temps are fine (I use digidoc monitor). The Chaintech website has been playing up for almost a year now, wish they'd sort it out so I can find out what this 'D3' means
Cheers for the help.

This is the kind of problem where you start in a methodical, check-list manner and eliminate your hardware components 1X1.

I would start with your memory; run memtest on it to verify integrity;
Make sure your fans and heatsink are free of dust and dirt buildup; check your CPU temperature by warm-booting immediately into the BIOS to see if your PCHEALTH screen agrees with the temperature your Digidoc displays.
While in the BIOS, make sure all settings are properly configured;
If you don't have a power supply tester, then you will have to swap one out somehow to test if your probs disappear. You can get a basic one from Newegg for around $15.
Swap out your video card to see if that is causing problems.

If all that still doesn't help, remove your CPU and heatsink to make sure your thermal paste is good. Clean the mounting with some paint thinner on a white paper towel, re-apply new grease and remount.

If ALL the above yields nothing, I would suspect the mainboard is in the process of dieing.

Yeah Ranchand... random (or not) beeps are symptoms of some memory failure. In the 80's, when this happened, we use to remove the memory sticks and clean them with a white eraser
They were smaller than ours today, but it always works.

Hey, Ironbender, whatever works! I've cut a few corners in building myself!

For your BIOS, the D3 post code says "Chipset Initialization/Auto-Detect Memory. Check memory for mismatch".

This is a common ocurrence. Users add memory to their system not knowing that latency and other differneces between sticks can affect performance and stability.

Thanks for the advice, I had a feeling it might be down to the memory because one time when I could not get it to boot I removed one memory module ( I have 3x256mb sticks) and reseated it and it booted up fine. It just seems odd to me that the longer I leave my PC switched off the more unstable it becomes and harder to boot from when I first switch it back on. Anyway I'm hoping to buy a gig of ram soon, so i'll make sure it has the same timings as the others.

Thanks again.

Mark.