[comp.sys.ibm.pc] AT boot failure

kg0r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kenneth Gober) (10/30/88)

Help!  My AT-compatible has recently died.  When I turn it on, it beeps and
that's all.  The BIOS is by Phoenix (or so the label on the ROM indicates)
and the beep pattern is beep beep beeeeep beep.  Does anyone know what this
pattern means?  The machine doesn't get far enough through the boot sequence
to initialize the display card (an EGA which works when I try it in an XT) so
I don't get any PIC's.  I swapped power supplies (the first one seemed to have
only 9V coming out of the 12V supply) but that didn't help.

Kenneth Gober
kg0r@andrew.cmu.edu
kg0r@andrew.bitnet

rzahavi@gateway.mitre.org (Ron Zahavi) (11/02/88)

>>Help!  My AT-compatible has recently died.  When I turn it on, it beeps and
>>that's all.  The BIOS is by Phoenix (or so the label on the ROM indicates)
>>and the beep pattern is beep beep beeeeep beep.  Does anyone know what this
>>pattern means?  The machine doesn't get far enough through the boot sequence
>>to initialize the display card (an EGA which works when I try it in an XT) so
>>I don't get any PIC's.  I swapped power supplies (the first one seemed to have
>>only 9V coming out of the 12V supply) but that didn't help.
>>

I have seen this happen several times and in all cases the failure was with
a part on the mother board responsible for recognizing the display card.
I do not know if you only need to have a chip replaced to fix the problem.  In
all cases I encountered the machine was still under warranty and the whole
mother board was replaced.
 
In one instance the problem was only in the definition of the display card.
Somehow it was erased from the chip.  Booting from the setup disk (instead
of the hard disk), and setting the card (and the switch on the mother board)
to monochrome, allowed us to get far enough to change the definition to the
correct one.
 
Hope this helps, (or that your machine is still under warranty).
 
 -- Ron --

p.s. I probably don't need to tell you to check the switch on the mother
     board to make sure it matches your card setting, however, that is the
     fastest way to destroy something and see the above results.

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      Ron Zahavi  (703) 883-5637                 Mitre Corporation
      rzahavi@gateway.mitre.org                  7525 Colshire Drive
                                                 McLean, VA  22102
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