Calling all PC hardware gurus

[boxofrocks]

OK--This is a tough one...

Built a new system with a Gigabyte brand motherboard, Intel 6600 quad core and a nice video card. Running 8 GB of ram and vista 64. It screams along and I love it, but for one thing...

Right after the Vista desktop comes up, I get three beeps that sound like motherboard beeps (high pitched monotone short beeps, as opposed to a wav file beep), and then again every 20 minutes exactly. They are emmited throught the speakers plugged into the sound card native to the motherboard. Turn off the speakers--no beeps.

Gigabyte can't figure it out. So far ruled out:

All USB devices (all removed)
Video card issue (replaced)
Bios heat and fan warnings (disabled)And a few other things that don't immediately come to mind.

Anyone have any ideas? I don't know of a good message board to ask, but I'm willing to take suggestions.

I'm really lost, and hate that I can't turn on my speakers lest I be driven crazy.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

[gmarblestone]

Beeps during boot up are usually memory issues, but beeps in vista i haven't heard of.

And the 64 bit vista can for sure handle 8g of memory. I say remove on board sound by disconnecting the speaker on the motherboard.

:)

G

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Tom,

I'm with Grant on the boot-up beeps but after you get into the O/S is just kind of weird... especially every 20 minutes. The every 20 minutes deal leads me to only a single *wild azz guess*... the BIOS battery may be getting low and may be triggering the O/S somehow to say, "Hey, my BIOS battery is low." Obviously, this is a shot in the dark but it may be worth a trip to Radio Shack for another one... it's like the little RS232 flat battery.

- Wil

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Have you tried using a sound card and disabling the integrated one?

I haven't heard of this happening through anything but the MB speaker. I would have said heat issue, especially considering all that hardware you're running (how many HD's?) but again, it would be through the MB speaker...

I wonder if the bios is using the integrated card as a system speaker?

Very interesting problem. Nothing on MS Knowledge Base?

_/oe

[amadjuster]

Ah, you have been introduced to the amazing world of Windows ME, TOO, ur, I mean VISTA.

I will run XP Pro until this thing wears out and I get a MAC and run XP on it.

Here is how to solve your problems with Vista. Put an XP-Pro SP2 install disk in and type "FORMAT". Then install XP. That is the only way Vista works - deleted!

[Rson]

Did you say you have a new sound card or onboard sound? They might be conflicting and every 20 min vista finds it, clears old drivers, and reloads it. This is why you hear the monotone "system" beep....vista hasn't loaded the drivers yet. Go to the bios and disable onboard sound, see if that helps.

[ndsimm]

I had that happen on a laptop and this worked for me: not sure if it's the same issue, but it soulnds similar....

right click on my computer, and go to properties, hardware, device manager
click on View, then show hidden devices and under non-plug and play drivers, right click on beep and click disable
reboot and it should go away

[boxofrocks]

-There is no "onboard speaker" on the MB according to the manufacturer
-No 3rd party soundcard installed, just the one on the MB
-not a heat issue, as I've checked the temp through the bios, and they're low.


Nathan, as far as your suggestion, I don't see "beep".

The sound drivers work great, as I have no prob with sound, other than the beeps every 20 minutes.

I re-loaded Vista 64 on another HD--no beeps. I haven't put the MB drivers on yet, as the CD for it is in storage (we're moving), but I hope to later. Could be some kind of weird conflict with drivers.

[Rson]

always download the latest drivers, load them on a cd and use that to load the drivers. The CD that comes with the board is almost always outdated.

There is another speaker....it is on the case and you hook it up when you plug in the HDD LEd, Reset switch, ETC.

Do this, download all the latest drivers. Put them on a CD.
Go through the control panel and delete devices listed as sound and system drivers. When it prompts to reset say no. Do not reload any new drivers yet. Delete the sound card, Video card, MOBO drivers and anything that you just downloaded. What you are doing is loading the most up to date drivers.

Now Run the new drivers from the the downloads and reboot the computer. You should now have current drivers.

upon restart, Vista should reload the current drivers.

This is a software issue.

[boxofrocks]

Originally Posted by Rson

Go through the control panel and delete device from sound and hard.

huh?

[epoh]

Replace the bios battery. Or, swap the batteries with your other system that's not beeping. If that fixes, time to find a new nickel battery.

[eRoc]

I just finished tearing down and rebuilding a latitude d630 laptop that an employee spilled a drink on. I managed to get everything working again except the keyboard. When XP boots up I hear 3 loud beeps, which is windows way of telling me "hey I don't have a keyboard installed you idiot". I haven't left it on long enough to see if it happens every 20 minutes.

You're definately are having an issue with something not being connected right, or Vista not being able to work properly with some hardware installed. At least thats how it is with xp. Run a diagnostic from the BIOS. It might reveal something. Although it didn't tell me anything about the keyboard, it might tell you something. I'm thinking its just a driver issue with vista. Update drivers, flash the bios, etc.

On the upside, my boss decided to give me the d630 since the company just bought another laptop for the employee. I ordered a new keyboard. SWEET!! A $1000 laptop and all it cost me was $20. Of course, that really doesn't help you any. lol

[Rson]

If it isn't beeping at boot, it is not a BIOS issue. Rarely the battery dies and since he is running quad-core I doubt it is the battery. If you are unsure, open the case up and jump the CMOS clear jumpers. They should be next to the battery. This will clear the board to default standards.

But since you are hearing beeps in windows it is a windows issue.

Go into the control panel and device manager.....click on sound, right click on the sound devices and hit delete.

Download the new drivers from www.giga-byte.com for your board and load them.

Reboot; Vista will then load the updated sound drivers.

Don't use the CD for anything (makes a nice coaster)

[Hanky]

Urgent. Please check to see that your processor is not overclocked. Perhaps even slow it down a little.

[bluman95]

Have you tried disabling the SMART feature of the hard drives? Sometimes a hard drive will trigger an OS alert if the system detects something going on with it.