Old computer - Keeps making strange beeps randomly...

Nazo

Nazo

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 2, 2002
Messages
3,672
Ok, my retrogaming system/htpc thingy keeps making this weird random beeping sound. I can't quite tell where it's coming from, and it's too random for me to catch it with my ear to it or something. The thing is, it's not even just the usual sort of PC speaker beep like you hear every time you turn it on. It's higher pitched and softer somehow though still about as loud. I never heard this before I put that particular video card in it, so I suspect that it's related to that, but, I wonder why. The video card is a Diamond Viper V550, which is a Riva TNT 16MB. The beeping kind of reminds me of the way my current video card in my main system sounds if I forget to plug in the molex connector -- minus the fact that the Geforce makes a long sustained noise that freaks me out every time I hear it. I can't really figure out just why this thing feels a need to keep randomly beeping though. Is it a warning that something is going to fry in a near future (well, it's lasted me a few days so far.)
 
Er, not even any guesses?

I stuck my head in there earlier while it was beeping. I still couldn't really tell the source of it though. I couldn't find any obvious little things to be making such a sound though, yet, I'm 99% sure it's not the pc speaker beeping at me...
 
disconnect the pc speaker and see if it still sounds?

or are you sure its beeping? or is it more to whining sound?
 
Yep, has to be described as a beep for lack of a better word. It's higher pitched than the usual pretty low sound made by the PC speaker when it's told to beep normally. It definitely still makes the noise without the PC speaker btw. I had a feeling that the sound wasn't coming from it. Well, the video card seems to be related -- I remove it and it beeps a lot less -- but, it still makes the weird sound without the TNT, just a lot less of it. Funny thing though. This morning I turned it on, and it beeps like crazy, even sustains one long one during half the bios startup, so I grab a microphone, hook it up and hit record, turn on the PC and it beeps just like that again, I realize I had the mic muted, restart, and, for the first time EVER it starts up without a sound...

I caught it later though. It accidentally beeped twice while I was booting with the mic on.
-URL REMOVED DUE TO NOT BEING NECESSARY ANYMORE AND PEOPLE _STILL_ CLICKING IT TODAY APPARENTLY- (ADSL = slow...) I filtered out MOST of the noise, but, there's still a little in there I'm afraid. Just listen for the two relatively high pitched beeps (according to Goldwave's spectrogram, the sound has multiple frequencies roughly in the area of 2600, 3200, and 5100 Hz. Roughly. I tried a parametric EQ on those ranges, but, there's too much other noise and it turned into a weird sort of ringing sound. There also must be some tiny amount outside of those ranges that isn't enough to show up on the spectrogram noticably.)

Unfortunately, I'm guessing this is motherboard related, and I don't have the manual for this thing (lost who knows how many years ago.) Thing is, it seems like it is video related because usually when it's beeping something is moving or flashing or something on the video. When everything is sitting still, it doesn't seem to beep. Unfortunately, it's really hard to pin down as it's pretty random. So it may just suddenly start doing a long sustained beep the very second I unhook my microphone.
 
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by PC speaker do you mean the motherboard speaker? a little black circle with a + and - lead on it?
 
Well, when I say "PC speaker" I mean the external one plugged into the motherboard.

This motherboard must have a speaker of it's own though. At least that sound sure is coming from SOMEWHERE... Since it makes it with or without the video card, it's not that, and it makes it with or without the external speaker plugged in.

EDIT: BTW, so it's clear, the beeping is not limited to the bootup. It will randomly occur at any point, but, it almost always happens at least once during the bootup, usually during the bios stuff.
 
There's probably a small piezo speaker on the motherboard... That's why you never see PC speakers in cases these days... And those days, too for that matter.

Video cards of that generation didn't have alerts, speakers, or any form of early-warning before it's demise - I don't think they do now, for that matter.

You'd be surprised the amount of information Google holds on old motherboards. I've had nothing but good luck getting the manual in PDF for some old Slot1/SlotA boards.

I'd start with the board's model number in a Google search (or any number on the board, heh.) and maybe even resort to using the FCC ID to look it up. Though, that doesn't often yield much from my experience.
 
Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention, but, I found the company that makes this thing is actually still alive. It just fooled me because they are called Super and a big red dot on the BIOS and basically everywhere they've stamped their name, but, apparently they are "Supermicro." I actually found out the micro part a bit ago, but, I forgot to google again with the addition of the micro. Anyway, I found a manual on their site in the archives, but, it's not really helping me. Closest it has is the normal PC speaker beeps. And, btw, I don't get the normal pc speaker beep if I unhook the external speaker (no beep on bootup or anything else.) The list has a nice little table of errors for all number of beeps from 1-10, but, nothing for "random, occasionally sustained at any occasion booting or otherwise." ^_^

Well, the only guess I have is maybe it's the CPU alarm. I don't see how an unoverclocked P3 should be running hot enough to trigger it though... Especially considering that it does the most beeping on startup, when the cpu is at it's coolest (I never get the sustained one outside of the BIOS initialization stuff even.) The fact is, it's usually showing up in the range of 33C when idling if MBM5 isn't lying to me... CPU alarm is set at 55C because I figure this thing is supposed to last years, and around that sort of range it's taking off a bit at the end of those years. Considering how long they've already been running, I think it's to the point that every bit counts now.

Well, the only thing I can think of is that SOMETHING freaked out because I removed the second CPU (I decided it's just stupid to have another cpu sitting around in there doing nothing because if I EVER install a SMP supporting OS, it will be linux, and I'm still debating if I will ever do that or not.) The only other thing I did when I switched video cards was remove the second CPU. Thing is, it's kind of annoying, so I'd really like to make it shut up already about whatever it's complaining (I swear I'm seriously tempted to remove that speaker or something...)

EDIT: I just realized something... I think it's actually coming from the PSU. The sound made is almost the exact same sort of frequencies and such I hear sometimes when I shut the system off, and I remembered hearing the same sound when shutting off back when that psu was in another system. It never made that sort of beeping noise like this, but, what if maybe the PSU has some kind of sensor for the fan or something? It might not spin up very well, and occasionally slip a bit. It's kind of old. Perhaps it beeps when it detects a fan speed of 0 internally? I've never heard of a PSU doing this before (heck, most modern ones have a connector to let the motherboard detect PSU fan speed) but, maybe it's not impossible?

EDIT2: BTW, it does definitely have a seperate little buzzer that it says is for a cpu overheat warning. That's all it says it does though, and this latest time when I turned my PC on, the CPU was 19C at the time I turned it on. So, if it is a CPU warning, it's because the stupid thing is for some reason getting a false reading on the missing CPU or something.
 
Well, I guess it was the CPU warning thing. I finally found the jumper and switched it and now no more annoying noises. That's really dumb though. If the CPU is maxing out in the mid 30s, I really see no reason for an alarm to be going off...
 
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