This post is more than 5 years old
3 Posts
0
71348
Studio 540 Won't Turn On
I have 2 Studio 540s that I bought the same day. I turned both off last night. This morning, one of them would not turn on. No fan sounds, no lights, no nothing. I swapped power supplies. The one that was working now has no fan, no lights no nothing. But the other one with the presumably good power supply still won't turn on. The lights come on the desktop and the fans whirl, but no image ever appears on the monitor. Also, the computer beeps. No matter how long I leave it running, the beeps continue. They are just single beeps spaced several seconds apart. When I return the power supplies back to their original computers, the one that originally worked starts running again and the other one does nothing. So, I can see that the power supply is not good, but I hate to spend $50 on a power supply if there is some other problem. Why no image on the screen and why the never unending string of beeps? The computers are a year and a half old and out of warranty.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
•
43.6K Posts
1
November 29th, 2010 11:00
Five beeps is apparently a battery issue on this system. So did you reinstall the battery correctly, and right-side-up? You might need to wipe any fingerprints off with a lint-free cloth and hold the battery by the edges when you reinstall it. And do you know that replacement battery is good?
Two beeps is a RAM issue.
Power off, unplug, etc and remove all RAM modules, except the one in slot 1. Then remove the battery and press/hold power button again for ~30 sec. Reinstall the battery again and see if it boots with only mouse, monitor and keyboard.
If it boots, power off etc and swap all RAM modules into slot 1 until you find the bum module. If they all work in slot 1, add a module to slot 2 and see if it boots. Then add RAM to the other slots to see if there's a bad slot.
If a RAM module is bad, replace it as a matched pair. If a slot is bad, you may need a new motherboard.
Ron
rudicollins
207 Posts
0
November 24th, 2010 16:00
single beep...silence...single beep...silence... = BIOS ROM checksum in progress or failure
failed motherboard.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
•
43.6K Posts
0
November 24th, 2010 18:00
When was the last time you replaced the batteries in these systems?
You might try resetting BIOS to factory defaults.
Power off and unplug
Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
Open the case and remove the motherboard battery
Press/hold power button for ~30 sec.
Reinstall the battery (right-side-up). If the batteries are more than ~2-3 years old, this might be the time to replace them.
Now see if it boots with only mouse, monitor and keyboard attached.
Ron
kv1370
3 Posts
0
November 26th, 2010 08:00
OK, I have really done it now. First I did as you suggested above and it still wouldn't boot up. I was wrong about the beeping sequence that I described earlier though. The computer beeps two fast beeps, silence for about 4 seconds, two fast beeps, silence for about 4 seconds, and continues like this until I pull out the plug. So, I decided to switch the hard drive with the computer that worked. Again, the series of 2 beeps. I switched batteries, tried resetting the BIOS again and still the series of 2 beeps. I unhooked the DVD from the power supply and still 2 beeps in series. I decided I had had enough and put all the original components back into the working computer, and NOW IT DOESN"T WORK!! When I push the power button the fans start up, I hear two quick beeps (that's when I used to see something on the screen), now nothing on the screen, a pause, and the 5 beeps in a row, a pause, 5 beeps in a row, a pause, etc. I powered it down, held the power button 15 seconds, removed the battery, held the power button 30 seconds, replaced the power button and powered up. Same series of 5 beeps. I reseated the video card and reseated the memory cards (there are 4 of them). I powered up and the same series of 5 beeps. Nothing ever appears on the screen. I double checked all of the cords coming off the power supply and all of them are hooked. Any idea what I might have done? I was wearing a grounding strap each time I was messing around inside the case.
kv1370
3 Posts
0
November 29th, 2010 13:00
Thanks Ron,
I took the battery out and cleaned it and re-inserted it and now my good computer works again. Maybe I just didn't have it seated all the way. At any rate, that fixed the problem. I went to the second computer and removed all the Ram modules. It has 4 modules, two that are 2GB and two that are 1GB. I tested them each in slot one and each time the computer started up fine. So, I put the 2GB in slots 1 and 3 (that's where they were when I started messing around with them) and it booted up just fine. I then added the remaining modules so that all four were installed and it booted up. I don't know why it wasn't doing that before, but it seems like everything will work if I replace the power supply. Thanks for all your help. For a while there, I thought I messed both of them up.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
•
43.6K Posts
0
November 30th, 2010 13:00
Glad it's working now. :emotion-21:
Ron
ivanspeed1
3 Posts
0
January 5th, 2012 10:00
Was this issue resolved? I am having the same issue and I can't find a solution.