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System Keeps Beeping
I have a 6 week old Inspiron 1720 with Vista Ultimate. 2 or 3 days ago, my system started giving me 4 quick beeps at startup, and then 3 quick beeps about every hour or so after that. I spent over 2 hours on-line with Dell Technical Support today letting them take control of my machine with no resolution. I cannot find anything posted about this problem. I installed SP1 last night, and that did not resolve anything. I've looked at the Device Manager, and there is are no issues displaying there. The tech went ripping through the registry and disabled some sound items, still no fix. Disabled all sound schemes through control panel - no fix. Only external device I have running is a USB wireless mouse and I tried removing that and rebooting - no fix. There is no visual warning when the system beeps.
Help!
Thank you.
Jim Coates
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Posted March 23rd, 2008 11:00
Did the tech suggest running diagnostics? The POST beeps mean there is a problem but I don't know what, exactly. The meaning varies according to the motherboard. Probably someone on the General Hardware board would know. I would run Dell Diagnostics, pre-boot assessment tests, and maybe the Directx diagnostic.
Jim
- He did not suggest running diagnostics. I was not impressed with him at all. He was trying to quiet the symptoms, but not fixing the problem. I am so disappointed with Dell! Oddly, after I reactivated things he deactivated, I'm not hearing the beeps any more. I'm going to live dangerously for awhile and let it ride. :manindifferent:
Jim Coates
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13582 Posts
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Posted March 23rd, 2008 02:00
The tech went ripping through the registry and disabled some sound items, still no fix. Disabled all sound schemes through control panel - no fix.
Was he trying to fix this or to just shut off the beeps? If the latter, this might help but I don't know if it works in Vista Ultimate.
1. Open “Control Panel\System\Hardware Tab\Device Manager”.
2. At the top click “View\Show hidden devices” then go to “Non-Plug and Play Drivers” and double click “Beep”.
3. Now click the “Driver Tab” and finally change “Startup Type” to “Disabled”.
4. Restart.
Of course the problem with this if it works is that you cannot hear the POST beeps.
Jim