BIOS problem

[yogurtas33]

Hello,

I have an issue booting into my BIOS after installing new hardware.
My first guess is that my graphics card for some reason doesn’t get along very well with the old motherboard bios i’m using, computer turns on, beeps once, waits, beeps 3 times 1-2sec apart and starts up, if i try to press the “DEL” key it goes into bios mode but shows only black screen, otherwise PC is working perfectly fine, no problems on any components, no heat problems, no weird stuff like signs of cmos battery failure (although i’m not sure yet i will change my cmos to confirm), I have changed my RAM sticks from old ones to new ones, back and mixmatch different ones, same problem.

System specs:

Motherboard: Acer Aspire X1935
GPU: GTX 980
CPU: i7 - 3770k
RAM: Kingston DDR3 16GB
PSU: 600W 80+ bronze

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[Bruce]

g’day and welcome to the forums.

3 beeps is usually a sign that the graphics card and/or memory chips are faulty or not being recognised.
i would be removing both the GPU sand RAM chips - cleaning their circuit boards, their contact pins and their motherboard slots with a soft bristled brush.
reseat the components and see if that helps.

[phillpower2]

Hello yogurtas33,

I have an issue booting into my BIOS

For clarity, you do not boot into the BIOS you access it and a computer has not booted until you are looking at a fully functional operating system such as Windows.

Were all these parts previously working in this computer or have you swapped in/out any parts.

Motherboard: Acer Aspire X1935

That is an OEM motherboard out of an Acer computer, what is the exact model name or number of the Acer computer.

RAM: Kingston DDR3 16GB

Is that 4 Xs 4GB sticks and what speed is the RAM.

PSU: 600W 80+ bronze

What is the brand and model name or number of the PSU and how old is it.

[yogurtas33]

Hello again and thank you for your quick response.

Here’s what i’ve done:
I removed my GPU and all of my RAM sticks, cleaned out the sockets and the motherboard, reseated everything carefully and saw no difference.
To be more precise, as I turn on my computer it beeps once as if it is starting, waits about 10-15 seconds, beeps again, waits the same amount of time again
and does this in total 3 (4) times with the first beep. After the last beep the computer boots up very quickly into windows with ssd installed. Afterwards i can turn on my hardware monitor, device manager and msinfo32 to check for if anything is missing and the PC is recognizing everything properly and i see no issues using my PC. The only problem is when i want to access my BIOS it goes through the same 3(4) beep loop and goes straight into black screen, after which i have to restart my PC again. Added an attachment, is the BaseBoard Version supposed to show anything or is this nothing to worry about?

New specs:

GPU : GTX 980 Gaming 4G
CPU: I7-3770k (not overclocked)
RAM: Kingston 4x4 GB 16GB total, 1333MHz
Motherboard: Acer Aspire X1935 model Dib75l-lena 48.3gw01.011
PSU: MAG A650BN 650W - 80PLUS Bronze (new)

Thank you.

[phillpower2]

The RAM speed and PSU are all good but can you answer the below that were also asked;

Were all these parts previously working in this computer or have you swapped in/out any parts.

That is an OEM motherboard out of an Acer computer, [COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]what is the exact model name or number of the [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Acer computer.
[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]
The reason why it is important that we know the above is because OEMs like Acer, Dell and HP etc have their own BIOS and most often will not work with any hardware that a computer didn’t ship with from the factory, the PSU we know with 100% certainty did not come in the same computer as the MB.

In addition to the above;

If you are using a USB keyboard have you made sure that it is connected to one of the black USB 2.0 ports.

Have you tried putting a new CMOS battery in the board.[/color][/color]

[yogurtas33]

Yes, I have swapped the GPU from an older one as an upgrade, the same thing i did with my RAM sticks, changed from 4x2GB to 4x4GB, same speed, same manufacturer and reinstalled windows to a different windows 10 version. The computer started off as an acer computer very long ago, in time all parts were swapped out for different ones, so i guess i wouldn’t know the model name of the acer computer the motherboard came from, unless there is a way i can find that out somewhere? Before i changed these parts BIOS was fully functional, the parts were also completely custom, just older.

The USB keyboard and mouse were connected to the blue USB ports, swapped out to the black ones, so far no difference.
CMOS battery i will change for a new one soon and post back the progress, i have noticed that my keyboard RGB lights sometimes go in and out but it doesnt happen very often.

[phillpower2]

Were the parts that you removed the original components.

The keyboard has to be connected to one of the black USB 2.0 ports because being older tech the BIOS does not have USB 3.0 drivers mapped into it, you say that there was no difference, was that after restarting the PC.

The keyboard lights going in and out suggests a power issue and in all honesty I am suspecting that the issue that you are having is because the present GPU requires a lot more power than the original card did and the BIOS is not programmed for it, I could be wrong but a simple test could rule the theory in or out.

Before putting in a new CMOS battery, remove the GTX 980 from the PCI-E slot on the MB and place it somewhere safe, connect the screen up to the appropriate video port on the MB, reassemble and power up, any change in the behaviour or is it still the same as with the GTX 980 in the board.

[yogurtas33]

No, the original components are (some were) stored for a long time in case problems like this appear, for the most part it’s a completely custom PC right now, I did restart my PC after switching the USB ports yes. I was also suspecting a power issue or some kind of resolution scaling issue with the old BIOS, the most recent hardware I installed into my system is the GPU and I think this is where i started having these problems to begin with, just didnt pay too much attention when it started happening thinking it was some sort of check-up the MB does when new hardware is installed. I will try removing the GPU and see if that changes anything.

[phillpower2]

(y)

[yogurtas33]

Hello,

The issue is indeed that the graphics card is too powerful for my MB to handle, removing the GPU, PC boots straight into windows no issues, after going into recovery options section i managed to get into my BIOS again with no issues. After i reseat my GPU back to my MB I immediately start having the same beep loop, but otherwise no other problems present. Does this automatically mean that this old MB has outlived its lifespan?

Thank you for your support :giggle:

[phillpower2]

Hello yogurtas33,

Don`t write the MB off just yet, reason being that you can actually get the parts to wok after a couple of restarts, if all else fails leaving the PC in Stand by when not in use could be a work around for you.

Lets see if there is anything else going on;

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.

In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.

Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

[phillpower2]

Being that the OP revisited the forum but chose not to reply this thread will be marked and closed.