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Solved 5 beeps on startup and no display

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Nic

PCHF Member
Mar 2, 2020
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#1
Not sure this if this is the correct place to post this. I'm only guessing my problem is related to a hardware issue but I may be wrong. Apologies if I am.

I have a Dell XPS desktop computer and it randomly stopped working today. When I turn on the power I hear a beep like it always does and then a few seconds later there is consecutive five beeps. My display does not turn on at any point. It only says it's going into power saving mode shortly after start up. When I play around with the monitor controls it says that there is no signal coming from my computer. All the while my computer is definitely on. The little light is on and I can hear it too. It just doesn't seem to be booting. I looked up what it means if the computer beeps five times and if I'm not mistaken it means that there is a CPU failure. Can this be fixed? Do I need to get it replaced and what does this mean for my data?

This is extremely frustrating as my livelihood is kinda dependent on my pc right now... I would appreciate any answers anyone can give me!
 
#2
According to Dells site the CMOS batter needs to be replaced which is usually a CR 2032 3V coin size battery.


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#3
Thanks for that. I did not think to look on the Dell website. However the problem seems to have fixed itself somehow... I'm not sure what happened. Hopefully the problem won't repeat again the next time I start it up.
 
#4
So the problem seems to be reoccurring... I'm not sure but I think that the pc's sleep mode may be triggering this problem. I'll try and buy the batteries you mentioned. I'm no technician so I don't like messing around with the interior hardware but I guess replacing the battery seems easy enough. I'll update later on...
 
#5
Ok so that seems to have fixed it for the most part. No more beeps and my PC seems to boot properly. The only thing I'm noticing is once the PC is put into sleep mode it won't wake up unless I reboot it. Moving my mouse or tapping the keys doesn't do anything. Any one have any ideas about that?
 
#6
Sorry to keep spamming the thread. But always when I think the problem has been fixed it turns out it actually isn't. After turning on the pc for the 3rd time today I got the 5 beeps again and no screen. Even after replacing the battery with another fresh one the problem remained exactly the same. What the hell is going on with this machine??? Probably going go turn it in for repair in town tomorrow... Unless you guys have any ideas?
 
#10
Rustys said:
You will need to refer to the instruction in the link I provided in Post # 2.
Click to expand...
The instructions tell me to enter the built-in diagnostics. To do that I need to press F12 on the dell splash screen on startup which I've already tried and it did nothing. Mind you I don't even get a splash screen.
 
#11
What comes up when you turn on the system?

Can you access the BIOS and preform a reset back to factory and make sure the time and date are showing there? Save and let the system reboot test it out and report back.

Since you can access the system some time you next thing I will suggest is back up your personal data like documents, pictures and so on so forth.

After you have done that:

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.
 
#12
The only thing that comes up is a brief notification from my monitor that says it is going into power saving mode because there is no signal from the computer. After that the screen is just black. Not black because the pixels are black, black because there are no pixels. So I literally cannot access anything from my computer...
 
#13
You are no longer able to access the system?
When you power on the system outside of the 5 beep do you hear the fans or any other noises?

Do you have a display card or do you connect the monitor directly to the motherboard?
If yes they remove the display card and attach the display directly to the motherboard display port.

If at any time you do not feel comfortable preforming any of this please take it to a repair shop so they can diagnose it for you.
 
#14
Oh yes the computer is definitely on. I can hear the fans and the power button light is on.

I have a NVIDIA graphics card. I have no idea how it's all arranged though. Will take it the the repair shop tomorrow (they were closed today) and hope they can fix it. By the way should I be worried about losing my files? As long as the hard drive isn't messed with it should be ok, right?
 
#15
If the HDD is ok then your data should be ok.

With out knowing what the repair shop will do to diagnose the system. If they reinstall the OS then you data may be lost. That is something that you will have to ask them.

This is why we always tell people to BACK UP you data DO NOT WAIT until something goes wrong.
 
#18
The guy at the repair shop thinks it's most likely a faulty video card. He said he would test it out with a spare today to be sure. Still no definitive answers, it's taking pretty long...
 
#20
Ok so update... The issue seemed indeed to be down to a defect video card. They returned my pc with the video card removed and it works again now (hallelujah!).

However I will need to buy a new card now. I may as well ask you guys for suggestions on which one to buy. My old one was a Nvidia GTX but I don't know the specific model. I don't think it needs to be particularly high end but it should at least be able to handle photoshop (my work depends on this software) very well and I need another hdmi/dvi outlet for my wacom cintiq anyway.

Please let me know your thoughts!
 
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