Which component is causing my problem?

A

Andybremner

Geek Trainee
Hello there, I'm new and I need some help.

Yesterday I was attempting to clean my PC because the dust had gotten out of control, after putting everything back in, checking it was all okay about 3 or 4 times my PC wouldn't come on.

Basically, I start it up and I get 1 long beep and 3 short beeps, now, according to American Megatrends beep codes that indicates a RAM problem, so I swapped the RAM sticks about and was finally able to get the beeping to stop. I am confused though, because it's apparently a RAM problem, but as soon as I press the power button the red LED on my ATI Radeon 4850 flashes once, then twice more, it has never done that before and I'm no
computer​
​
expert​
​
 but doesn't that mean there is also something wrong with my graphics card? I listened carefully and I can hear my Hard Drive still making sounds.

After getting the beeps to stop, nothing happens when I power it up, it appears as if my PC is running fine but my monitor won't come on, I'll post my system specs.

ASUS P5Q PRO TURBO Motherboard
2x2 OCZ PC2 6400 RAM
Intel​
​
 E8400 3.0GHz Processor
ATi Radeon 4850 512MB Graphics Card
Thermaltake 600W PSU
500GB Hard Drive (I don't know the make)

Thanks for any answers, I appreciate it. (This PC is my main build, so I'm hoping it's easily fixable)

P.S. When I take both sticks of RAM out, I still get the beep codes, I did some research and apparently that means my motherboard is fine? Thanks again.
 
beeps sound similar to memory but you may have solved that problem with the swapping.
make sure the 2 sticks of ram are in a1 b1 or a2 b2.
if your hard drive is making noises like as if its loading windows then perhaps it is and you just don't have video.
reseat the video card again until it snaps in.
check and make sure you connected the 6 pin power to the video card.

some red light codes i found on this card

D1601 - Shows overheating

D1602 - Power connector #1 removed

D1603 - Power connector #2 removed

D1604 - GPU fail

also it could be related to the memory
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=119119
 
Hey, thanks for your reply.

I've tried various thing, most recently I tried taking the video card out but leaving my ram in, I got 1 long beep and 3 short beeps. I just tried putting my graphics card in along with the 2 ram sticks and I still got this 1 long beep and 3 short beeps, I am still getting the LED on my card flashing once, then twice more (which according to your post indicated that a power connector 2 is missing?) what confuses me about that is my graphics card only has one 6 pin power connector. I also thought I had fixed the beeps on start up but they are happening again, I'm running out of ideas tbh with you.

I've tried all the RAM slot combinations I can and I still always get these beep codes, do you have any other suggestions as to what my problem may be?

Thanks.
 
found this from another site:

"This is for the 4850:

LED and Meaning
--------------------
D1601 - Over temp protection enabled
D1602 - EXT 12V fault

Having both lit constantly, strongly indicates that the card is dead.

Everything below this is for the 4870, not 4850, keeping it here for future users:

LED and Meaning
--------------------
D1601 - Shows overheating
D1602 - Power connector #1 removed
D1603 - Power connector #2 removed
D1604 - GPU fail

1601 and 1604 are obvious, the middle 2 mean you need to connect the power connectors, if they are connected, then your PSU may not be providing enough power."

you could try resetting your cmos to see if that makes any difference.
do you have another video card to test with?
do you have a multimeter to check the voltage on the 6 pin?
you did say the lights blinked and not stay lit? tell us how the lights behave again being specific about which led in particular.
 
Hey, thanks again for your reply.

How do I reset the cmos?
I don't have another video card to test it with unfortunately.
I don't have a multimeter.
There is one LED on top of my graphics card near the 2 ports. As soon as I press my PC's power button it lights up, then about 2 seconds later it flashes, then flashes again, it doesn't flash or anything after that though, so 3 flashes on the LED on top of my video card.

Is it possible that both my graphics card and RAM are broken? I ask that because the 1 long beep then 3 short beeps (according to my research) are a RAM problem. Would you recommend I get some RAM and a Video Card to test them out?
 
just out of curiosity have you tried the other pci-e video port?
which led lights up? how many led's are there on the video card?
cmos.JPG
 
Hi there, I've fixed my PC by putting my graphics card in the other PCI-E slot, which I didn't even know my motherboard has haha, thank you very much for your help.
 
i was reading your manual a little bit and found some things.

"One continuous beep followed by three short beeps
No VGA detected"

this says that when you had the video card in the previous slot it didn't detect any video card.
however your video card works in the other pci-e 2.0 port.
also i think the blue slot is x16 and the black slot is x8.
your video card is capable of x16.
now i know by now your probably just glad it works and may not want to mess with it.
i remembered that you said it was real dusty and you probably took out the card and then blew out the dust in it right?
perhaps the blue slot got dust inside the port while you were cleaning it out.
now the reason why you would even try to do anything more at this point is to take advantage of the faster pci-e port since your video card supports it.

before doing anything below, pull the power cable from the power supply and wait 5 min.
you could try getting some canned air with the little straw and aim into the port to blow out any debris that may be in there.
you can even go as far as getting a q-tip, pull out the cotton a little on one end, flatten it out, then soak some alcohol, and then swipe into the port left/right several times.
then proceed that with the canned air to dry out the alcohol. let it sit for 5 min or so. insert the card into that port again and try it out.
if all this doesn't do it then it might be safe to say that the blue port is damaged.
 
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