Hi, my PC has suddenly stopped booting up. The monitor dosen't come on, & it continuously gives out long beeps. I understand this usually means a memory problem (RAM) but I have changed these around & even put a friend's ram in but still no difference. My friend's ram is the same as mine (DDR400) except his stick was only 256mb, mine are both 500). I have 2 x 500mb sticks, & why would they both blow for no reason ?

Apart from the monitor not kicking in, & the pc giving out the long beeps, it looks like everything is booting up, all the fans are on, & even the cd drive lights up.

I have changed the (agp) graphics card & even tried a pci card.

Yesterday I bought a new motherboard ! So I now have the improved GA-K8NS-Pro, but still no difference.

The power supply is a very good 400w one & works well. All the fans come on & everything appears to work, except the monitor & of course the loud, long, beeps. Last night I swapped the psu for another one just in case, but it didn't help, so I know it's not the psu.

Could it be the CPU ? Before putting it in the new board, I cleaned it & added the paste etc. It dosen't look burnt or damaged at all, in fact it looks brand new & I understand that I would get high/low beeps if that was the problem.

So, I know it's not the graphics card, it's not the motherboard, it's not the psu, & it dosen't look like it's the ram (although the beep code says it is?) I'm running out of ideas. Could the cpu be damamged, even though the fans have always worked & it's never been overclocked etc (plus I'm not getting the high/low beeps)

Regards
Steve 'G7RTA'

you could be having a pwoer supply problem too. Check it out as well

Steve did you ever fix that or figure out what is wrong...because I am having the exact same problem…any help you can proved will be helpful

I too, am experiencing the exact same symptons.

Upgraded old P4 2.4 with:

Gigabyte GA K8N SLI
AMD X2 3800
2 x sticks 1GB 400 Kingston Ram
550W PSU
Leadtek 128mb 6600GT

Switched on with loads of anticipation.

Greeted with Continuous Long Bleeps and no monitor.
All fans were spinning fine.

I did think that the sticks of RAM didn't fit that well.
Didn't want to sit in the middle of the slot.
Push one end down the other would pop up like a see saw.
Managed to get them in although the middle of each stick seems to sit approx 1mm higher than the ends.
RAM is compatible - Kingston KVR44X64C3A/1G

The Beep code sugests a problem with RAM.

Help please!

Update on my problem.
Managed to get system to boot and VGA display working:

When I use only 1 stick of RAM in slot 4 the system boots (can enter bios)
but gt blue screen when windows tries to load.
Can enter windows in safe mode only.

No other slot seems to work and can on use 1 stick of RAM.


Any clues peeps?
Is there a restriction on the max siza of memory modules?

Thanks

I am have a prob too mine is th GA-K8NS i have 3 slots have 1 gig and wanted to put another 512 in and well when i do i get continous long beeps.....I then have to pull all the sticks and put 1 gig in. the new stick works because its in now but the middle slot will accept no ram whatsoever. and the bastards hardly fit...any solution????
-computer n00b

DDR modules are all the same size (horizontally anyway). So if they're not fitting very well, there's something wrong with the board. Judging by salmondp's description, it sounds like the slot--or possibly the entire board--is warped, so the RAM isn't sitting flat in the slot like it should. Not sure how it happens, but I've seen this problem with some Gigabyte boards before.

RMA the board. Not much else you can do.

First of all,

The Beeps you are hearing are diagnositc alerts as to what your problem is. The motherboard book should tell you what the beeps mean. If it is a problem with memory the MOBO will tell you. The beeps are a series of beeps that discern what is going on. They will sound different for different problems. You will normally hear these on what is called POST.

Check the book and come back and tell us what it says... This is for eveyone in here having the same issue.

RTFM!!

Also,

DO NOT send anything back/replace anything until you check these beeps... You are wasting your time if you do... It might tell you exactly what the problem is..

from the k8n-sli MOBO book pg. 85

Question 5: Sometimes I hear different continuous beeps from computer after system boots up. What do these beeps usually stand for?

Answer: The beep codes below may help you identify the possible computer problems.

However, they are only for reference purposes. The situations might differ from case to case.

􀁊AMI BIOS Beep Codes
*Computer gives 1 short beep when system boots successfully.
*Except for beep code 8, these codes are always fatal.
1 beep Refresh failure
2 beeps Parity error
3 beeps Base 64K memory failure
4 beeps Timer not operational
5 beeps Processor error
6 beeps 8042 - gate A20 failure
7 beeps Processor exception interrupt error
8 beeps Display memory read/write failure
9 beeps ROM checksum error
10 beeps CMOS shutdown register read/write error
11 beeps Cache memory bad


􀁊 AWARD BIOS Beep Codes
1 short: System boots successfully
2 short: CMOS setting error
1 long 1 short: DRAM or M/B error
1 long 2 short: Monitor or display card
error
1 long 3 short: Keyboard error
1 long 9 short: BIOS ROM error
Continuous long beeps: DRAM error
Continuous short beeps: Power error

These are the codes for the K8NS-pro


Question 8: Sometimes I hear different continuous beeps from computer after system boots up. What do these beeps usually stand for?

Answer: The beep codes below may help you identify the possible computer problems.

However, they are only for reference purposes. The situations might differ from case to case.

􀁊 AMI BIOS Beep Codes
*Computer gives 1 short beep when system boots successfully.
*Except for beep code 8, these codes are always fatal.
1 beep: Refresh failure
2 beeps: Parity error
3 beeps: Base 64K memory failure
4 beeps: Timer not operational
5 beeps: Processor error
6 beeps: 8042 - gate A20 failure
7 beeps: Processor exception interrupt error
8 beeps: Display memory read/write failure
9 beeps: ROM checksum error
10 beeps: CMOS shutdown register read/write error
11 beeps: Cache memory bad


􀁊 AWARD BIOS Beep Codes
1 short: System boots successfully
2 short: CMOS setting error
1 long 1 short: DRAM or M/B error
1 long 2 short: Monitor or display card error
1 long 3 short: Keyboard error
1 long 9 short: BIOS ROM error
Continuous long beeps: DRAM error
Continuous short beeps: Power error

G7rta,

Are you sure it is not continous short beeps?

Could quite possibly be your PS.

Also,

Are you sure it is continous.... No breaks at all in the sound?

im getting the continuous ones I let it go for 5 minutes and all long beeps so that means

Continuous long beeps: DRAM error

ok but all my dimm slots work just not when i have all 3 with a sticks in.

I am having similar problem to what most of you seem to be having.

I baught a second hand case and motherboard (a Gigabyte GA-K8N) for my sister, and she baught all the bits needed eg. processor, RAM etc.

When we set it all up and powered it on, the POST on the memory said OK, and the devices all were recognised and everything seemed fine. However as soon as it started to look to the C: drive to load windows XP Pro (which she was using in her old PC) I got a black screen with the error message on a DOS screen "Invalid Copy... Press any key to continue". On pressing the key, the monitor flicks on and off briefly then the message is relayed.

What could this mean?

Any help would be greatful, please email to YannisSpanopoulos AT Hotmail.com (written with AT as @ and obviously no spaces).

THANK YOU!

Hey,

You are trying to boot from a loaded copy of windows loaded on a hard drive that was in another computer?

IF so that will more than likely NOT work.

Drivers are diff and just too many things different to make that work.

Will probably have to start with a fresh install of windows for that new configuration.

Hope that helps

daft question alert:-

if you have nothing to gauge the length of time a beep sounds for then how do you know you are getting continuous short beeps or continuous long beeps?

***edit**
and for what its worth i think it sounds more like a power error then anything else, reading the 1st post again and all.

Following my previous post re: message saying "INVALID COPY"

Hi - yes, that is correct. I am trying to boot from a hard drive already loaded with Windows XP Pro. However, what confuses me is that (having done that before with a different PC) usualy it will access the hard drive, then begin to load Windows, and then while loading it will crash. However, what happens on my sisters PC is that as soon as the POST has finished and immediatly as it accesses the hard drive it flashes up with a DOS screen saying invalid copy.

I tried to fix the Windows XP copy on the new motherboard by putting in the CD, loading up the XP Pro setup screen which works fine as usual, then choosing the existing installation of XP from the list that is provided and loading all the drivers etc. back on. However, once their all loaded and the system wants to reboot the exact same thing happens again! INVALID COPY!!

PLEASE HELP ME!! We're one short step away from now buying a new motherboard after getting all the new parts for this one!!

Thanks everyone

Exact same problem here. I have 2 psu's and 2 sets of dram and I have tested them all. The thought occurs that the memory controller is on the cpu so that will likely be the problem. I have an old 3000+ 939 and it was holding back the rest of the system anyway so I was wanting to upgrade (and 939 cpus are fast running out). I was running this cpu @ 2.6ghz (1.8 stock) for a few months so it is very likely that the memory controller has died. I Hope this helps and I will post an update when I get my new opteron 165.

If you want to use another computer's Windows, do a repair install.
Press enter to install Windows, then choose R to repair.
If that doesn't work put the hard drive in the old computer and remove all drivers and set them to generic.
It might work, but if you are changing chipsets, it is better to reinstall Windows.

Got my new cpu today and I still have the same issue, I am going to do an out of system build with a minimalist setup, I have 2 of everything so I can test but I suspect it is the mainboard that is at fault. I will post again once I get further with this issue.

Ok, my motherboard is broken. It works in single channel mode (1 stick of ram) but not dual channel. I have flashed my BIOS but that has not helped and of course I have a new cpu so it wont be both cpu's. My M/B is going back to gigabyte under RMA now so I hope they get it fixed. Chow

My friend's ga k8ns 939 had the exact same problem.

Solution: BLOW LIKE A CHEAP HOOKER UNTIL --ALL-- THE DUST IS GONE FROM THE RAM SLOTS

We tried everything before this.

Good Luck