Strange Computer Problem

[sabotai]

My motherboard is beeping and I have no idea why.

It only happens when I play certain games (D&D Online, NWN, GalCivII, CivIV). It doesn't happen when I play World of Warcraft or Battle For Middle Earth II.

One of the things that makes it strange is that it only happens during loading screens, when it plays videos or on menu screens, never during gameplay. I've ran a lot of monitering utilities and it is not the CPU or Graphics Card. Both are running perfectly fine.

When it starts during video playing, it'll start out as a sputtering beeping noise, and then become a constant, loud beep. During loading screens, it'll beep when loading starts, but usually stop. And then on menu screens, not all menu screens though, it'll be a constant beep. NWN seems to be the worst at this. I load up the game, go to the main menu and it just beeps, but once I get to the character creation screen, it stops.

Another thing that makes it strange is that it'll only beep if the game is the active window. If I start the game, and then have another window active, it won't beep. Only when the game is the active window will it beep.

And the beep is coming from the motherboard, not the speakers. I've been trying to figure this out for days and I can not figure out what exactly is causing my computer to beep.

And whatever is causing it, it is not showing up in the Windows Event Log.

Anyone have any idea?

[sabotai]

I took out the jumper on my motherboard so that I wouldn't hear system beeps anymore.

And I'm still hearing the noise.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I took out the jumper on my motherboard so that I wouldn't hear system beeps anymore.

And I'm still hearing the noise.

Unplug the computer and check to see if you still hear the noise. If you do, your computer has been posessed.

[Franklinnoble]

Do you have your motherboard manual? If not, I'd try to find one online. It should have an appendix for what certain beeps mean. That'd be the first place to check.

I suspect thermal problems. Or maybe memory. Check to see that all the components are firmly seated and connected, and make sure all your fans are working.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Do you have your motherboard manual? If not, I'd try to find one online. It should have an appendix for what certain beeps mean. That'd be the first place to check.

I disconnected the motherboard speaker, so it's not that.

I suspect thermal problems. Or maybe memory. Check to see that all the components are firmly seated and connected, and make sure all your fans are working.

I have multiple monitor programs running now, checking every temp it can and they're all fine. Memory is fine and all fans are working.

So far the posessed idea makes the most sense...

[jbmagic]

Try disabling the motherboard alarm in bios.

Is the fan on the motherboard working ok?

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Try disabling the motherboard alarm in bios.

I tried, but there isn't an option for that in my BIOS.

Is the fan on the motherboard working ok?

Yup. They're all working as they always have.


There has to be something about those certain games that would cause this. It doesn't happen when I run WoW, but does when I run DDO. Doesn't happen with Battle for Middle Earth II but does for Civ IV. It just doesn't make sense....

EDIT: 11,000 woohoo!

[DanGarion]

It just started doing this?

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by dangarion

It just started doing this?

I guess so. For GalCivII and DDO, it's been doing it since I got them. I recently reinstalled NWN and CivIV, and it's doing it for them too (but didn't do it when I played them previously). I've gone through numerous hardware changes since I stopped playing CivIV to now, so if there is some kind of conflict, I'm going to have problems isolating it.

But then again, if it's hardware, why some games and not others?


Maybe I should just use this as an excuse to uber-upgrade my computer?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I guess so. For GalCivII and DDO, it's been doing it since I got them. I recently reinstalled NWN and CivIV, and it's doing it for them too (but didn't do it when I played them previously). I've gone through numerous hardware changes since I stopped playing CivIV to now, so if there is some kind of conflict, I'm going to have problems isolating it.

But then again, if it's hardware, why some games and not others?


Maybe I should just use this as an excuse to uber-upgrade my computer?

I'd say blow the PC away and reinstall Windows to see if it still does it, then install the most up to date drivers for your sound and video. Because I'm really stumped on this one.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by dangarion

I'd say blow the PC away and reinstall Windows to see if it still does it, then install the most up to date drivers for your sound and video. Because I'm really stumped on this one.

Yeah, I'll probably have to do that....and that's the last thing I want to do with my day. Guess I have a weekend project to do.

[sabotai]

Well, just in case it was the system RAM, I decided to go buy some more. Figured if I was going to upgrade my mobo, cpu and other things, I would probably up the RAM too. So I went from 1GB to 2 GB. I bought 2 1GB RAM chips, completely took out the old RAM and put the new RAM in.

After the usual "there's no way we are making this easy, you're going to have a few heart attecks before we work" crap, I'm up and running with 2 GB of RAM.

And it's still making the noise.

But at least I have 2 GB of RAM now...

[Franklinnoble]

Here's an experiment (since you've got RAM to spare):

Download Microsoft's virtual PC (it's free now)

Install it.

Run it - load WinXp... install some software in it... see if it still makes noise with you running everything in a virtual PC instance.

I don't really know where I'm going with this... I just envy you and your 2GB of RAM with which you can waste some on a Virtual PC.