OT:How close to dead is my laptop? Beeps on startup

[makoti]

I know my laptop is about gone. The screen had been going black for a few seconds & coming back up for a few months now. I got a cooling fan & that seemed to help a lot. Haven't seen that issue in weeks. Trying to hold out until I have all the Campy stuff I need & can afford a new one. HA!
Lately, it has (twice now) given me a series of beeps at start. 6 beeps, two toned, twice. So (graphically described) BEEP-beep, BEEP-beep, BEEP-beep two times.
Anyone know what this means? I'm sure it's some BIOS thing, but I can't find something that describes the two-tone sounds.
Thanks.

[scho74]

It's going to die. I'm not sure exactly what model laptop you have but usually the double beeps are CPU related. Esp since you got a new fan, cpu/systemboard is slowly dying.


-Repeating High/Low
-CPU
-Either the CPU is not seated properly or the CPU is damaged. May also be due to excess heat. Check the CPU fan or BIOS settings for proper fan speed.

[makoti]

It's going to die. I'm not sure exactly what model laptop you have but usually the double beeps are CPU related. Esp since you got a new fan, cpu/systemboard is slowly dying.


-Repeating High/Low
-CPU
-Either the CPU is not seated properly or the CPU is damaged. May also be due to excess heat. Check the CPU fan or BIOS settings for proper fan speed.

Thanks. Time to back it up fast...

[gavingould]

check with the manufacturer for their startup beep codes. but yeah basically it isn't happy.

[weiwentg]

Thanks. Time to back it up fast...

Remember that the hard drive is completely separate from the CPU. You should of course back it up, but if it dies without warning, just rip the hard drive out, buy a USB cage, and copy the needed files to the new one. You should probably just bring it to Best Buy, they'll help you figure out which interface you need (there are several standards).

[pcxmbfj]

When you got the new fan did you clean the entire unit? That will let the fan do a better job of disbursing heat from sensitive parts.

[ultraman6970]

Double beeps could mean several things. W/o looking at it is hard to say because well could be that the bios is not recognizing something at the start up and thats why is beeping.

Could be HD not working properly, battery clock that went south and the bios data is gone, my personal pick is video card problem.

If you are good at it and gonna get a new one, just take the old hd out and then play with old pc this way :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ywaQ6wPpJw

[Gsinill]

Sounds like you will need a new computer.
This said, you can install some virtualization software on the new machine and import the old one (assuming it makes it that long).
Once done, you don't just have a backup but a virtual copy of the old laptop that you can then start up within the new one.
Been doing this for years with all the PCs that I replaced; this way you don't have to worry about missing any files when you copy from old to new manually.

I use VMware for this which requires a paid license but there are free alternatives like Oracle VM VirtualBox.

[makoti]

The fan wasn't replaced, I got one of those cooling pads to put under it. It helped. I went to the Lenovo site to look up the beeps. Nothing about two-tone warnings. But it did mention AMI, which turned up in a search. That told me the beeps signal either a low CPU fan speed or CPU failure. Either way, I'll be staying away from the classifieds for a while.
The new one will come with 10, this one has 7. I've done a virtual copy before, but the same OS. Will it work going from 7 to 10?
Thanks, guys.

[ultraman6970]

Makoti go to microcenter and good to go, acer has a really nice ones.

Regarding moving the info over, this is how I would do it. I'm assuming you have no outlook corporate email running, in that case pretty much is the same thing you just have to find the email file (pst) and the addresses file and move it over.

- set the new computer as usual...

- get a usb HD interface thingy (microcenter, like 15 bucks)

- remove the old HD and connect that to the interface thingy.

- you will see another drive in the list, go to the users forlder (or any other folder with stuff) and copy the stuff over to the new users profile.

I would go that way just because you dont even knwo how f-ed the old pc is.

The other way is to share the C drive in your network and stuff, too much of a problem when you know you have no idea if the pc will boot up.

If you have a problem let me know, I can help you out since we are in the same area, or just youtube to figure it out how to open your laptop, sure are like 4 or 5 screws. then like 4 more to remove the HD.

[Germany_chris]

If it's a Mac it means bad RAM

[unterhausen]

beep codes are specific to the manufacturer and model, so since you didn't tell us who that is, we really can't help.

My wife had an HP that would suck up lint and overheat. That's not unlikely for any computer. Probably a way to clear it out without disassembling too much. Again, a brand and model number would help. It's possible you need to reseat memory or hard drive

[makoti]

beep codes are specific to the manufacturer and model, so since you didn't tell us who that is, we really can't help.

My wife had an HP that would suck up lint and overheat. That's not unlikely for any computer. Probably a way to clear it out without disassembling too much. Again, a brand and model number would help. It's possible you need to reseat memory or hard drive

It's a PC, Lenovo. T400. Old. Just like me.

[ultraman6970]

Here you have what the beeps mean...

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht003558

[fogrider]

It's a PC, Lenovo. T400. Old. Just like me.

Dude, laptops are cheap nowadays, sure it can add up if you want to load it up, but if you just want a cheap pc for email and internet, it's less than can campy crankset! life is just easier if you don't have to worry about your laptop crashing.

[unterhausen]

old people need big monitors. I bought a Zotac miniPC for $250, installed linux and next time someone pays me for consulting I'm buying a 42" monitor.

I would get a USB to sata converter and copy the hard drive.

That combination of beeps makes no sense according to the listing on the lenovo site.

[sonnyhooper]

Always back up your data. It's is best to have multiple external hard drives.

[makoti]

old people need big monitors. I bought a Zotac miniPC for $250, installed linux and next time someone pays me for consulting I'm buying a 42" monitor.

I would get a USB to sata converter and copy the hard drive.

That combination of beeps makes no sense according to the listing on the lenovo site.

Yeah. but I found this for the AMI bios: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm. It's the only place I could find anything about a two-tone warning.

[unterhausen]

it makes sense that it might have a cooling fan issue.

[kittytrail]

since that T400 is a Thinkpad, albeit a Lenovo-made one, you could have a look at the IBM beep codes. might be a cooling problem or dried thermal paste/pad between CPU and heatsink and/or extractor fan dying or full of dust & lint. checking CMOS battery won't hurt.

Thinkpads are easy to work on and well documented and even a 2008-made one with a cheap fast SSD and max RAM(8 GB) would still be quite useful for everyday computing needs. no heavy gaming, data crunching/visualization or 3D rendering and stuff like that though.

or get a new one if you're unsure/want/need a more modern and faster computer.