BEEP CODES

Original IBM POST beep codes

Beeps

Meaning

1 short beep

Normal POST system is OK

2 short beeps

POST error error code shown on screen

No beep

Power supply, system board problem, disconnected CPU, or

disconnected speaker

Continuous beep

Power supply, system board, or may be RAM problem,

keyboard problem

Repeating short
beeps

Power supply or system board problem or keyboard

1 long, 1 short
beep

System board problem

1 long, 2 short
beeps

Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)

1 long, 3 short
beeps

Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA)

3 long beeps

3270 keyboard card

POST AMI BIOS beep codes

Meaning

Beeps
1

Memory refresh timer error

Parity error in base memory (first 64 KiB block)

Base memory read/write test error

Motherboard timer not operational (check all PSU to MB connectors

seated)

Processor failure

8042 Gate A20 test error (cannot switch to protected mode)

General exception error (processor exception interrupt error)

Display memory error (system video adapter)

AMI BIOS ROM checksum fix

10

CMOS shutdown register read/write fix

11

Cache memory test failed

12

Motherboard does not detect a RAM module (continuous beeping)

POST beep codes on CompTIA A+ certification exam

Beeps

Meaning

Steady, short
beeps

Power supply may be bad

Long continuous
Memory failure
beep tone
Steady, long
beeps

Power supply bad

No beep

Power supply bad, system not plugged in, or power not turned
on

No beep

If everything seems to be functioning correctly there may be a

problem with the 'beeper' itself. The system will normally beep
one short beep.

One long, two

short beeps

Video card failure

IBM POST diagnostic code descriptions

Code

Meaning

100199

System boards

200299

Memory

300399

Keyboard

400499

Monochrome display

500599

Color/graphics display

600699

Floppy-disk drive or adapter

700799

Math coprocessor

900999

Parallel printer port

10001099 Alternate printer adapter

11001299 Asynchronous communication device, adapter, or port
13001399 Game port
14001499 Color/graphics printer

15001599 Synchronous communication device, adapter, or port

17001799 Hard drive or adapter (or both)
18001899 Expansion unit (XT)

20002199

Bisynchronous communication adapter

24002599

EGA system-board video (MCA)

30003199

LAN adapter

48004999

Internal modem

70007099

Phoenix BIOS chips

73007399

3.5-inch disk drive

89008999

MIDI adapter

1120011299 SCSI adapter

2100021099 SCSI fixed disk and controller
2150021599 SCSI CD-ROM system

New World Macs (19981999)

Beeps

Meaning

No RAM installed/detected

Incompatible RAM type installed (for example, EDO)

No RAM banks passed memory testing

Bad checksum for the remainder of the boot ROM

Bad checksum for the ROM boot block

New World Macs (1999 onward) and Intel-based Macs

The beep codes were revised in October 1999,[4] and have been the same since.
In addition, on some models, the power LED would flash in cadence.
Beeps

Meaning

No RAM installed/detected

Incompatible RAM types

No good banks

No good boot images in the boot ROM, or bad sys config block, or both

Processor is not usable

Amiga POST
POST sequence of Amiga
The Amiga system performs the following tests at boot:
Step 1 - Delays beginning the tests a fraction of a second to allow the
hardware to stabilize.
Step 2 - Jumps to ROM code in diagnostic card (if found)
Step 3 - Disables and clears all DMA and interrupts.
Step 4 - Turns on the screen.
Step 5 - Checks the general hardware configuration.

If the screen remains a light gray colors and the tests continue, the hardware is
OK. If an error occurs, the system halts.
Step 6 - Performs checksum test on ROMs.

If the system fails the ROM test, the screen display turns red and the system
halts.

Sequence for all main Amiga models

Color screens scheme
Color

Meaning

Red

Bad ROM

Yellow

CPU Exception Before Bootstrap Code is Loaded

Green

Bad Chip RAM or fail of Agnus Chip (check seating of Agnus)

Black

No CPU

White

Expansion passed test successfully

Grey

Turn on

Constant white Failure of CPU

Return from InitCode()[5]

Violet

Sequence for A4000

Correct tests color sequence scheme
A4000 presents just a light gray screen during its boot time (it just occurs in 2 or
max 3 seconds)

Light Gray
= Initial hardware configuration tests passed
= Initial system software tests passed
= Final initialization test passed

Failed tests color scheme

Color
Red

Meaning
ROM Error - Reset or replace

Green CHIP RAM error (reset AGNUS and re-test)

Blue

Custom Chip(s) Error

Yellow 68000 detected error before software trapped it (GURU)

Amiga keyboard LED error signals

The keyboards of historical Amiga models are not proprietary as it happened in
early computer ages, but more pragmatically it was based on international
standard ANSI/ISO 8859-1. The keyboard itself was an intelligent device and had
its own processor and 4 kilobytes of RAM for keeping a buffer of the sequence of
keys that were being pressed, thus can communicate with the user if a fault is
found by flashing its main LED in sequence:
Blinks

Meaning

ROM checksum failure

RAM test failed

Watchdog timer failed

A shortcut exists between two row lines or one of the seven special keys
(not implemented)