I've encountered a number of people recently (still doing computer consulting on the side) who were not aware that the POST (Power On Self Test) performed by the computer will often actually tell you what the problem is you are having with your computer.
Just today, a guy brought me a computer that he said had a bad power supply. Then he said "when it starts up, it does two short beeps then pauses then two short beeps..."
I told him "that's not power supply - it's memory. Either a memory module is bad, or is not seated properly..."
He looked surprised, so I Googled "Dell studio two short beeps" and immediately came up with the error code. (Googling is WAY faster than finding the computer's manual, which will usually have a list of codes)
Some HP (I think) computers actually have a small panel of multi-colored LEDs on the back, and the combination/order of colors tells you what the "fault" is.
The POST beep is particularly helpful when you have a bad video card, and you can't see error messages on your monitor. (Usually, if I recall, 1 long beep, 2 short beeps)
Here's one of the lists of common POST beep codes.
Just today, a guy brought me a computer that he said had a bad power supply. Then he said "when it starts up, it does two short beeps then pauses then two short beeps..."
I told him "that's not power supply - it's memory. Either a memory module is bad, or is not seated properly..."
He looked surprised, so I Googled "Dell studio two short beeps" and immediately came up with the error code. (Googling is WAY faster than finding the computer's manual, which will usually have a list of codes)
Some HP (I think) computers actually have a small panel of multi-colored LEDs on the back, and the combination/order of colors tells you what the "fault" is.
The POST beep is particularly helpful when you have a bad video card, and you can't see error messages on your monitor. (Usually, if I recall, 1 long beep, 2 short beeps)
Here's one of the lists of common POST beep codes.
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