BIOS Speaker making 'grinding' noises early in POST

[SirNuke]

During the early POST stage (Award BIOS post code 49 [Calculate total memory by testing the last double word of each 64k page.]) the speaker makes a grinding like sound (I am 100% sure its not a hard drive or any physical device). During this it will often crash and restart the boot process. When it does get past stage 49 (stage 50 is 'Initialize USB', 52 is 'Test all memory'), the sound stops and the computer boots normal. When doing a restart this seems to occur much less often. I cannot remember exacatly when this started, but I do remember it starting soon before/after getting my new video card.

Other oddities/noteworthies
1. Computer doesn't seem to like the PS/2 ports (though I pretty sure this is unrelated [as in the PS/2 mouse + keyboard do not work correctly).
2. Computer sometimes crashes inside the BIOS setup.
3. The memory works correctly (tested with Memtester86 twice).
4. When I first installed the CPU, I had to straighten some of the pins.
5. Kind of unrelated, but the computer seems to get extremely mouse and keyboard laggy at times (usually during certain games [though it isn't consistant between games...])
6. I don't have the 'video power spliter' that splits a hd power connector into a floppy and hard drive (the manual says this should be used to plug in hard drive and video card).
7. The problem is not affected by change most of the devices (unforuntually, I won't have access to my old video card for some time to try replacing the video card).
8. The integrated network card doesn't work (lags at random times, but I replaced it a very long time ago).
9. I'm not sure if the newest BIOS is installed (kind of difficult to update since I don't have an internal floppy).

Computer:
AMD Anthlon 64 3200+ (not overclocked)
Chaintech VNF3-250
512 MB 400mhz (can't remember the brand, though its kind of generic)
120 GB SATA hard drive
Powercolor 9800 Pro video card
CD-RW and DVD, various fans and unimportant devices

I am stumped at this point. Any ideas?

 

[micker377]

Sounds like the power is being "loaded down". Have you tried a different power supply? What size power supply do you have now? Remember, a high rated "cheap" PS, can be worse than a lower power "quality" supply.

 

[SirNuke]

Its a 450 watt, pretty cheap though. I tested a 350watt high quality one some time ago, though it doesn't seem to make a difference. Disconnecting almost every thing (expect motherboard, one hard drive, and video card) doesn't help the problem.

 

[mainegeek]

SirNuke,
Inspect the motherboards capasitors for crowned,leaking or split tops.

 

[SirNuke]

All of the motherboard capasitors look okay (I assume by 'crowned/leaking/split' you mean 'damanged in any way'). Something new to note: recently during a game the video card crashed (the computer did a VPU result). I am kind of suspecious of the video card (I defently remember the problem starting about the time I got my new video card).

I do have a question: what does the video card power spliter do? I though all it did was add a floppy type power connector. If someone could enlighten me on it, I would appreciate (if only for future knowledge).

With any luck, I should get my hands on another video card pretty soon to see if that caused the problem.

On another unrelated note: what are the symptons of an overloaded power supply?

 

[edfair]

You probably are asking for one of those power connectors that helps get additional juice to the graphics adapter.

The capacitor problem was defective electrolyte that developed enough pressure to bulge the top, rounding them off.

Overloaded power supplies cause things to crash at the best, crowbar shutdonw at the worst, and no telling what it can cause to corrupt.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[garebo]

For the caps, you can see if the tops are flat or rounded. If flat they are ok. Sometimes you can hear a hissing sound, air escaping. Also, sometimes a bad cap pulls away from the bottom where its attached to the mobo.
You can go to badcaps.com for this info and more.

Powercolor are supposed to be good performers, but you can get a bad one any time, any make or model. Plus being a good performer is not the same as long-lasting.

Im suspicious of the power supply, failing or defective. But you seem to hint that you tested another one? Maybe put the other one in for a while to test it? That is, unless you have already done so.
It cant be stressed enough that cheap power supplies are just that, and can be very deadly too.
Still, could be a defective or failing motherboard.


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