Surely, more than once we have had that moment when we want to turn on the computer and what is our surprise that the screen shows absolutely nothing or a strange error message appears and the computer tower starts to emit annoying beeps.

What is our computer trying to communicate to us?

When, for whatever reason, our computer does not switch on correctly, the tower gives some signals in the form of beeps and depending on how they are, the problem lies in one or another cause.. Here is a list of the possible problems your computer may have according to the series of beeps it emits, so that you can diagnose them and act accordingly.

We have to take into account the brand of BIOS our computer has, because depending on whether it is AMI, Award or Phoenix, the beeps emitted by the computer and their meaning will be different.. The BIOS brand can be found in the manual of your motherboard or on the screen that appears as soon as the computer boots up.

The following is a list of the whistles:

BIOS AMI

Continuous beep: Defective power supply.

1 short beep: RAM memory defective or incorrectly connected.

2 short beeps: RAM memory defective or incorrectly connected.

2 short beeps, 1 long beep: Graphics card inserted incorrectly.

2 short beeps, 2 long beeps: Defective graphics card or motherboard.

3 short beeps: RAM defective or incorrectly connected.

3 short, 3 long, 3 short tones: RAM defective or incorrectly connected.

4 short beeps: RAM or battery defective.

5 short beeps: Processor defective.

6 short beeps: Faulty motherboard.

7 short beeps: Incorrect processor frequency or defective processor.

8 short beeps: Graphics card defective or incorrectly inserted.

9 short beeps: Motherboard faulty due to BIOS.

10 short beeps: Motherboard defective due to BIOS.

11 short beeps: faulty motherboard due to L2 cache.

1 long beep, 1 short beep: Faulty motherboard.

1 long beep, 2 short beeps: Graphics card defective or inserted incorrectly.

1 long beep, 3 shorts: Monitor not recognised or faulty motherboard.

1 long beep, 4 shorts: Faulty motherboard.

1 long beep, 5 shorts: Processor defective.

1 long beep, 6 shorts: Keyboard not recognised or faulty motherboard.

1 long beep, 7 shorts: Motherboard defective.

1 long beep, 8 shorts: Faulty motherboard.

1 long high-pitched tone, 1 long low-pitched tone: Processor defective.

BIOS Award

Continuous tone: RAM or graphics card not recognised.

Constant beeping: Mainboard voltage too low.

Siren-like tone: Temperature or supply voltage on the board too high due to a possible defect in the power supply or fan.

1 long beep: RAM memory defective or incorrectly inserted.

1 long beep, 1 short: Faulty motherboard.

1 long beep, 2 shorts: Graphics card defective or incorrectly inserted.

1 long beep, 3 short: Keyboard or graphics card is not recognised.

3 long: Keyboard not recognised or motherboard defective.

1 long high-pitched, 1 long low-pitched: Voltage for processor or CPU is incorrect.

BIOS Phoenix

Continuous beep: Processor is too hot, possibly due to a broken fan.

1 short beep, 1 short, 3 short: BIOS has an incorrect input or the battery is dead.

1 short beep, 1 short, 4 shorts: Faulty BIOS or dead motherboard battery.

1 short beep, 2 short, x short beeps: Faulty motherboard.

1 short beep, 3 shorts, 1 short: RAM defective, incorrectly inserted or motherboard defective.

1 short beep, 3 shorts, 2 shorts: RAM memory of incorrect type.

1 short beep, 3 short, 3 short: RAM memory defective or incorrectly inserted.

1 short beep, 3 shorts, 4 shorts: RAM memory defective or incorrectly inserted.

1 short beep, 4 short, x short beeps: RAM memory defective or incorrectly inserted.

2 short beeps, 1 short, x short beeps: RAM defective or incorrectly inserted.

3 short beeps, 1 short, x short beeps: Motherboard defective.

3 short beeps, 2 short beeps, 4 short beeps: Motherboard defective.

3 short beeps, 3 short, 3 short, 4 short: Graphics card defective.

3 short beeps, 4 short beeps, 1 short beep: defective graphics board.

3 short beeps, 4 short beeps, 2 short beeps: Defective graphics card or monitor is not recognised.

4 short tones, 2 short tones, x short tones: Faulty motherboard.

4 short tones, 3 short tones, 1 short tone: RAM defective, incorrectly inserted or faulty motherboard.

x short tones: means the socket or slot number of the motherboard where the problem occurs.

As a general rule, Typical problems that we encounter include por temas of graphical (if the monitor does not turn on), problems RAM memory or that the keyboard we have it wrongly connected.