How in the Tech

Deciphering the meaning of BIOS beep codes

By Adam Myers ⋅ July 9, 2010 ⋅ Tags: System Administration, Troubleshooting

Like setting jumpers on peripherals before plug and play came along, deciphering BIOS diagnostic beep codes is a dying skill. Today we see PCs with BIOSes that can relay the problem via voice synthesis. However, it was only a short few years ago where all a PC enthusiast had to go by where beep codes.

Everyone one is familiar with the singular beep when you turn on your PC and before the operating system loads – it’s the audible noise of success. There are other beep codes that vary in auditory length, not unlike morse code. Through a combination of short and long beeps you are able to determine which component is causing you grief. It’s a rather clever approach at the time and it would be even more beneficial if the various BIOS manufacturers had agreed on a single nomenclature. Thankfully, through mergers and acquisitions, the number of manufacturers has dwindled to just a small handful but the beep code system is used so infrequently, you may still have trouble recalling them all.

Beep Codes Viewer by Rizone is a portable free Windows application that outlines all the beep code combinations and their resulting meaning in tabular format. The software displays information for the AMI, Award, Phoenix, and IBM BIOS systems – which will cover probably 95% of the systems in question. In addition to explaining what the beeps mean it also suggests a few troubleshooting procedures for the problem – though since a beep code is generally a signal of some physical problem, fixing it will involve opening up the computer which isn’t something everyone is comfortable yet.

Beep Codes Viewer is a handy utility to have on your PC repair and troubleshoot DVD or thumb drive.

Download Beep Codes Viewer