Why would a graphics card beep?

By +Majesticmerc
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Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

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Hey all,

I'm looking for a bit of advice about what might cause a graphics card to have a POST-style beep? I bought myself a PowerColor HD6950 2GB earlier in the year, and ever since installing it it has often made a god-awful beeping noise when I start the PC, like a POST beep, but varying lengths and sometimes not at all. At first I thought it might have been a PSU issue, but I've since replaced the PSU with an 850W modular supply, and the beeps continue.

For the most part, I've ignored it, since it's blasted through Furmark and has played both Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3 fine on high-ultra settings, except this morning. This morning when I turned my PC on, it got stuck in a boot loop pre-post (i.e. no beeps at all) which fixed itself when I removed the graphics card. After reseating the graphics card and some of the PSU pins (at both ends, modular PSU), it's come back to life, but now I'm a bit more worried about the beep, since it's the only GPU that I've had that's done it. So does anyone have any idea what it means?

Cheers,

Majesticmerc

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Grand Master

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Are you sure its the video card and not the motherboard?

Have you tried contacting PowerColor?

typically beeps will represent an error of some sort...depending on the type of beep could indicate a certain type of error.

Not true. Most motherboards give a single POST beep to say 'all clear'. Thats the typical situation. Do they also give beep codes for errors? Yes, but thats a minority of the time that you'd be hearing error codes. My point is that beep != error automatically.

Not to mention that he clearly knew that when he posted.

Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

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typically beeps will represent an error of some sort...depending on the type of beep could indicate a certain type of error.

That is my thought too, but PowerColor's documentation is, well crap. They've got a general FAQ and that's about it. I'm also puzzled by the fact that the beep tends to be varying lengths, and sometimes doesn't sound at all :s

Are you sure its the video card and not the motherboard?

Have you tried contacting PowerColor?

I'm pretty sure it's not the mobo, since the POST beep and the "other" beep can occur simultaneously. I haven't contacted Powercolor yet, but I thought I'd try here first :)

Grand Master

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I'm pretty sure it's not the mobo, since the POST beep and the "other" beep can occur simultaneously. I haven't contacted Powercolor yet, but I thought I'd try here first :)

Whats the mobo?

I've never heard of a video card beeping, or experienced it in person (I do IT, so I see more than my fair share of hardware problems). It could be that the power draw through the PCI-E slot is causing an error condition on the board.

Does the mobo have a second PCI-E slot that you can test the card in?

Also, have you tried using a different video card to see if the problem persists? Or try that video card in another PC?

Video cards do have a BIOS, so I suppose it is possible you are seeing some sort of error condition from that, but the only one I could see if the card works fine as you say is a power problem.

Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

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Whats the mobo?

I've never heard of a video card beeping, or experienced it in person (I do IT, so I see more than my fair share of hardware problems). It could be that the power draw through the PCI-E slot is causing an error condition on the board.

Does the mobo have a second PCI-E slot that you can test the card in?

Also, have you tried using a different video card to see if the problem persists? Or try that video card in another PC?

Video cards do have a BIOS, so I suppose it is possible you are seeing some sort of error condition from that, but the only one I could see if the card works fine as you say is a power problem.

It's a Gigabyte EP35-DS4, which is an Intel 775 board. It's about 2 and half years old now.

I haven't tried it in the other PCI-E slot, but mainly because if I do, I have to pull out most of the hard drives and sound card to make room. I don't have access to another PC, so I can't try it in one. My 9800GTX used the same PCI-E slot though, so it should be fine shouldn't it given that it plays games fine?

My concern is power too, but I've got all the necessary power connected, and the PSU should be able to handle it. Would it not also show symptoms of failure when I stress test it with Furmark if it was drawing too much power?

Experienced

Another Canuck

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Now that you've reseated the card and the power leads, is it still beeping?

I agree that the beeping you're hearing is most likely coil squeal, usually from insufficient power or defect. Graphics cards typically don't have beep code speakers (I don't know of any, but I'm leaving myself open for correction).

Enthusiast

Ntrstd

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I have connected a beeper to my CPU fan power. It's designed to sound an alarm if the fan isn't working. It makes a short beep when I turn the computer on while the fan spins up.

I think that your graphics card is just beeping while it powers up. It doesn't indicate an error and can be safely ignored.

Reseating all of the power connectors in the computer every year is probably a good idea. It makes sure you have a good connection to all of the devices.

Grand Master

PsYcHoKiLLa

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1. Check the power cable for the graphics card is connected

2. Install HWMonitor and you can check on the temperature of the graphics card

3. Make sure it's not the motherboard beeping and if it is check the manual as it will show the beeps codes for you

4. One beep usually means all is well, 2 or 3 beeps would indicate some kind of error.

Grand Master

DirtyLarry Veteran

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I think it is definitely your motherboard, and also power related.

I found this text on page 29 in the pdf supplied by AMD on the Power Cooler website for your card...

The computer beeps and the boot process stops. Make certain that the graphics card is properly connected to the internal power supply and the motherboard.

PDF can be found here...

http://www.power-color.com/Manual/090106/Radeon_HD_6900_Series_ENG.pdf

Now obviously you do not have the boot process stop, at least not all of the time, but all signs point to an issue with the power.

Proficient

JJ_

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It doesn't seem like a seating/placement issue if the computer has cycled before with the card installed, and it beeps. From past experience it's mostly probably an issue with the card not getting enough juice. Have you tried alternating the 8-Pin PCI-E power connectors that came with your PSU? It could be a duff cable. Make sure the connectors you are using are two of these badboys:

http://www.playtool....ctors/pcie8.jpg

Also it wont hurt if you temporarily remove your sound card and lie your hard drives on the case to test the card if the card beeps when connected to your secondary PCI-E slot. I have an older Asus board which is similar in age to yours. It has two PCI-E slots, one is x1 and the other which is at the bottom of the case is x16 so give it a go in the hard to access PCI-E slot on your board.

My final suggestions would be to flash your BIOS & clear CMOS by removing your motherboard battery for a little while

Neowinian

Spadman

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Are you sure it's a "beep" and not a noisy fan? I've tossed out old Video cards before because the fan becomes noisy, sometimes squealing when cold and then stops making noise when they warm up.

Take the side off your PC and power on, if the beeping starts, stop the fan with your finger or something, see if that stops the "Beep".

Spadman

Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

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interestingly, it failed to boot again this evening, and after having removed the graphics card, it continued to fail to boot, so it looks like the graphics card is not in the wrong. I've been through and reseated the graphics card, sound card, and RAM, and it seems to be working. I'm suspecting now that one of the RAM sticks that was causing the issues. It's also been rebooted twice since, and the beeping has seemed to have ceased as well! Is it possible that the RAM just needed refitting?!

Very confused :s

Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

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Have you fiddled around with the RAM voltages in BIOS or installed new RAM? I'm sceptical how your existing DIMMS have developed a 'fault' soon after installing the new card :s

The graphics card has been installed for about 3 months now, it's just that the beeping started after I installed it, but my PC only started failing properly in the last week or so. My first guess was that the graphics card failed (since it came back to life after reseating it), but the second time it was still dead even after removing the graphics card, so I'm inclined to think that it never was the graphics card (as others rightly said).

Grand Master

Andre S. Veteran

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It's possible that the motherboard is just acting weird. My old motherboard wouldn't boot unless I put the ram in certain specific configurations, the ram was good, it was just the motherboard. I went through hours of diagnosing and there was little reasoning to be done, it was just picky with what ram slots I used.

Your video card beeping would probably signal a power issue though. A power issue could cause a lot of weird things to happen.

Grand Master

Hum

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I'm suspecting now that one of the RAM sticks that was causing the issues. It's also been rebooted twice since, and the beeping has seemed to have ceased as well! Is it possible that the RAM just needed refitting?!

Very confused :s

^ Yes.

If you get in the case, and change something, you can slightly knock the RAM, or video card off -- sometimes the cables too.

Reseating parts often fixes a problem.

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