Laptop problems? (EDIT: RAM upgrade/maintenance didn't help)

[Twilight Wolf]

I've got a Toshiba Satellite that I've had for about two years now, and for about a month and a half, I've been having a really bizarre and worrysome problem with it: Whenever I turn it on, it makes this horrendous and very loud "BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP" noise once it gets past the Toshiba logo onscreen. If I press F12 during that screen (which brings up the boot device selection menu) and manually select my HDD, Vista boots up with no issues and it works like normal.

I have no idea what might be causing this since the only change that took place was moving it into my bedroom, but just in case, I did a system restore to several days previously when I knew for sure it worked with no problems, but no dice. I've looked at the BIOS options and my HDD looks like it's set as the default boot device, so I have no clue what's going on. Help?

EDIT: 666th post for the win!

[themadhacker]

When I took out the ram cards on my computer when I was fiddling with it, I turned it on and there was the same beeping you said you are having. Perhaps your ram cards are loose.


EDIT: 1500 POSTS! WOOT! IM A SENIOR MEMBER!!!!!! Boy, I remember when I first joined and wishing I could be among the senior members...and now I am. * happy madhacker*

[Twilight Wolf]

Sounds plausible, what with it being a laptop and being moved around and all... Perhaps this would be a good time to install that 2GB RAM card my Dad got forever ago, too.

Thanks, I'll check that out and post back with the results. (Not sure if I can do it tonight, but I'll definitely try for tomorrow.)

[eurddrue]

When I took out the ram cards on my computer when I was fiddling with it, I turned it on and there was the same beeping you said you are having. Perhaps your ram cards are loose.


EDIT: 1500 POSTS! WOOT! IM A SENIOR MEMBER!!!!!! Boy, I remember when I first joined and wishing I could be among the senior members...and now I am. * happy madhacker*

*sniffle sniffle* I still remember that first post with the running sonic avatar, and I though, "Uh, what a creeper."

[themadhacker]

When I took out the ram cards on my computer when I was fiddling with it, I turned it on and there was the same beeping you said you are having. Perhaps your ram cards are loose.


EDIT: 1500 POSTS! WOOT! IM A SENIOR MEMBER!!!!!! Boy, I remember when I first joined and wishing I could be among the senior members...and now I am. * happy madhacker*

*sniffle sniffle* I still remember that first post with the running sonic avatar, and I though, "Uh, what a creeper."

I remember that first post too. I wish nobody else remembered because it sounded pretty noobish ( I was a noob). Yeah, I got bored of the sonic avatar and then the sega logo. So I put up Ozzy.


Creeper? Oh, thanks. * sarcasm*

[bicostp]

Maybe the CMOS battery died?

I have a really old Toshiba laptop that does something like that, and that's its problem.

[Twilight Wolf]

I don't know... my sister's had her Satellite for at least a year longer than I have and she's had no problems.

I can't find that blasted RAM card, though... typical. It sat around for months in the same spot, then when I decide I want to install it, it disappears completely.

I'll just put up with it until I find it, because I don't want to have to mess around with it twice. (I'm lazy.)

EDIT: Okay, I found the new RAM card. Unfortunately, it didn't help, and instead of having 2GB of RAM like I had hoped, I only have 1.5. (I had two 512MB RAM cards installed instead of one 1GB one.) Speed is noticeably improved, though, so it's not all bad... But damn, I wish I knew what that beeping was.

[Kurt_]

Worst case scenario: Take out the speaker that's making the beeps. I think it's a separate piezo one, right?

Anyways, count the beeps, then google the beep code for your laptop model. It's talking to yu.

[Twilight Wolf]

Revival!

I can't find any information about this particular beeping noise. It's not a specific series of beeps that I could look up, but just a constant repeating "BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP" noise. It doesn't stop or have intervals of silence; it's just a constant beeping.

As per usual, Google is no help. It's like my laptop is unknown to the entire internet... first this, then no info on increasing video RAM allotment. What's next, no information on how to power it on?

[bicostp]

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The beep pattern should be able to help you figure the problem out.

[salvadori]

Are PCs with WinXP capable of utilizing more than 2gb of RAM? I heard a while back that even though some computers with Windows XP come with 4gb of RAM, they were actually only capable of using 2gb of it because of some limitation with the operating system. Is this true?
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[MegatronUK]

32bit versions of Windows are limited to a maximum addressable memory space of 4Gb... but, because of the way PC's work, they need to reserve a portion of that memory space for talking to video ram, IO devices, and several other reasons. So most of the time you'll only see between 3.0 and 3.7-ish Gb out of that total 4Gb that is actually physically addressable by Windows.