Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdcad!mozart.amd.com!bartling
From: bartling@mozart.amd.com (Steve Bartling)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 386 trouble.. Help Help !!!
Keywords: 386,pc,ibm,trouble,ami
Message-ID: <1990Sep10.201004.22760@mozart.amd.com>
Date: 10 Sep 90 20:10:04 GMT
References: <2208@gmuvax2.gmu.edu>
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Lines: 44

In article <2208@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> skahng@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Soonam Kahng) writes:
>Hello everybody..
>
> I need a help to fix my 386 system. My system is not booted up.
>Nothing is happen after the powercomes in except beeping three times.
>I tried to change all cards with the other but...
>I guess the mother board has a problem. But I don't have the 
>information on the error code (beeping three times).
>My system is
>      386 16Mhz
>      Motherboard is   "MYLEX V2 "   (1987)
>      BIOS              AMI (11/30/87)
>      Hard drive        ID130-AT
>      Ethernetcard      Sytek Ethernet
>      and FDD, Mono video.

Three beeps in POST ( Power On Self Test ) indicates a DRAM failure.
Check to make sure your RAM chips are seated properly in their sockets.
If they are all securely in place, then you must swap them out one
BANK at a time until you locate the offending bank. Once you find the
offending bank of DRAM, then you replace each DRAM ( or SIMM/SIPP) 
chip one at a time with a good DRAM chip until you locate the bad 
chip ( or SIMM/SIPP).

If I remember right, you only get 3 beeps upon bootup if the system
cannot locate at any DRAM at all. Otherwise, the POST will locate
some DRAM and will only signal a CMOS checksum error that indicates
that the amount of DRAM installed does not match the amount stored
in the configuration RAM. Thus, three beeps usually implies that
Bank 0 is failing. Try swapping the memory in Bank 0 with the memory
in another bank. If this works, you will get a checksum error and the
machine will boot with insufficient DRAM. This will indicate that the
DRAM in bank 0 was bad. If this still does not work, then you have
some other problem with the memory bus or connector/etc.

Good Luck, Steve Bartling
email : bartling@mozart.amd.com

>
>Any advice,please......
>
>Soonam..
>skahng@gmuvax2.gmu.edu
>skahng@gmuvax.bitnet