T21 Startup error

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joester · #1 Post by **joester** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:42 pm

Hi guys and gals!

Question from a new owner of an old thinkpad...

On startup, I get a beep code (one long and two shorts) signaling a video adapter or LCD error. I've updated drivers, set the BIOS to AGP/LCD/HV-on and normal brightness.

It works great, but I still get the beep code on startup.
What am I missing?

Thanks for your time,

Joe

#2 Post by **rkawakami** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:56 pm

joester wrote:Hi guys and gals!

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

joester wrote:On startup, I get a beep code (one long and two shorts) signaling a video adapter or LCD error.

The Hardware Maintenance Manual says that in addition to the LCD, the system board and/or memory could also be a cause of that particular beep code. As your screen appears to be working normally, then I would first suspect the memory (this coming from a memory test engineer

). If you have two modules, remove one of them and see if you get the same beep code. If you do, replace that one and remove the other. Swap modules into the "other" slots and try again. What you are trying to do is find out if one particular module generates the error beeps (or if both do) no matter which memory slot(s) are used. If you discover that one module gives off the beep code in either slot, then you've found your problem. If it appears that the memory module(s) are NOT the problem, then it's time for more diagnostic work.

Post back here with your results of the memory checkout.

vlyne · #3 Post by **vlyne** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:05 pm

If your system is starting up you can also check how much memory it thinks it has and compare that to how much it should have.
Cheers

joester · #4 Post by **joester** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:27 pm

Flipped, flopped, switched, swapped and did the Hokey Pokey.
Still beep central.

I have 2 128M sticks installed, and it recognizes 255M. That tells me I have RAM on its way out. Still, it boots and seems fine. In fact, I'm on it now and it's purring fine.

I guess I shouldn't complain about a free computer.

Vlyne, Do I know you from another forum?

#5 Post by **rkawakami** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:18 pm

joester wrote:Flipped, flopped, switched, swapped and did the Hokey Pokey.
Still beep central.

Step 2: Download PC Doctor for DOS for the T2x system. You have a choice of making boot floppies or a bootable CD:

A previous post of mine about PC Doctor

I would at least run the CPU/Coprocessor, system board and memory diagnostics.

joester wrote:I guess I shouldn't complain about a free computer.

Never complain about anything that's free... until it starts costing you money that is

.

joester · #6 Post by **joester** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:36 am

Never complain about anything that's free... until it starts costing you money that is .

..Or keeps you up half the night trying to figure it out...

Here's what I found:
I couldn't do the disks, since I have no floppy to attach, so I opted for the .ISO. Did the "remove hardware" thing, popped out the DVD ROM, popped in the CD-RW and whoa! The computer discovered the CD-RW, and the Etherlink port, and the modem, and the PCI and USB slots. Funny, I was using them all along.

Harddrive? CMOS battery on the hairy edge?
Nothing would surprise me, this computer was too good to be true if you know what I mean.

Joe

Yeesh! 12:30! And I gotta get up in the morning.

vlyne · #7 Post by **vlyne** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:39 am

Just checking back on your post:

joester wrote:On startup, I get a beep code (one long and two shorts) signaling a video adapter or LCD error. I've updated
drivers, set the BIOS to AGP/LCD/HV-on and normal brightness.Joe

I've tried my "new" T21 on both the AGP and PCI BIOS settings and it doesn't complain on either (set on PCI when I got it).

Edit: Out of curiousity what sort of display adapter and LCD does it have?

joester · #8 Post by **joester** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:20 am

Considering I got a blank HDD (No OS), lost Supervisor Password, and am running only what XP install had available, probably the wrong adapter software.
Display adapter is listed as "S3 Graphics Inc. Savage IX"

LCD is what ever came with the 2647-8AU I assume.

Joe

joester · #9 Post by **joester** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:51 pm

Without running Diagnostics, I think I found the problem...

In another post, I saw that the T21 is supposed to have 128M of onboard RAM. If this is supposed to be correct, then I need to find out why mine isn't including onboard memory. I have 256M total between the two slots, and that's all it reads. I removed both sticks, and got a 1-3-3-1 beep code...

Should my 2647-8AU have 128M onboard?

Joe

#10 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:03 pm

Not in my T21 (2647-4AU). My information says that there's only two memory slots and no memory on the motherboard. Perhaps they meant 128MB came standard with the system.

vlyne · #11 Post by **vlyne** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:37 pm

Apologies Joe. That was me with the onboard confusion - which actually originates from the IBM HMM. It may be a hangover from the old days when chips were inserted into sockets on the MB?? I've edited my post. As Ray correctly points out, there is no memory on the motherboard.

I've seen posts where the beep codes don't match what's in the HMM. If the machine is working fine then you need to question whether the BIOS is in fact OK or not. I'd run the PC Doctor tests first before pointing the finger at the BIOS.
Cheers

joester · #12 Post by **joester** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:08 am

I burned a copy of IBM_T22_pcdiag to disk and ran it.

Never told me a thing, and it started with one beep.
Go figure.
I'm kinda nervous about flashing BIOS. Haven't done that successfully....yet ...on any computer.

It's running great, so I'm in no hurry.

Joe

vlyne · #13 Post by **vlyne** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:27 am

joester wrote:It's running great, so I'm in no hurry.

Good attitude! Life is too short to hurry or worry unnecessarily.
Cheers

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