System timer failure how do I fix it? - Dell Inspiron 580 Desktop Computer (Intel CORE I3 530 640GB4GB) (DDCWYB6)

POST Beep Codes

How to fix Dell BIOS 8 beep error.

Probable Causes
Error
Beep Codes
Defective system board.
Memory refresh failure.
1
Faulty DIMM or defective system board.
Error occurred in first 64 KB of main memory.
2
Faulty DIMM.
Read or write error occurred in first 64 KB of main memory.
3
Defective system board.
Timer on system board malfunctioned.
4
Defective microprocesor.
Microprocessor error.
5
Defective system board.
Gate A20 failure.
6
Defective microprocessor.
Microprocessor-execption interrupt error.
7
Missing or faulty video adapter.
Video memory read/write error.
8
Corrupted system BIOS program or defective system BIOS chip.
ROM checksum value does not match value encoded in system BIOS.
9
Defective system board.
NVRAM shutdown register read/write error.
10
Defective microprocessor or cache card.
Cache memory error.
11
Faulty video adapter.
Video adapter failure.
12
Loose video cable connection or defective video cable.Faulty video adapter.
No monitor connected.
13
14

DELL BEEP CODES
Beep Codes Beep Code Description Failure Coverage 1 System Board: BIOS ROM failure System Board, covers BIOS corruption or ROM error 2 Memory No Memory / RAM detected 3 Chipset Error (North and South Bridge Chipset DMA/IMR/ Timer Error for Intel platform); Chipset Error System Board Chipset Failure Time-Of-Day Clock test failure. Gate A20 failure Super I/O chip failure Keyboard controller test failure. 4 RAM Read/Write failure Memory failure 5 RTC Power Fail. CMOS battery failure 6 Video BIOS Test Failure Video card / chip failure 7 CPU Cache Test Failure CPU failure 8 LCD LCD failure

do you know which bios your computer is running ?

AMI BIOS beep codes 1 beep - DRAM refresh failure
2 beeps - Parity Circuit Failure
3 beeps - Base 64K RAM failure
4 beeps - System Timer Failure
5 beeps - Processor Failure
6 beeps - Keyboard Controller / Gate A20 Failure
7 beeps - Virtual Mode Exception Error
8 beeps - Display Memory Read/Write Failure
9 beeps - ROM BIOS Checksum Failure
10 beeps - CMOS Shutdown Register Read/Write Error

Phoenix BIOS BEEP codes. 1-1-3 CMOS write/read failure.
1-1-4 BIOS ROM checksum error.
1-2-1 System timer failure. (Programmable Interval Timer PIT)
1-2-2 DMA (direct Memory Access) failure.
1-2-3 DMA page register failure.
1-3-1 RAM refresh failure.
1-3-3 64K RAM chip or data line failure.
1-3-4 64K RAM odd/even logic failure.
1-4-1 64K RAM address line failure.
1-4-2 64K RAM parity error.
2-?-? Any beep series starting with 2 beeps indicates a 64K RAM chip or data line error.
3-1-1 Master DMA register test.
3-1-2 Mslave DMA register failure.
3-1-3 Master interrupt mask register failure.
3-1-4 Slave interrupt mask register failure.
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failure.
3-3-4 Screen (video) memory failure.
3-4-1 Screen initialization failure.
3-4-2 Screen retrace failure.
4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt test failure.
4-2-2 Shutdown test failure.
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode.
4-3-1 RAM test failure above address 0FFFFh (64K +)
4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test failure.
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure.
4-4-1 Serial port test failure.
4-4-2 Parallel port test failure.
4-4-3 Math Co-processor failure.
BEEP codes may vary dependent upon the revision of BIOS. This list is for reference only

hope this helps

The beeps are from the power on self test which makes sure all hardware is working before starting the boot process. It would help to know the make of the computer but 4 beeps means system timer failure. System timer failure can be from many things need the make to help more.

AMI Beep Codes

Beep Code Meaning
1. beep DRAM refresh failure. There is a problem in the system memory or the motherboard.
2. beeps Memory parity error. The parity circuit is not working properly.
3. beeps Base 64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory.
4. beeps system timer not operational. There is problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
5. beeps Processor failure. The system CPU has failed.
6. beeps Gate A20/keyboard controller failure. The keyboard IC controller has failed, preventing gate A20 from switching the processor to protect mode.
7. beeps Virtual mode exception error.
8. beeps Video memory error. The BIOS cannot write to the frame buffer memory on the video card.
9. beeps ROM checksum error. The BIOS ROM chip on the motherboard is likely faulty.
10. beeps CMOS checksum error. Something on the motherboard is causing an error when trying to interact with the CMOS.
11. beeps Bad cache memory. An error in the level 2 cache memory.

1 long beep, 2 short Failure in the video system.
1 long beep, 3 short A failure in the video system.
1 long beep, 8 short display test failure.
Continuous beeping A problem with the memory or video.
BIOS Beep Codes

Phoenix Beep Codes

Phoenix uses sequences of beeps to indicate problems. The "-" between each number below indicates a pause between each beep sequence.
For example, 1-2-3 indicates one beep, followed by a pause and three beeps. Phoenix version before 4.x use 3-beep codes, while Phoenix versions starting with 4.x use 4-beep codes.
Click here for AMI BIOS beep codes.
4-Beep Codes

Beep Code Meaning
1-1-1-3 Faulty CPU/motherboard. Verify real mode.
1-1-2-1 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-2-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize chipset registers with initial POST values.
1-1-3-2 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize CPU registers.
1-1-3-2
1-1-3-3
1-1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-1-4-1 Level 2 cache error.
1-1-4-3 I/O port error.
1-2-1-1 Power management error.
1-2-1-2
1-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-2-2-1 Keyboard controller failure.
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
1-2-3-1 System timer error.
1-2-3-3 DMA error.
1-2-4-1 IRQ controller error.
1-3-1-1 DRAM refresh error.
1-3-1-3 A20 gate failure.
1-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-3-3-1 Extended memory error.
1-3-3-3
1-3-4-1
1-3-4-3 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
1-4-1-3
1-4-2-4 CPU error.
1-4-3-1
2-1-4-1 BIOS ROM shadow error.
1-4-3-2
1-4-3-3 Level 2 cache error.
1-4-4-1
1-4-4-2
2-1-1-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4
2-1-3-2 I/O port failure.
2-1-3-1
2-1-3-3 Video system failure.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4 I/O port failure.
2-1-4-3
2-2-1-1 Video card failure.
2-2-1-3
2-2-2-1
2-2-2-3 Keyboard controller failure.
2-2-3-1 IRQ error.
2-2-4-1 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
2-3-1-1
2-3-3-3 Extended memory failure.
2-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-3-2-3
2-3-3-1 Level 2 cache error.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3
2-4-1-1 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-4-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-4-2-1 RTC error.
2-4-2-3 Keyboard controller error.
2-4-4-1 IRQ error.
3-1-1-1
3-1-1-3
3-1-2-1
3-1-2-3 I/O port error.
3-1-3-1
3-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-1-4-1
3-2-1-1
3-2-1-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-2-1 Keyboard controller error.
3-2-2-3
3-2-3-1
3-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-4-3 IRQ error.
3-3-1-1 RTC error.
3-3-1-3 Key lock error.
3-3-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-3-3-3
3-3-4-1
3-3-4-3
3-4-1-1
3-4-1-3
3-4-2-1
3-4-2-3
3-4-3-1
3-4-4-1
3-4-4-4 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-1-1-1 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
4-2-1-1
4-2-1-3
4-2-2-1 IRQ failure.
4-2-2-3
4-2-3-1
4-2-3-3
4-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-2-4-3 Keyboard controller error.
4-3-1-3
4-3-1-4
4-3-2-1
4-3-2-2
4-3-3-1
4-3-4-1
4-3-4-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-3-3-2
4-3-3-4 IRQ failure.
4-3-3-3
4-3-4-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-2 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-3 Faulty motherboard/CMOS read-write failure.
1-1-4 Faulty BIOS/BIOS ROM checksum error.
1-2-1 System timer not operational. There is a problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
1-2-2
1-2-3 Faulty motherboard/DMA failure.
1-3-1 Memory refresh failure.
1-3-2
1-3-3
1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-4-1 Address line failure.
1-4-2 Parity RAM failure.
1-4-3 Timer failure.
1-4-4 NMI port failure.
2-_-_ Any combination of beeps after 2 indicates a failure in the first 64K of memory.
3-1-1 Master DMA failure.
3-1-2 Slave DMA failure.
3-1-3
3-1-4 Interrupt controller failure.
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failure.
3-3-1
3-3-2 CMOS error.
3-3-4 Video card failure.
3-4-1 Video card failure.
4-2-1 Timer failure.
4-2-2 CMOS shutdown failure.
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure.
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode.
4-3-1 RAM test failure.
4-3-3 Timer failure.
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure.
4-4-1 Serial port failure.
4-4-2 Parallel port failure.
4-4-3 Math coprocessor.

If you need further help, reach me via phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/joel_63c670a84e9f6a97

Hi,
This could happen when the RAM contact is not proper, may be due to dust. Remove the memory modules from DIMM slot, clean it (no moisture please) and reinsert it. This could mostly solve your issue.
Please come back and rate my solution if it turns helpful for you or also if you need more clarifications. Thnx

POST Beep Codes: OptiPlex GXi If the monitor cannot display error messages during the POST, the system may emit a series of beeps that identifies the problem or that can help you identify a faulty component or assembly. The following table lists the beep codes that may be generated during the POST. Most beep codes indicate a fatal error that prevents the system from completing the boot routine until the indicated condition is corrected.
Beep Code Error Probable Causes 1-3 Monitor not detected Disconnected or faulty monitor 1-1-3 NVRAM write/read failure Defective system board 1-1-4 BIOS checksum failure Faulty BIOS or defective system board 1-2-1 Programmable interval-timer failure Defective system board 1-2-2 DMA initialization failure Defective system board 1-2-3 DMA page register write/read failure Defective system board 1-3-1 Main-memory refresh verification failure Faulty or improperly seated DIMM or defective system board 1-3-2 No memory installed No memory installed or faulty or improperly seated DIMM 1-3-3 Chip or data line failure in the first 64 KB of main memory Faulty or improperly seated DIMM 1-3-4 Odd/even logic failure in the first 64 KB of main memory Faulty or improperly seated DIMM 1-4-1 Address line failure in the first 64 KB of main memory Faulty or improperly seated DIMM 1-4-2 Parity failure in the first 64 KB of main memory Faulty or improperly seated DIMM 2-1-1 through 2-4-4 Bit failure in the first 64 KB of main memory Faulty or improperly seated DIMM 3-1-1 Slave DMA-register failure Defective system board 3-1-2 Master DMA-register failure Defective system board 3-1-3 Master interrupt-mask register failure Defective system board 3-1-4 Slave interrupt-mask register failure Defective system board 3-2-4 Keyboard-controller test failure Faulty keyboard controller (defective system board) 3-3-4 Screen initialization failure Faulty video subsystem (defective system board) 3-4-1 Screen-retrace test failure Faulty video subsystem (defective system board) 3-4-2 Search for video ROM failed Faulty video subsystem (defective system board) 4-2-1 No timer tick Defective system board 4-2-2 Shutdown failure Defective system board 4-2-3 Gate A20 failure Defective system board 4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode Defective system board 4-3-1 Memory failure above address 0FFFFh Faulty or improperly seated DIMM 4-3-3 Timer-chip counter 2 failure Defective system board 4-3-4 Time-of-day clock stopped Bad battery or defective system board 4-4-1 Serial-port test failure Faulty I/O chip (defective system board) 4-4-2 Parallel-port test failure Faulty I/O chip (defective system board) 4-4-3 Math coprocessor failure Faulty microprocessor chip or system board 4-4-4 Cache test failure Defective microprocessor or system board

Without knowing what motherboard is in the unit - it will be difficult to determine what the 4 beeps means.

Generally, 4 beeps means issues with :

- memory
- video card
- keyboard
- motherboard failure

Things to try -

- make sure there is no keys stuck down
- remove the battery and AC adapter, remove and re-install the memory sticks (reseating the memory)

If this does not work, your problem may be more serious. Let us know the results of the above suggestions.

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes
Code Description
1 short beep System is OK
2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps Display adapter problem (EGA)
3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card
IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions
Code Description
100 - 199 System Board
200 - 299 Memory
300 - 399 Keyboard
400 - 499 Monochrome Display
500 - 599 Colour/Graphics Display
600 - 699 Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter
700 - 799 Math Coprocessor
900 - 999 Parallel Printer Port
1000 - 1099 Alternate Printer Adapter
1100 - 1299 Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1300 - 1399 Game Port
1400 - 1499 Colour/Graphics Printer
1500 - 1599 Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1700 - 1799 Hard Drive and/or Adapter
1800 - 1899 Expansion Unit (XT)
2000 - 2199 Bisynchronous Communication Adapter
2400 - 2599 EGA system-board Video (MCA)
3000 - 3199 LAN Adapter
4800 - 4999 Internal Modem
7000 - 7099 Phoenix BIOS Chips
7300 - 7399 3.5" Disk Drive
8900 - 8999 MIDI Adapter
11200 - 11299 SCSI Adapter
21000 - 21099 SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller
21500 - 21599 SCSI CD-ROM System
AMI BIOS Beep Codes
Code Description
1 Short Beep System OK
2 Short Beeps Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory
3 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB
4 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory
or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning
5 Short Beeps The CPU on the motherboard generated an error
6 Short Beeps The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode
7 Short Beeps The CPU generated an exception interrupt
8 Short Beeps The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty
9 Short Beeps The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS
10 Short Beeps The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed
11 Short Beeps The external cache is faulty
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Memory Problems
1 Long, 8 Short Beeps Video Card Problems
Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes
Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.
Code Description
1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure
1-1-4 ROM BIOS checksum error
1-2-1 Programmable interval timer failure
1-2-2 DMA initialisation failure
1-2-3 DMA page register read/write failure
1-3-1 RAM refresh verification failure
1-3-3 First 64k RAM chip or data line failure
1-3-4 First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure
1-4-1 Address line failure first 64k RAM
1-4-2 Parity failure first 64k RAM
2-_-_ Faulty Memory
3-1-_ Faulty Motherboard
3-2-4 Keyboard controller Test failure
3-3-4 Screen initialisation failure
3-4-1 Screen retrace test failure
3-4-2 Search for video ROM in progress
4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure
4-2-2 Shutdown test in progress or failure
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh
4-3-2 Faulty Motherboard
4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test or failure
4-3-4 Time of Day clock test failure
4-4-1 Serial port test or failure
4-4-2 Parallel port test or failure
4-4-3 Math coprocessor test or failure
Low 1-1-2 System Board select failure
Low 1-1-3 Extended CMOS RAM failure