Getting a random beep on Dell Inspiron 1545

sitarra · Sep 2, 2012

I'm getting a single beep at seemingly random intervals on my Dell Inspiron 1545, Windows 7 64 bit. The beep comes from inside the laptop, it doesn't come through the main speaker (from the motherboard I assume).

I've searched and have found the beep codes and according to that it is "BIOS checksum failure. Possible motherboard failure". I have no idea what a BIOS checksum failure means though. I have been told that this isn't a beep code though as it doesn't happen at boot. It can happen every few minutes or several days can pass without hearing it.

I don't seem to have any problems at all, everything runs as it should. I think the beeping might have started when I replaced my hard drive, although I'm not 100% sure about that. I can't really contact Dell as the warranty has run out.

My battery is also pretty much dead and while I don't need it at all, I wonder if this may have something to do with it?

I have disabled the beep entry in the registry but that hasn't solved the problem. I have also flashed the bios with the latest one but this also didn't help.

This is my system spec in case it is of any help:

Carl Lawrence · Sep 2, 2012

Do you get any errors on the screen?

oxymoron02 · Sep 2, 2012

Any other system inability; crashing, blue screening, applications misbehaving?

sitarra · Sep 2, 2012

Carl Lawrence said:
Do you get any errors on the screen?

No, nothing.

oxymoron02 said:
Any other system inability; crashing, blue screening, applications misbehaving?

No, everything seems fine and stable as far as I can tell.

Carl Lawrence · Sep 3, 2012

Have you done a virus and malware scan?

mitchell65 · Sep 3, 2012

Does your system clock always show the correct time? It might be the onboard battery! Have you blown the dust out of the ports lately as it could also be a case of overheating especially if as you say the battery is on the blink!

sitarra · Sep 3, 2012

Carl Lawrence said:
Have you done a virus and malware scan?

Yes, I have MSE which I have done many quick scans with. I can't remember if I have done a full scan but I will do one today just in case. I semi regularly run Spybot and I don't usually find anything.

mitchell65 said:
Does your system clock always show the correct time? It might be the onboard battery! Have you blown the dust out of the ports lately as it could also be a case of overheating especially if as you say the battery is on the blink!

I think it shows the correct time, it's the only one I really use so I'm not entirely sure. I haven't blown the dust out for a while, I used to take the back off and check for clogs of dust regularly but I haven't done it for a few months. I know that I definitely did do this a few times when I first noticed the beeping so I'm not sure that that is the problem. I suppose it could be that the thermal paste needs replacing maybe. At the moment the CPU is running at 73 degrees C but I am currently running a Spybot scan, I don't think it normally runs that warm. Plus, I haven't noticed any correlation between using intensive programs and the beeping, it seems to happen often when I'm not even at the computer (although I usually have headphones on when I'm at the pc so I don't know how often it beeps when I am sitting infront of it).

mitchell65 · Sep 3, 2012

Concensus of opion suggest either overheating and your CPU temp is OK or battery dying. I guess you always run from the main AC? That being so, take the battery out and see if you get a bleep. Try it with the battery out over a couple of days!

sitarra · Sep 3, 2012

Yes, I do always run on AC, unless there is a powercut but then I only save everything and shutdown. I will try without the battery, I have been meaning to give this a try for a while.

mitchell65 · Sep 6, 2012

Any news on this problem?

sitarra · Sep 6, 2012

mitchell65 said:
Any news on this problem?

Unfortunately not. I haven't tried without the battery because I do sometimes need it for unplugging and moving to another room.

oxymoron02 · Sep 7, 2012

You really should do as suggested and try running without the battery; we're not suggesting you take up this option permanently, just long enough to see if you get the same beep tone.

sitarra · Sep 7, 2012

I will give it a try in the next few days. The only problem is that it is such an unpredictable beep that it may be hard to tell if it has been fixed or not for a few days.

mitchell65 · Sep 8, 2012

sitarra said:
mitchell65 said:

Any news on this problem?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. I haven't tried without the battery because I do sometimes need it for unplugging and moving to another room.

It seems a small price to pay to just give a little thought before you move the laptop. Surely you can take the battery out for the bulk of the time and just pop it back in for a few minutes while you move the machine. These niggling little problems do take a bit of effort by the operator to get rid of. We can only advise, it is up to you to help yourself!

sitarra · Sep 10, 2012

I can confirm that is is not the battery causing the beeps, I took it out this morning and within twenty minutes got the dreaded beep.

gregrocker · Sep 10, 2012

Run Dell Diagnostics: Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the

Are you tapping a key when you get the beep?

What is your source for beep codes as this is all I found for Dell:

click to enlarge

It may require spec'ing the mobo to check its beep code listings.

sitarra · Sep 13, 2012

gregrocker said:
Are you tapping a key when you get the beep?

No, often I only notice it when I am standing away from the laptop as I often have music playing on my headphones when I am sitting at it.

I previously wrote about this problem on Reddit on the TechSupport section and someone who said they work for Dell suggested that because I am not getting the beep in the boot sequence then it is not an error code.

I will run the diagnostic today and see if that throws up anything.

sitarra · Sep 18, 2012

I've been having some trouble with the diagnostics tool. I realised that I don't have a partition containing it on my computer so I wanted to try a flash drive but I haven't got one below 2gb so I tried to burn it to a bootable CD using the installer but I get a message saying that Windows failed to install when I try to boot from it (I have changed the boot sequence so CD drive is first), it then offers to repair the startup or boot normally.

I don't know what to do now, did it fail to write properly to the CD? It didn't show any errors when it burned.

gregrocker · Sep 18, 2012

Follow the steps for running http://www.dell.com/support/drivers...ormats?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&DriverId=R132141 Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the

If it fails use the hardware tests in Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 and work through the other steps to see if it comes up with a cause.

doubled822 · Sep 19, 2012

Sitarra, have you checked Windows error logs for any clues?

To access, type "eventvwr" into the start menu search and hit enter. Examine the Application and System logs and look for any yellow exclamations or red X's, and post their output here.

Getting a random beep on Dell Inspiron 1545

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