Problems loading BIOS and video resolution [Archive] - Team17 Forum

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AltCtrlDel
13 Mar 2007, 20:44
Hi firstly the computer I was using was a Dell Dimension 3100C, specs here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100C/en/SM_en/specs0.htm#wp1052310
I recently installed Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon from the Sold Out Software CD . Worms 2 worked fine. I then installed Worms Armageddon, and then screen went black after I clicked to load the level. I can't get out of this with either Alt f4 or Alt Ctrl Delete. So I turned off the computer. When I turned it on again everything worked fine. I decided to play World of Warcraft. Logged on, was in the allience inn in Eastern Plaguelands, got on my mount and walked west a bit. The screen suddenly went black and it had text in the middle saying something like "The computer does not support the resolution of 1280 * 1024 and 60 refresh rate. I couldn't exit from this useing Alt F4 or Alt Ctrl Delete keys.
I turned off the computer. When I turned it on again the screen stayed black for longer than normal and then rows of white numbers started flickering on it. Then it went black again and there was no mroe I could do. So I turned it off again. When I nxt turned it on the screen which normally comes up when you start booting a dell system cam up (the dell logo and underneight a progress bar). However it said Trying to configuer BIOS (can't remember the bit before BIOS exactly). The prgress bar froze about 1/4 of teh way along so I had to turn teh computer off again. Next time I turned it on the screen just stays tottally black and it acts like it's recieving no input from the computer, and the computer starts making some loud beeping noises about 6 times. It does this every time I attept to turn it on.
So please if the Team 17 technical support or another kind fellow worms-player could help me out it would be much appreciated, thanks!

M3ntal
13 Mar 2007, 21:14
Well, none of the worms games would have caused that. The pattern of the beeping noises could be important, as many BIOS's have "beep codes", and looking up this particular pattern of beeps could tell you what it is. Unfortunately, i notice the page you linked doesn't actually say which BIOS chip it has. It's almost certainly a hardware failure, and my best guess would be (in order of likelyhood) graphics card, CPU, or RAM.
If your PC is still under warranty, send it back to Dell and get them to fix it. If not, then at least you don't have to worry about voiding the warranty, so you can open it up, look on the mainboard, and see what kind of BIOS chip it is for working out that beep code. You are looking for a rectangular chip (not square - that's the south bridge), and it may have something like "Award", "AmiBIOS", or "Phoenix" written on it.

AltCtrlDel
13 Mar 2007, 22:11
Well, none of the worms games would have caused that. The pattern of the beeping noises could be important, as many BIOS's have "beep codes", and looking up this particular pattern of beeps could tell you what it is. Unfortunately, i notice the page you linked doesn't actually say which BIOS chip it has. It's almost certainly a hardware failure, and my best guess would be (in order of likelyhood) graphics card, CPU, or RAM.
If your PC is still under warranty, send it back to Dell and get them to fix it. If not, then at least you don't have to worry about voiding the warranty, so you can open it up, look on the mainboard, and see what kind of BIOS chip it is for working out that beep code. You are looking for a rectangular chip (not square - that's the south bridge), and it may have something like "Award", "AmiBIOS", or "Phoenix" written on it.
Okay thanks, I went to the dell website and it said the beeps were messages. I looked up which one it meant and it said it was memory failure. I tried each of the memory cards one at a time, and find out one of them was faulty, so removed it.
Problem solved. Thanks

M3ntal
14 Mar 2007, 21:56
Good stuff, and no problem. I wish all faults were as easy to fix :).

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