From: Remi Lenoir
As you know very well, the BridgeBoard emits some beeps when it encounters
problem during its boot. As far as I remember, I never saw a list of those
beep codes along with their meanings. Well, I was surfing the other day and
I finally found the Phoenix technology web page (www.ptltd.com). They have
FAQ pages for their BIOS (www.firmware.com/catalog2.htm).
For those of you who do not have access to the WWW, I included a copy of the
table at the end of the post.
The codes corresponding to the failure are also sent to IO port 80h so,
if you have one of those ISA debug card with POST status display, you
should be able to see what the BIOS is doing in real-time.
How BEEP codes work:
====================
The codes sent by the BIOS are referred as "Multiple Beep Code - Group of
Four Beeps" by Phoenix. The beep code will consist of three groups, with
from one to four beeps per group. Groups are separated by a silence and
beeps in a group are separated by a shorter silence.
Therefore the 1-1-3 notation means:
beep, silence, beep, silence, beep, short silence, beep, short silence, beep.
Is the table valid for the BB ?
===============================
I can say for sure that the A2386SX issues the 1-1-4 sequence when the
BIOS ROM checksum is incorrect (I got that when I was messing with the BIOS
without changing its checksum...). Plus looking at the disassembly of the
BIOS confirms that this very probably is the correct table.
Have fun,
- Remi.
Note: I have no idea if this also applies to the A2286 as I don't have one.
Note2: As I just found out, this information, and much more, can also be
found in the book that Phoenix Technology wrote about BIOSes.
Phoenix Technical Reference Series
System BIOS for IBM PCs, Compatibles, and EISA computers
Second Edition
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN 0-201-57760-7
############### From http://www.firmware.com/1000.htm ####################
Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS / PhoenixBIOS 1.xx POST/BEEP Codes
The Phoenix BIOS will issue an audible beep code in the event of a system
error encountered during the Power On Self Test (POST). A numeric value is
also sent to port 80h representing the current state of the POST. In the
event of a fatal system error during initialization, the code representing
the portion of the POST causing the failure will be the last value sent to
port 80h.
As any experienced technician knows, a failure at any given location does not
necessarily mean that the particular part or section under test has actually
failed. For example, any problem with the motherboard address lines or local
bus can cause the CMOS read/write test to fail, even though the CMOS RAM
itself may, in fact, work perfectly.
If you require further details or assistance in dealing with a fatal system
board error, please do not contact Micro Firmware. You need to seek the
assistance of a qualified computer service technician in your area.
Port 80h Beep
Value Code Error/Test Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
01h none 80286 register test in progress
02h 1-1-3 CMOS write/read test in progress or failure
03h 1-1-4 BIOS ROM checksum in progress or failure
04h 1-2-1 Programmable Interval Timer test in progress or failure
05h 1-2-2 DMA initialization in progress or failure
06h 1-2-3 DMA page register write/read test in progress or fail
08h 1-3-1 RAM refresh verification in progress or failure
09h none 1st 64K RAM test in progress
0Ah 1-3-3 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - multi-bit
0Bh 1-3-4 1st 64K RAM odd/even logic failure
0Ch 1-4-1 1st 64K RAM address line failure
0Dh 1-4-2 1st 64K RAM parity test in progress or failure
10h 2-1-1 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 0
11h 2-1-2 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 1
12h 2-1-3 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 2
13h 2-1-4 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 3
14h 2-2-1 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 4
15h 2-2-2 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 5
16h 2-2-3 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 6
17h 2-2-4 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 7
18h 2-3-1 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 8
19h 2-3-2 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit 9
1Ah 2-3-3 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit A
1Bh 2-3-4 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit B
1Ch 2-4-1 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit C
1Dh 2-4-2 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit D
1Eh 2-4-3 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit E
1Fh 2-4-4 1st 64K RAM chip or data line failure - bit F
20h 3-1-1 master DMA register test in progress or failure
21h 3-1-2 slave DMA register test in progress or failure
22h 3-1-3 master interrupt mask register test in progress or fail
23h 3-1-4 slave interrupt mask register test in progress or fail
25h none interrupt vector loading in progress
27h 3-2-4 keyboard controller test in progress or failure
28h none CMOS power-fail and checksum checks in progress
29h none CMOS config info validation in progress
2Bh 3-3-4 screen memory test in progress or failure
2Ch 3-4-1 screen initialization in progress or failure
2Dh 3-4-2 screen retrace tests in progress or failure
2Eh none search for video ROM in progress
30h none screen believed operable:
30h none screen believed running w/ video ROM
31h none monochromatic screen believed operable
32h none 40-column color screen believed operable
33h none 80-column color screen believed operable
34h 4-2-1 timer tick interrupt test in progress or failure
35h 4-2-2 shutdown test in progress or failure
36h 4-2-3 gate A20 failure
37h 4-2-4 unexpected interrupt in protected mode
38h 4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure above address 0FFFFh
3Ah 4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test in progress or failure
3Bh 4-3-4 Time-Of-Day clock test in progress or failure
3Ch 4-4-1 Serial port test test in progress or failure
3Dh 4-4-2 Parallel port test test in progress or failure
3Eh 4-4-3 Math Coprocessor test in progress or failure
This POST/BEEP code list is applicable only to Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS or
PhoenixBIOS A286/A386/A486 Version 1.xx on an AT-class (80286 or higher)
system.
Error codes in the 50h range or beyond are chip set or custom platform
specific, and will vary from system to system. Contact your system
manufacturer for details.