2 Short beeps & 1 Long beep - 5 times

[Mohan_K]

My HP Pavilion Elite e9250t PC is refusing to boot and I am getting 2 Short beeps & 1 Long beep - 5 times. After that, no beeps. It appears like the computer is still running, I can see hard disk light flickering, can open & close CD drive.

I have :

• • Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-750 processor [2.66GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache]
• • 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
• • 1.5TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• • 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]
• • LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• • Premium Wireless-N LAN card
• • 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio

Is it a Video Card problem?  I am not a gamer - use this for regular browsing / book keeping. How do I troubleshoot?

[old_geekster]

@Mohan_K, welcome to the forum.

Here are the HP and Compaq Desktop PCs-BIOS Beep Codes.  You should scroll down to the section where the beep codes that you are receiving are described.  It appears that you have a video problem.  If you don't have a video card and are using the integrated video, you will have to buy a video card.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.

[Mohan_K]

Thanks @old_geekster!!

It looks like the video card I have is pretty old & the local electronics store is suggesting that I upgrade it to a higher model (& upgrade the power supply as well since the new video card is separately powered).

Rather than spend $400 on that, I am wondering what would be a best place to buy the old video card & replace it myself. Not really looking to upgrade at this time.

Any thoughts on reliable web sites?

[old_geekster · Accepted solution]

You are very welcome!  Thank you for the additional information, @Mohan_K.

Here is the card that I believe is in your computer.  Amazon is a good etailer.  You may even find it for less money on another site.  Don't let anyone try to sell you a new card.  The new cards require UEFI in the motherboard instead of a Legacy/standard BIOS.  HP didn't begin using UEFI until mid-October, 2012.  Your computer was released in 2009.  The BIOS can't be updated to UEFI.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.

[Mohan_K]

Thank you @old_geekster!!!

incidentally I didnt see your response in time. I ended up looking at the "HP Pavilion Elite e9250t Desktop PC Product Specifications and Configurable Options" and placed an order for "EVGA GeForce 210 Passive 1024 MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI/VGA Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1313-KR". Got the card today, installed it. Worked in the first attempt..  I was impressed with myself 😉 but the graphics was low resolution. 

Checked the package and saw the CD to install the video drivers & got the original resolution back. 

Best 1.5 hrs spent so far today..

Thanks for all your help!!