Desktop wont boot up, 3 long beeps, 2 short beeps

[Sandrat954]

So today is the day that my warranty ended and also the same day that my computer decided to act up. I had my computer asleep throughout the day while I was also asleep. I awoke to the screen being stuck on the lock screen and not even being able to press Ctrl+ALT+Delete, nothing would wake it up, so I turned it off via the power button. Once I attempted to turn it back on I was greeted by 3 long beeps and 2 short beeps. I keep my computer tower in a very well ventilated area and it is barely 3 years old. What could be the issue in the worst case scenario and what could be the issue in the best case scenario? 

I'm pretty handy, so I did see another thread about the RAM possibly needing to be reseated. But before I do anything, I rather get support from people who are familiar with this issue. Also if my RAM did go bad, does replacing RAM affect what is on my hard drive?

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help 🙂

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Below is the link to the desktop PC beep code troubleshooting guide.

HP Desktop PCs - Computer beeps or a light blinks during startup | HP® Support

According to the information you provided you are correct that there appears to be an issue with the memory.

Follow the guidance for the 3-2 beep code troubleshooting procedure.

According to the product specs your PC comes with one 8 GB memory chip.

HP Pavilion Desktop - TP01-0066 Product Specifications | HP® Support

If removing and re-seating the memory chip doesn't resolve the problem, your next step would be to replace the memory chip.

Crucial 8GB DDR4-3200 UDIMM | CT8G4DFRA32A | Crucial.com

Normally a bad memory chip will not affect the hard drive, but in some cases it might.

It depends on what the PC was doing when the memory chip failed.

If it had been completely shut down, the chances would be that the hard drive would not have been affected.

Since your PC was not shut down and the failure occurred during sleep, there is a 50-50 chance that the hard drive may have been corrupted by the failed memory.

You would have to reinstall Windows to fix any issues with the drive not booting up after the memory was replaced.

If replacing the memory chip still doesn't resolve the 3-2 beep problem, I would have to imagine the motherboard failed and would need to be replaced.

This service video may be of help to you for removing/reseating, replacing the memory:

Removing & replacing parts for HP Pavilion TP01-000 | HP Computer Service (youtube.com)

[Sandrat954]

Luckily all I had to do was pull out the RAM and reinsert it to get it back working again. Thank you so much for your help! 😁

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.