BleepingComputer.com: beep codes on startup

I recently fixed a thermal issue by applying paste and replacing the case fans, my pc worked for three days since I did that and everything was fine ...until this AM.
I used the machine last night and everything was fine- played Bioshock for a while and then shut it down and went to bed. This morning I go to start it up and heard some unusual beeps.
No display at all and I get one long beep followed by three shorter beeps.
I did some research on the Phoenix BIOS and it says that the beeps indicate a video RAM problem or no video card detected.
Anybody got any ideas on how I should proceed at this point?
My video card is a pci e Nvidia 8600GTS and it has been working fine.
if the battery on the mobo came out would that affect things?
This problem occured for no apparent reason- I disassembled the entire machine after it happened and reassembled it making sure all the wires were properly connected and the card and memory were seated correctly.
I even tried replacing the card with a different card and got the same beeps

any help would be appreciated

<<if the battery on the mobo came out would that affect things?>>

Not sure what you mean...is the battery missing? Did it come loose and then you popped it back into place?

In any case...absence of the CMOS battery (CR2032) for a period of longer than a few seconds...probably results in the CMOS resetting to default parameters.

In some cases, this is no problem...but for users who have changed settings (such as turning onboard video off when using an actual video card), it could create some confusion.

If you have a board with onboard video, the easy way to test functionality of the card is to enable the onboard video.

If you don't have onboard video, then it seems you need to try a different video card for a few moments.

Louis

thanks for the response
the battery was popped out for 10 seconds AFTER it wouldn't boot - that wasn't the cause of the problem - it was a suggested fix to reset the CMOS and I figured I would give it a shot

no onboard video and as I said at the bottom of the original post I tried a different card and got the same issue- no signal on monitor and beeps

I tried one stick at a time with my memory and switching the slots and it is seated properly so I doubt it is memory related

the hard drive spins and the light tells me it is doing something so I dont think it is the hd

I also disconnected everything from the mobo and still didnt get anything on the monitor - no boot screen or error codes - just beeps

if it is cmos related -is there a way to fix that ?

I dont understand how anything happened - it was working great last few days and I havent added anything hardware or software that might change things.

This post has been edited by genthore: 26 September 2009 - 03:26 PM

OK so I noticed the system clock was wrong- way wrong, it said January 2007 I did get an old winfast px6600gt to work.
I dont know what the problem is with the 8600 but I am pretty sure it has a lifetime warranty -
after I got the px6600 to work it said something about checksum on the bootscreen
I havent tried the 8600 since I reset the system clock could that have been the problem?

I got the px6600 to work BEFORE I noticed the system clock thing-I went into the BIOS after I could get the thing running and thats when I noticed - BIOS was also set to boot from PCI and not PCI E - those things must have happened when the battery was removed I am guessing.

This post has been edited by genthore: 26 September 2009 - 08:57 PM

If you are gettting messages re "checksum" and your BIOS clock settings are/were incorrect...it's probably time to install a new CMOS battery.

Available just about anywhere, for less than $5 (in the U.S.).

CMOS Battery Replacement - http://www.liverepair.com/encyclopedia/art...cmosreplace.asp

Ignore any advice to write down settings, the system will go to default settings with install of a new battery. You may modify those as you wish.

Louis