Continuous beeping when start laptop, proceeds to boot after spamming the keyboard.

[Em Love]

A while ago my husband's laptop had a similar issue where it would beep and not boot. We then sent it to the manufacturer (hp) and they replaced the hard drive. Since then the warranty has run out. Today, out of no where when he started the machine it started beeping continuously and would then power off. I looked up the beep codes but there was nothing about continuous beeping. The computer then started turning off and on repeatedly not even getting to the stage where it would beep. The lights would turn on and the fan would start then it would turn off and repeat. After a while of doing that I got it into BIOS. I ran a memory check and a hard drive check. Both came up clean. I restarted it again and finally it booted after beeping about 30 times and me pressing the buttons on the keyboard. I think it might have had something to do with the sticky control key. I decided to check if it would be consistent and restarted it. Again it beeped about 30 times and after pressing most of the buttons on the keyboard it then asked which OS (of which there was only one) to boot into. It seems to be ok now that it's started but what could be causing this issue? The laptop is a Hp Compaq dv6 (I think) any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[GodspeedFx]

I have actually encountered once before, and you might be surprised how right you may be about the sticky control key!

If you get a very fast rapid beep when you start the computer, it most likely IS because one of the keys is stuck down. The customer's computer I was working on was the victim of a spill, and while the customer did an above average job of cleaning it out, one of the contacts beneath the keys was permanently stuck in the "pressed" position.

I ordered them a replacement keyboard for about $60, replaced it, and everything was fine.

Since you are able to get the computer to boot by pressing lots of keys (I suspect you would only need to press the sticky control key a couple times), then you may not need to replace the keyboard just yet. I guess it's kinda like jiggling the key in an old lock I'm quite sure that is the source of the rapid beeping though. When you hold down a key on any computer when you turn it on, that is what it does.

 

[Em Love]

Awesome! Thanks. is there anything other than jiggling the key and replacing the whole keyboard that I could do for now? or do I just have to live through the beeping?

 

[GodspeedFx]

No problem! =)

You could try plugging in a USB keyboard and see if it defaults to that one instead so you can avoid the beeping.. other than that, there isn't much you can do >_<

If you pop the key off, you can still press the button.. it will just feel funny, haha. Take care if you do though because laptop keys are easy to break when taking them off and notoriously hard to put back on!

 

[Ashok Ittigi]

Great buddy.

Simple but effective solution.

I was using a USB Keyboard & it got stuck to the table causing beeping sound.

Didn't notice until I read your solution.

Many Thanks.

Regards,
Ashok

 

[GodspeedFx]

Great buddy.

Simple but effective solution.

I was using a USB Keyboard & it got stuck to the table causing beeping sound.

Didn't notice until I read your solution.

Many Thanks.

Regards,
Ashok

Anytime! =)