I recently acquired a Dell latitude notebook but it gives me a beep error on startup. I press the power on, the power light comes on the hard drive starts up but all three of the lock keys light up and system beeps 5 - 1 -2 (five long beeps, pause, 1 long, pause, 2 long) then it shuts down completely. This system never gets past this point, I’ve tried pushing down on the keyboard, I’ve disassembled it and checked connections and still get these beeps! It’s driving me looney.
I think you have a memory problem. After some search on the Internet I found this diagnostics and troubleshooting page which has a chart with system beep codes. According to this chart 5-1-2 code indicates a memory problem. Here’s a quote from this page:
“When you turn on or reboot the system, the Caps Lock and Scroll Lock indicators on the keyboard should flash momentarily and then turn off. If the Num Lock category in the System Setup program is set to On, the Num Lock indicator should flash momentarily and then remain on; otherwise, it should turn off. Abnormal operation of these indicators can result from a defective SIMM in socket A.”
I think it’s similar to your problem, try replacing the memory module.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 5150. I cannot start up my Labtop. I keep Getting these errors:
PXE-E61 MEDIA TEST FAILURE,CHECK CABLE
PXE-MOF: EXITING BROADCOM PXE ROM CARDBUS NIC BOOT FAILED
NO BOOTABLE DEVICES COMES UP WHEN I PUT MY REINSTALL CD INTO THE DRIVE.. WHAT CAN I DO?
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND I DO AND I WANT A BETTER WIRELESS CARD SO I CAN GO ON THE INTERNET ANYWHERE. IS THAT POSSIBLE AND WHATS A GOOD BRAND. THANKS
February 9th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Beto,
Probably you have a failed hard drive. “PXE-E61 Media Test Failure” error message has been discussed in this post: I keep getting PXE-E61 Media test failure error on laptop start up.
Now about the internal wireless card. I’m not sure if the laptop you have is “Wireless ready” and has wireless slot/antennas installed. You can find an internal wireless card here if you search for “Dell Inspiron 5150 wireless card”. I found three of them in the price range USD29-USD45.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
i have a dell xps m170 which i bought six months ago. it was running really great. but now its completely dead! i was downloading a movie when it shut down unexpectedly (was using azureus in downloading). so i tried starting it up, it did. but then it died again after a few blinks from the caps lock. so i tried turning it on again…nothing! i did check my power adaptor, and its good but when i checked the icon for charging it just kept blinking. is that a faulty charge? also when i tried pressing the play button on my laptop, it turned on but died like i was pushing the “on” button. please help!
February 21st, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Florence,
Isn’t is still under warranty? Maybe you should call Dell technical support and they can send you a new power adapter?
How did you check the AC adapter? I think you might have a faulty AC adapter. Can you check the battery charge? Is it empty?
February 22nd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
hi,
when i switch on my laptop it beeps continously, i thought it was a RAM problem as few days before it was hangign up when i put two three programs on, so i bought two new RAM(512 each), slotted in but its still beeping as before now i am unsure that did i order the right RAM or theere is some other problem, my laptop is made in india, its a centrino with Pentium M processor 1.7 Ghz and intel chipset 855,my old RAM says DDR333 332MX8.I ordered the RAM PNY-PC2700 which is a DDR333 one. any ideas what could be problem or how else can i detect it
February 25th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
I have an edo sodimm 128mb, which is what this notebook calls for. Have tried it in both slots now and still get the 5-1-2. And everywere I’ve looked it takes a floppy to be able to reflash the bios, this notebook doesn’t have a floppy and I don’t have an external to hook to it. I have tried another keyboard, have tried an external monitor to see if anything at all would come up and still nothing. Same story, it never even reaches post. *rips hair out*
February 27th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Jessica,
The laptop will not boot at all so you cannot reflash the BIOS. If you are using a known good memory module but still getting the same error, you might have a problem with the motherboard.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Hello… Room!
I’ve a laptop, Acer Aspire 1400XC. When i turn it on during starup, it gives me a single beep then it turn off again. What is the problem!
October 5th, 2007 at 9:16 am
I have a dell inpiron 6000 laptop It had two 512 Ram. I tried to replace RAM with 1 GB my laptop has stoped working its caps lock blink 10 times and then shut down
October 30th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
i have a dell xps m170 notebook, i just recently replaced the ac adapter (with a DELL CERTIFIED 130w pa-13 ADAPTER) and my computer was running smoothly, then the battery died and now when i try to boot up it tells me it dosnt recognize the adapter type and wont let me boot past this point, the adapter is pretty new, what could be wrong?
January 9th, 2008 at 5:59 am
hi!
i wonder if you can help me with this annoying problem. two problems actually.
i have a dell inspiron 2650 (i bought this back when i was in sydney, about 6 years ago). the old lady has been working just fine (only it get slow this last few years). anyway, this started about a week ago, it started to make this beeping sound when starting up (right after the dell screen). if i keep pressing esc, it will then start “normally” after sometime.
what should i dooooo???
next, hm…. i dont know how to say this without making a two paged passage. these last few days, whenever (read: mostly everytime) i move my pointer on my desktop and point at an icon on the third row, it suddenly move to the first row “by itself”. this too happens if i “tabs” arround (without using the mouse). it’s even hard to shutdown the laptop. i cant seems to click the “turn off” button without making the other two blinking. there is more. when i type the pointer would sometimes keep moving to the left. i’ve to keep my patience even writing this post…..
please please please help me save the old lady……
thanks
January 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
hi,i have some problems with dell,s and i would like to use your forum but cannot find the link to do so,unless this is it,i use your site alot when servicing laptops and find the info “ABSOLUTLY SPOT ON OLD BOY” every single time,infact better than dell’s own site.
thanks
mike
January 13th, 2008 at 11:53 am
meg,
does it make just a few beeps, or it beeps continuously for a long time? If it beeps continuously, it’s possible that one of the keyboard keys got stuck. In this case you’ll have to replace the keyboard. Here are instructions for replacing the keyboard for your Dell notebook.
In order to narrow down the problem you can try this. Unplug the laptop keyboard from the motherboard and start the laptop with an external USB keyboard. If your laptop works fine with the external keyboard while the internal keyboard is unplugged, most likely the laptop keyboard is bad. If it sounds too complicated for you, you’ll have to take your laptop to a repair center.
again sounds like a problem with the keyboard to me, sound like a stuck key.
do you have a blue stick in the middle of the keyboard for moving the cursor with your finger? Sounds like this stick (part of the keyboard) is bad. Again, you should be able to fix it by replacing the keyboard.
March 29th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Hello:
I have a simular problem with my Compaq Armada e500.
My problem is that when I turn my laptop on the lights light up. the processor fan starts up and it sends out one long constant beep that dos’nt stop untill I unplug the power supply. Nothing dead, ecept for the processor fan, lights, and beep
There is no batery, so I operate it with the power supply only. Any ideas. maybe the MB.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
The keys on my labtop (top row alphabet keys) just all of a sudden stop working, could you please help me with this matter. My labtop is a Dell Inspiron 1501.
Thank You,
Sharon
May 7th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Sharon Murphy,
First of all, test the laptop with an external USB keyboard. If you have the same problem on the external keyboard, this is a software related failure. Back up all personal files and reinstall Windows.
If the entire top row stopped working, most likely the problem is related to the keyboard. It’s possible that the keyboard is OK and you have a problem with the keyboard controller on the motherboard (witch means the motherboard has to be replaced), but this is not a common failure. The only way to find out witch one is causing the problem is testing the laptop with another working keyboard.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Sharon Murphy,
Today I had to troubleshoot a Toshiba laptop with almost the same problem. The top row alphabet keys (except T and Y) didn’t work. I swapped the keyboard with another one and it fixed the problem.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
my dale computer will charge all night then when i turn it on it sometimes stays on for a little while then shuts down . and sometimes it wont even come on not even the light. dose that mean i need a new motherboard ? and if so how much do you think they are please let me know? thank you so much.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
my laptop is HP Peviliaon DV1000 something happened to my laptop it was working properly but now when i start it it goes untill the windows screen come then it shuts down.I tried alotof time but the same thing happens even sometime shuts before any screen come.