Troubleshooting Hardware - CompTIA A+ 220-1201 - 5.1

As you're most likely aware, when you turn on your computer, there are a series of tests that take place known as the post. This stands for power on self test. This is a self test to determine if the core components of your system are installed and if they're operational. This checks to see if your

CPU is installed and operational and if it's able to communicate to your BIOS hardware. This might also check to see if your video subsystem is working properly and if memory is also installed in your computer. If there are any problems with any of these components, you'll get an error message on the screen if possible and a series of beeps

that come from the motherboard. That beeps and the messages that you might see on the screen might be similar between manufacturers, but very often there are differences between one manufacturer's BIOS and another. This means that a series of beeps on one motherboard might mean something completely different on another motherboard. For that reason, you

shouldn't bother memorizing specific beep codes for an individual manufacturer. Because when this happens, you'll probably be referencing the documentation anyway. And since all of these different manufacturers are using different beep codes on different motherboards, it's probably a good idea to check with the documentation anyway. The real key is understanding what that beep code means and what you should do

next. And if you are getting beep codes, there should be messages on the screen if there's no problems with your video display. And certainly, there will be a series of codes, probably long and short codes, that you'll need to reference. You'll need to look at the error codes on your screen and reference how many