why does my computer beep at me?

[fortyplus]

It's the hot weather. It doesn't do it when it's cooler.

It's a PC I use as a print server for the house and for developing webapps. It's running Debian etch as a server, with no X.

About ten minutes after I switch it on it starts beeping in a generally alarmed state, so I power it down for the peace and quiet and do something else.

But it doesn't seem to be overheating - it's got two case fans and according to acpi the cpu temperature is well within limits.

 

[Genghis Cohen]

Describe the beeping, they're basically audible error codes.

 

[lobster]

i presume you have not opend the box and put something new in, if not it could be dust suffocating the fan, you say you have two fans, i presume you do not have the box in a cupboard, as its a dangerous things to do, even with 2 fans it will kill the poor machine.

 

[Dougal]

i presume you have not opend the box and put something new in, if not it could be dust suffocating the fan, you say you have two fans, i presume you do not have the box in a cupboard, as its a dangerous things to do, even with 2 fans it will kill the poor machine.

Your like that bloke in 2001 A Space Oddessy.

 

[revol68]

it's simply your pc warning about overheating. Your CPU might need some new thermal paste, you might just need to dust it out or it could just need a new fan.

 

[fogbat]

Computers need love, too!

It's your lil machine's way of asking for a hug.

 

[audiotech]

When I attempt to save a file and if I happen to type a filename quickly I too get the beeps, but it's not a problem as it goes away.

 

[fortyplus]

It's the system temperature, which acpi doesn't seem to measure.

The cpu temp is nice and constant; the system temperature keeps rising.

It's not in a cupboard. I cleared out a whole load of dust from the fans (especially caught in the grille behind the upper, exhaust fan) just recently which made it a bit better, as in longer before the beeps start.

So, question is, where's the "system temperature" measured? There must be a thermocouple somewhere that gives the reading I see in the BIOS system health. Maybe a misplaced ribbon cable is preventing air-flow just by the sensor?

 

[fortyplus]

forgive public rambling...

Case open and a bit of poking around with biological digital temperature probes indicates that the thing that keeps getting hotter is the northbridge chipset which is passively cooled.

Mobo has a header for a northbridge fan so I think that's what I'll fit.

Does anyone know if I can get acpi to monitor this system temperature?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

What brand motherboard is it? There'll be an application to monitor the values from the maker, or you could try motherboard monitor or speedfan.

 

[fortyplus]

its an Abit VA-10.

But these are presumably windoze apps and I'm a pure linux guy.

the only temp that's visible anywhere in /proc/acpi is the cpu temp. I have a horrible feeling that to get the system (northbridge?) temp into /proc/acpi I'll need to make sure the relevant chipset drivers if they exist are compiled into the kernel. So I might not bother.

 

[lobster]

is your mobo supported by lm_sensors ?
compiling a kernel is not difficult as writing the kernel

 

[WWWeed]

sometimes you can have a look at system temps through the BIOS. Leave your machine on for a bit and when it beeps, restart it and go into the BIOS and go to system monitor or your motherboards equivalent.

Also are the fans in the right place? If you just stick a fan in and dont get the airflowing right it can do more harm than good.