Technical Reference Guide
Compaq Personal Computers
Changed – November 2000
A-1
Appendix A
ERROR MESSAGES AND CODES
A. Appendix A ERROR MESSAGES AND CODES
A.1 INTRODUCTION
This appendix lists the error codes and a brief description of the probable cause of the error.
NOTE: Errors listed in this appendix are applicable only for systems running Compaq
BIOS.
NOTE: Not all errors listed in this appendix may be applicable to a particular system
model and/or configuration.
A.2 BEEP/KEYBOARD LED CODES
Table A–1. Beep/Keyboard LED Codes
Table A-1.
Beep/Keyboard LED Codes
Beeps LED [1] Probable Cause 
1 short, 2 long  NUM lock blinking  Base memory failure. 
1 long, 2 short  CAP lock blinking  Video/graphics controller failure. 
2 long, 1 short  Scroll lock blinking  System failure (prior to video initialization). 
1 long, 3 short  (None)  Boot block executing 
None  All three blink in sequence  Keyboard locked in network mode. 
None  NUM lock steady on  ROMPAQ diskette not present, bad, or drive not 
ready. 
None  CAP lock steady on  Password prompt. 
None  All three blink together  ROM flash failed. 
None  All three steady on  Successful ROM flash. 
NOTE: 
  [1] PS/2 keyboard only.