MP shut down on its own & after boot up it beeps around 200x

[Luba]

I put the MP to sleep then the next day I find it completely shut down! I boot it up and then I hear it beeping rhythmically (every second) lasting for about 2-3 minutes.

Any idea what caused MP to shut down on its own? And what does the beeping mean? The beeping is coming from inside the MP's speakers, not from my BOSE 5 computer speakers.

There might have been a power outage, but I have a UPS.

 

[DanielCoffey]

It is odd that the beeping is continuous. I found this and it says the POST beeps only play once...

Products introduced after October, 1999 use a revised set of power on self-test beeps during startup.

The power on self-test resides in the ROM of the computer. This test runs whenever the computer is turned on after being fully shut down (the power-on self-test does not run if the computer is only restarted).

If a fault is detected during the test, you will not hear a normal startup chime. Instead, the system will beep as explained below.

If you experience one of these beeps, you may call your Apple Authorized Service Provider for additional troubleshooting assistance.

1 beep = no RAM installed

2 beeps = incompatible RAM types

3 beeps = no good banks

4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)

5 beeps = processor is not usable

In addition to the beeps, on some computers the power LED will flash a corresponding number of times plus one. The LED will repeat the sequence after approximately a 5-second pause. The tones are only played once.

 

[goMac]

This doesn't sound good...

 

[Luba]

I edited the original post because it wasn't clear . . .

The beeping isn't continuous, it's a rhythmic, every second there's a beep. This goes on for about 2-3 minutes (so about 200 beeps). I am getting the start up chime though!

It is odd that the beeping is continuous. I found this and it says the POST beeps only play once...

 

[DanielCoffey]

Do you have any non-Apple peripherals in the machine? Maybe disconnect everything you don't need to actually boot from and see what happens next?

 

[sim667]

This might be a stupid suggestion, but theres not a key stuck down on the keyboard is there?