Interesting.

Modern system beeps when overheated, but I don't think a 486 had this feature. Have you checked if your CPU gets too hot?

Hmm well idk how running emm386 would make it run hotter but say if I am, how would I know if it is running too hot? This is a 486 that has a heatsink right on it also.

EMM386 switches the CPU to V86 mode, but I don't think that makes the CPU hotter, let alone overheat instantly at bootup after EMM386 loaded. Try running it with NOEMS NOVCPI and check if this makes a difference. Does it occur when you only use HIMEM? If the beeps are random might be the A20 keyboard controller handling.

Seems that the NOEMS NOVCPI did nothing. As far as I have seen if I have EMM386 loaded the beeping happens. HIMEM.SYS seems fine as I can REM EMM386 and have no beeps. How might I check the keyboard bit? I had thought that it may be linked to the keyboard at one point but I am unsure as it just beeps without you even touching it.

The easiest way is to go to the BIOS and disable the HALT on no keyboard error. After saving turn off your computer, disconnect the keyboard and boot again.
While you're in the BIOS, check for anything related to A20. You might wanna do a memory test as well.

This should be in Marvin. All old hardware and driver/configuration questions belong there. This subforum is for DOS games on modern systems, as in Very Old Games On New Systems. Marvin, the Paranoid Android

Moved.

Sounds like memory issue to me, is the memory fast enough for the present CPU with the RAM timings set in the BIOS ? I remember that my 386SX 25 with the tightest settings for the RAM was crashing. The sticks were 80NS sticks. Replaced them with 60 or 70NS sticks and it was perfectly fine.

If everything's fine when the CPU is runing slower, maybe that's because the timings aren't out of spec anymore ?

Oh very sorry on not posting in the right place. I guess I didn't look hard enough for where I should have put it. I just saw dos and went for it. I'll see about making timings looser and see if that makes a difference.

Try the EMM386 line as follows:

C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM NOEMS or remove the NOEMS line and just add RAM next to the C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE line. Also, change /TESTMEM:OFF to /TESTMEM:ON for the RAM module defects. Had this happen before on my Packard Bell and the 4MB RAM stick stopped working (the PC said there was 32MB RAM installed, but, it should've been 24MB).

[quote="NowlasWolf"]
config.sys:
DEVICE=C:\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=99
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\NEC_IDE.SYS /D:NECCD
LASTDRIVE = Z
>>
>>

[[FILES=99]] seems extreme but i do not know if it causes your problem. For Windows and various spreadsheet/database programs it is recommended to set [[FILES=30]]

Might be the dumbest question ever -- is it the PC speaker beeping, or is it from an audio card? Could be a DMA controller problem if it's from the audio card (although usually NMIs/reboots would be a symptom of that).

AlaricD wrote:

Might be the dumbest question ever -- is it the PC speaker beeping, or is it from an audio card? Could be a DMA controller problem if it's from the audio card (although usually NMIs/reboots would be a symptom of that).

It is just the pc speaker. Short tiny beeps with no discernible pattern.

bjwil1991 wrote:

Try the EMM386 line as follows:

C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM NOEMS or remove the NOEMS line and just add RAM next to the C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE line. Also, change /TESTMEM:OFF to /TESTMEM:ON for the RAM module defects. Had this happen before on my Packard Bell and the 4MB RAM stick stopped working (the PC said there was 32MB RAM installed, but, it should've been 24MB).

Nope none worked. All of my memory shows up in the little spash before dos boots and himem test does not show anything is wrong. Thanks for the suggestion!

Rawit wrote:

The easiest way is to go to the BIOS and disable the HALT on no keyboard error. After saving turn off your computer, disconnect the keyboard and boot again.
While you're in the BIOS, check for anything related to A20. You might wanna do a memory test as well.

Did that and made no difference. I don't see any other A20 or keyboard related settings other than maybe whatever typematic rate programming is.

Ok well I think I have it set properly now. My memory was too slow for my processor from what I collect from this:

Deksor wrote:

Sounds like memory issue to me, is the memory fast enough for the present CPU with the RAM timings set in the BIOS ? I remember that my 386SX 25 with the tightest settings for the RAM was crashing. The sticks were 80NS sticks. Replaced them with 60 or 70NS sticks and it was perfectly fine.

If everything's fine when the CPU is runing slower, maybe that's because the timings aren't out of spec anymore ?

I played around with wait state settings and found setting the read wait state to 2W/S was necessary. 0W/S for memory write state seems to be fine as I hear no beeps. Cache was able to go as low as possible (2-1-1-1 and 0 W/S write wait state) Sounds like I should hunt down some faster memory if I want to tighten those settings!

I found this reference quite nice for trying to optimize my bios and help troubleshoot: http://sripro.tripod.com/hardware/thebiosguide.html
Topbench also came in handy. Is a score of 108 good? Somewhere in there I managed to get the beeps to go to a higher pitch as well. 🤣

Thank you so much for your help everyone!