I think it's just that some BIOSes do it and others don't.

Ah, right. So it’s the BIOS that emits the noise. Is it the Power-on Self Test?

If you really want a "beep" when the system starts ... depending on your OS, you might be able to put something in AUTOEXEC ...

I omce wrote a little utility to sound a beep through the PC speaker (older systems obviously) which let you specify the frequency and duration
(it's a 16-bit .COM - good under DOS/Win9X ... you could simply record the "beep" you want and play it under more modern systems)
- I could dig it out if and send it to you if you want it!

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-01-29, 09:59:

If you really want a "beep" when the system starts ... depending on your OS, you might be able to put something in AUTOEXEC ... […]
Show full quote

If you really want a "beep" when the system starts ... depending on your OS, you might be able to put something in AUTOEXEC ...

I omce wrote a little utility to sound a beep through the PC speaker (older systems obviously) which let you specify the frequency and duration
(it's a 16-bit .COM - good under DOS/Win9X ... you could simply record the "beep" you want and play it under more modern systems)
- I could dig it out if and send it to you if you want it!

Ha. Cool. Sure, I'd love that! 😀 Thanks.

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-01-29, 09:59:

If you really want a "beep" when the system starts ... depending on your OS, you might be able to put something in AUTOEXEC ... […]
Show full quote

If you really want a "beep" when the system starts ... depending on your OS, you might be able to put something in AUTOEXEC ...

I omce wrote a little utility to sound a beep through the PC speaker (older systems obviously) which let you specify the frequency and duration
(it's a 16-bit .COM - good under DOS/Win9X ... you could simply record the "beep" you want and play it under more modern systems)
- I could dig it out if and send it to you if you want it!

Did you have any luck finding it? 😀

You can make a POST beep sound easily in DOS without any extra tools

1COPY CON BEEP.BAT [enter]
2@ECHO OFF [enter]
3ECHO [ctrl+g] [enter]
4[ctrl+z] [enter]

The console will spit out

11 file(s) copied...

And you will have a batch file called BEEP.BAT that will make a POST beep whenever you run or call it from another batch file

It's also worth noting that almost all motherboards in the P3 era already made a POST beep so your PC speaker may be missing, disconnected or broken

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-04, 13:05:

You can make a POST beep sound easily in DOS without any extra tools […]
Show full quote

You can make a POST beep sound easily in DOS without any extra tools

Copy code to clipboard

1COPY CON BEEP.BAT [enter]
2@ECHO OFF [enter]
3ECHO [ctrl+g] [enter]
4[ctrl+z] [enter]

The console will spit out

Copy code to clipboard

11 file(s) copied...

And you will have a batch file called BEEP.BAT that will make a POST beep whenever you run or call it from another batch file

It's also worth noting that almost all motherboards in the P3 era already made a POST beep so your PC speaker may be missing, disconnected or broken

Thanks for the suggestion, although I'm a bit confused with this one. I'm confused with what it's supposed to do/be and how it works. I tried typing each one out like you've suggested, but nothing happens. It doesn't say 1 file(s) copied either.

I should point out that I did this test using 86Box first.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-04, 12:35:

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-01-29, 09:59:

...I once wrote a little utility to sound a beep through the PC speaker (older systems obviously) which let you specify the frequency and duration
(it's a 16-bit .COM - good under DOS/Win9X ... you could simply record the "beep" you want and play it under more modern systems)
- I could dig it out if and send it to you if you want it!

Did you have any luck finding it? 😀

Sorry, I've been away for the past month and essentially "forgot" - I'll look for it now.

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-02-04, 18:22:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-04, 12:35:

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-01-29, 09:59:

...I once wrote a little utility to sound a beep through the PC speaker (older systems obviously) which let you specify the frequency and duration
(it's a 16-bit .COM - good under DOS/Win9X ... you could simply record the "beep" you want and play it under more modern systems)
- I could dig it out if and send it to you if you want it!

Did you have any luck finding it? 😀

Sorry, I've was away for the past month - lots to do, essentially "forgot" - I'll look for it now.

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-02-04, 18:22:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-04, 12:35:

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-01-29, 09:59:

...I once wrote a little utility to sound a beep through the PC speaker (older systems obviously) which let you specify the frequency and duration
(it's a 16-bit .COM - good under DOS/Win9X ... you could simply record the "beep" you want and play it under more modern systems)
- I could dig it out if and send it to you if you want it!

Did you have any luck finding it? 😀

Sorry, I've been away for the past month and essentially "forgot" - I'll look for it now.

No worries.

Beeping in autoexec might beep, but it will beep in the wrong place…

Well... I couldn't find the original I had written years ago, but as my compiler has a library function to generate beeps from the PC speaker, it was pretty trivial to rewrite it:

1#include <stdio.h>
2
3unsigned
4    Freq,
5    Time = 250;
6
7main(int argc, char *argv[])
8{
9    switch(argc) {
10    default:
11he:     abort("use: beep hz [ms]");
12    case 3 : Time = atoi(argv[2]);
13    case 2 : Freq = atoi(argv[1]); }
14    if((Freq < 50) || (Freq > 5000))    goto he;
15    if((Time < 50) || (Time > 5000))    goto he;
16    beep(Freq, Time);
17}

Please note, this is "old school" and generates beeps the traditional DOS way, using the internal timer and the PC speaher. It doesn't know about any other sound output devices!

Attached BEEP.ZIP contains:

12026-02-04 16:28:10          330 BEEP.C
22026-02-04 16:28:14          958 BEEP.COM

st31276a wrote on 2026-02-04, 18:37:

Beeping in autoexec might beep, but it will beep in the wrong place…

Yes it will - but if you just want a beep at startup, it's pretty much the easiest way (and be sure to launch BEEP.COM early-on in AUTOEXEC before anything that takes time)

I suppose if you really wanted it as early as possible, you could write BEEP to be a non-resident device driver and load it in CONFIG.SYS before ANYTHING else! (not worth my time - could be a "fun" project for someone who wants to learn about writing a simple DOS device driver)

This would of course still be delayed .vs. BIOS beep by the time it takes to load DOS - not long on a HD, but could be significant on a floppy boot.

[and if you want "pure overkill", you could mount it somewhere to load as a BIOS extension - assuming your BIOS supports it (I used to use boot-rom socket on old network cards)]

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-04, 15:06:

Thanks for the suggestion, although I'm a bit confused with this one. I'm confused with what it's supposed to do/be and how it works. I tried typing each one out like you've suggested, but nothing happens. It doesn't say 1 file(s) copied either.

I should point out that I did this test using 86Box first.

I just tried it in 86box and it works fine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNXZ59AajMY

In pretty much every version of DOS, sending ASCII character 7 (ctrl+g) to the console makes the PC speaker beep. So this makes a short batch file that sends ASCII 7 to the console.

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-02-04, 21:33:

Well... I couldn't find the original I had written years ago, but as my compiler has a library function to generate beeps from t […]
Show full quote

Well... I couldn't find the original I had written years ago, but as my compiler has a library function to generate beeps from the PC speaker, it was pretty trivial to rewrite it:

Copy code to clipboard

1#include <stdio.h>
2
3unsigned
4    Freq,
5    Time = 250;
6
7main(int argc, char *argv[])
8{
9    switch(argc) {
10    default:
11he:     abort("use: beep hz [ms]");
12    case 3 : Time = atoi(argv[2]);
13    case 2 : Freq = atoi(argv[1]); }
14    if((Freq < 50) || (Freq > 5000))    goto he;
15    if((Time < 50) || (Time > 5000))    goto he;
16    beep(Freq, Time);
17}

Please note, this is "old school" and generates beeps the traditional DOS way, using the internal timer and the PC speaher. It doesn't know about any other sound output devices!

Attached BEEP.ZIP contains:

Copy code to clipboard

12026-02-04 16:28:10          330 BEEP.C
22026-02-04 16:28:14          958 BEEP.COM

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time out to do this. 😀 I take it these are added to the start of the autoexec? Or would it be better adding it to the config.sys file? So it initiates early?

Also, I'm not entirely sure if my PC speaker is set up correctly...? I remember the last time I tried the test in SETYMF that was the only sound test that didn't work. Or it's playing, but I can't hear it.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-04, 22:02:

I just tried it in 86box and it works fine […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-04, 15:06:

Thanks for the suggestion, although I'm a bit confused with this one. I'm confused with what it's supposed to do/be and how it works. I tried typing each one out like you've suggested, but nothing happens. It doesn't say 1 file(s) copied either.

I should point out that I did this test using 86Box first.

I just tried it in 86box and it works fine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNXZ59AajMY

In pretty much every version of DOS, sending ASCII character 7 (ctrl+g) to the console makes the PC speaker beep. So this makes a short batch file that sends ASCII 7 to the console.

Huh. Although I did type it out exactly as you'd put - [Ctrl+G]. Rather than ^G. ^^;

I've had mixed luck in various versions of DOS using: echo ^G (or: echo "^G") <-(^g = ctrl-G)

Some versions work as expected, some emit the beep and "hang"

I used to just keep a small BEEP.TXT file containing only a 0x07 byte, and TYPE it! - but ultimately I wrote BEEP.COM which let me control the frequency and duration - heck it's still just 1 extra file (like BEEP.TXT was)

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-04, 13:05:

It's also worth noting that almost all motherboards in the P3 era already made a POST beep so your PC speaker may be missing, disconnected or broken

I dIdn't fully process this earlier, but this. I think this is the reason. My PC speaker is missing/disconnected. I can't remember if my main motherboard ever did it, but the one in my test rig does.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-04, 22:16:

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time out to do this. 😀 I take it these are added to the start of the autoexec? Or would it be better adding it to the config.sys file? So it initiates early?

Also, I'm not entirely sure if my PC speaker is set up correctly...? I remember the last time I tried the test in SETYMF that was the only sound test that didn't work. Or it's playing, but I can't hear it.

Some versions of DOS might let you load/launch it in CONFIG.SYS, but it doesn't do any of the stuff a "driver" normally does - and I've not looked at DOS device drivers/config.sys in a long time - so I really can't say.

Just run: BEEP 1000
and it should give you a 1000hz/250ms beep from the speaker!