Decoding POST errors

Defining beep tones and event codes


Beep tones

Booting your PC and being alerted with beep tones means a component is missing or failing. Some codes are defined in the hardware manual (3 short beeps followed by 1 long beep: Memory not detected) and others come out as musical tones such as below:



In this situation, you will need to download the Lenovo PC Diagnostics mobile app from iOS or Google Play app store. "Downloading and launching this application will allow you to acquire the audio tones that are produced by your ThinkPad or ThinkStation when an abnormal or error condition is present. The tones are then translated to a specific error message which will be displayed on your smartphone."

ThinkStation error codes

"ThinkStations desktop workstations are designed with built-in hardware based monitoring. This hardware monitors hundreds of aspects of your workstation, notifying you in real-time of hardware related events."

Catastrophic errors are serious events that will jeopardize the continued operation of the system.
Errors are major events that may jeopardize operation of the system.
Warnings are events that may lead to more serious events if not corrected.
Information only. Not an error.