Issues with C-Link, Commander Mini and Four 'i" Devices (2x H80i, H100iv2, & 850RMi)

Hello -

I recently decided to have some fun and add Corsair Water Cooling devices to my PC (see specs below). I am using a NZXT UI01 to expand the number of USB Headers I have. As for my configuration, I have:

• 1x - Commander Mini with four fans & two "I" devices attached. (connected to PC port on NXZT UI01 USB Header)
  
• 1x - 850RMi (connected to Commander Mini VIA Digital Port)
  
• 1x - H100i V2 (Connected to USB header directly on mainboard)
  
• 2x - H80i (attached to SLI GPUs)
  
• One GPU is connected to Commander Mini VIA Digital Port (for this specific GPU, due to the HG10 and how the tubes mandate the heat sink positioning in the tight space I can't fit the micro-USB connection in there).
  
  
• The other GPU is Connected to NXZT UI01 USB Header via USB Cable

  
  

The gist of my problem is this:

• Neither H80i is showing up in SIV/CL4.
  
• The 850RMi & the four fans connected to my Commander Mini are intermittently showing up in SIV/CL4. I have been able to cycle the power and they show up, then will disappear.
  

I am not as worried about getting the PSU/Fans to show up in Commander Mini as I have done it before and gotten fan profiles changed, etc. What is puzzling me is why neither H80i is showing up. I have gone in to the registry and edited those values in that 0C04 folder to be "0" and had no results.

Does it have to do with the fact that the Commander Mini/Other H80I are connected to the NZXT and not directly to the motherboard?

I'm at work right now and I cannot give any screen shots, but I can tonight of SIV if that is helpful.

Thanks for any help!

Relevant System Specs:

I2500K

EVGA P67 SLI

EVGA 770 4GB x2 (in SLI)

Windows 10 Pro 64bit (v1607)

I'm at work right now and I cannot give any screen shots, but I can tonight of SIV if that is helpful.

It could be one of many things and without some debug information I can't even guess where to start. Posting the SIV Initial + [uSB Bus] + [Link Devices] + [Link Status] + [Cooling Status] panels would be a good start.

What firmware version is in the 2 x H80i? If it's not 1.1.3 then you need to use CL 3.2.5743 to update it (yes, I know it's a PITA :(:). I also think you have to USB attach the H80i to do this and given you have RS1 expect you will need to do as I specified in http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153706 :sigh!:.

The CL Mini should have the 1.1.6 firmware, so again update it if needbe. It's possible other firmware versions may work, but the above are the latest and are what I use.

If you look at http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=759634 you should see I have 8 devices connected via my IU01, so I doubt this will be the issue.

Given you have Windows 10 RS1 V10.00 Build 14393 ideally use the SIV V5.12 Beta which is also better when you have CL 4.2.4.25, see http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=863330.

Given the number of coolers it just occurred to me you could have a power issue. How are they all powered? I would use a dedicated cable just for the SATA powered coolers and the CL Mini.

BTW well done for specifying v1607 :biggrin:, though I prefer the build number as this also works for insider builds ;):.

What time zone are you in/when can you post the screen shots? I am GMT.

I will post the screens that you requested tonight. I am on EST (in Wash DC).

I do not know the firmware of the H80is. I have never gotten them to display in SIV/CL. They are working, which is apparent based on my GPU temps. Flashing firmware will be fine for one of them. The other, sounds like I may be forced to remove from HG10 bracket, boot, flash, remove from bracket, change hoses back, then reattach...whoopie....Why even include the corsair digital cables in the first place?

I don't know my CL Mini firmware, but I just got it from Corsair like a week ago. I will check tonight.

I will check my specific Windows Build tonight but I know I am on the latest official build released. I am not participating in the insider program on that machine.

I believe my 3 coolers and the CL mini share two SATA power cables which aren't shared by any other devices (maybe a sound card - but I will have to confirm).

I suspect the CL Mini will be 1.1.6 and the 2 x H80i will have very old firmware which is why the CL Mini won't talk to them.

To even read their firmware version you will have to USB attach the 2 x H80i. What I would do is unplug the CL Mini USB cable, unplug the 2 x H80i C-Link cables from the CL Mini and then connect each H80i in turn to where the CL Mini was connected as this will prevent a load of ghost devices being created.

The SIV [Link Status] + [Link Update] both report the firmware versions.

I don't know why the H80i firmware can't be updated via C-Link, but needed to USB attach my H100i to update it's firmware and reported this as a bug. I also keep asking why CL4 can't update CoolIT firmware at all and thus far have as usual not had a response :sigh!:.

42. I can't find out how to update CoolIT firmware. Is this possible?

I guess I am five hours ahead, so it may be tomorrow before I reply.

SIV General - https://1drv.ms/i/s!Arjb5axzY5JygrcAH-3aIw5lq63hwg

USB Hub - https://1drv.ms/i/s!Arjb5axzY5JygrZ8vtC0lv2PjTqysw

Link Status - https://1drv.ms/i/s!Arjb5axzY5JygrZ_QKnEhR-yLzm14g

Cooling Status - https://1drv.ms/i/s!Arjb5axzY5JygrZ-kSX1UzHpMs3NqA

Link Devices - https://1drv.ms/i/s!Arjb5axzY5JygrZ9IhcpKPnF4NpIqw

This is my set up when my system detects the CL-Mini & my RMi. I have not tried to hook the H80i straight to the USB Header yet. I have a 4 month old and time is at a premium, but I will try to do that tomorrow.

Also - I have Windows 10.0.14393

Looking at the images then these confirm what I suspected.

Looking at the [Link Devices] Channel IDs then the 05 is the CLCC and the 01 the RM850i. There should be two more 05s for the 2 x H80i and until there are then the H80is won't get reported. Until you USB connect them and check/update the firmware I can't comment further.

The CLCC firmware is 1.1.6 which is as it should be, but the fan speeds being zero seems incorrect and the sample counts are low. Basically all the sample counts should be 138 (note ... signifies same as above). If you connect the thermal probes do they also have a low sample counts?

From [Link Status] I can see the H100iV2 had an I/O error. Hover the mouse over the @ sign to get a ToolTip that will show what is was. I assume the H100iV2 is connected to the CPU_FAN header, is it? Have you disabled fan control for the CPU_FAN header in the BIOS? If not you need to so that the H100iV2 get's the constant +12 volts that it needs.

Do Menu->File->Download->SIV Beta to get the SIV 5.12 beta which is needed for full W10 Build 14393 support.

I find .PNG works better than .JPG for screen shots and you should also crop the images and I prefer to attach them to the post.

I have new screen shots, but I am at work and for some reason they did not sync to my cloud so I am going to have to wait to post them until tonight. I did them correctly this time..png...will attach to my post tonight. Apologies. I have a 4 month old and my free time is very limited.

Addressing your comments -

1 - I got one H80i connected VIA usb (the other will require me to disassemble an HG10 N780, so I need some time to do that). It immediately was picked up by CL/SIV. The firmware is 1.0.8. Tonight I'm going to try to strip down the Micro-USB plastic around it to see if I can get it plugged in w/out taking apart my other GPU (again). If I can do this, I am going to combine both H80is to the same USB plug using the method I see around the forums for combining two 5-plugs into 1 9-plug.

2- As for my fans, I have 4 fans connected to my CL-Mini and they are all running but I do not have any of the thermal sensors connected. I will add them tonight to test. My fans were running pretty loud at one point, but then became more quite when I got the system to recognize the CL-Mini (coincides to when they appeared in CL4). I need to go back and review how each of my fans are connected.

Question - if I have fans for radiators, should I connect them to the pump or to the CL-Mini? I'm assuming the pump, which means I have to re-do some things.

3 - As for my H100iV2 - Yes, I am connected to the CPU_Fan Header and No, I have not disabled the fan header in the bios. I will do this tonight. I am assuming my EVGA Bios will allow me to do this...its an enthusiast board, if 6 years old, so I'm assuming yes.

4 - I will also download the beta version of SIV 5.12 tonight.

1. As you have one H80i USB connected why don't you update it's firmware, move it back to the CLCC and see if it plays ball first?
   
2. OK
   
3. I guess so. It's fan control you need to disable rather than the header. I don't know what options the BIOS will offer, but if it offers PWM then choose that.
   
4. I improved Beta-27 and it should report sensible voltages and fan names. I suspect there I could further improve the SIV reporting if you sent me the SIV save files, see http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=788225 for what I would need.
   
5. Your H80i radiator fans could be connected to any of the CLCC or H80is fan connections and CL4 should be able to control them (SIV will).
   
6. You could in theory connect the H80i-A radiator fans to the H80i-B fan controller, but this would be silly.
   
7. I would keep things simple and connect each H80i's radiator fans to the same H80i's fan controller. The H80i and CLCC fan controllers have exactly the same facilities.
   
8. You may decide to connect the H100iV2 radiator fans to the CLCC as the Asetek cooler will only report one fan speed, but let's get it all working first.

As you have one H80i USB connected why don't you update it's firmware, move it back to the CLCC and see if it plays ball first?

This is on my immediate list of things to do. I believe I need to download a prior version of CL to do this? -

EDIT - FOUND THE LINK - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=792164

By the way - very much appreciate you taking the time to help...very considerate.

Yes, you need to download CL 3.2.5742 from the Support Downloads area (http://www.corsair.com/en-us/support/downloads).

I expect that you SHOULD uninstall CL4 before installing CL3 and advise you to do this.

You MUST exit SIV before running CL3 as CL3 has no locking support.

Also AFAIK CL3 will not report your H100iV2, so don't worry if it's missing.

I guess so. It's fan control you need to disable rather than the header. I don't know what options the BIOS will offer, but if it offers PWM then choose that.

I researched by BIOS during my lunch. Looks like I have to options for my JCPU Fan Control "SmartFan" and Manual. SmartFan adjusts the fan speed for temperatures.

Which one equals PWM? I don't know if "Disable" is an option.

EDIT - If there is no system error, can I simply avoid having to plug it in at all?

1. "SmartFan" and Manual. SmartFan adjusts the fan speed for temperatures.
   
2. Which one equals PWM?
   
3. EDIT - If there is no system error, can I simply avoid having to plug it in at all?

1. Select Manual and set the "fans" to run at 100% for all temperatures. By doing this +12 volts should always be supplied.
   
2. Fans can be either Voltage or PWM controlled. With PWM +12 volts is always provided which is why I specified "select if available"
   
3. No, you need to connect the H100iV2 to the CPU_FAN header as this is where it's get's it's power from, this needs to be a constant +12 volts.

What is the URL of where you found this information?

OK - I have taken some of the steps you suggested.

1 - I downloaded the SIV Beta

2 - I disabled CPU_FAN control by setting it to manual 100%.

3 - I successfully updated the firmware for the old H80i using the CL3.

The next step is to connect the H80i for the other GPU to the header to get its firmware updated, then connect it to the CL-Mini to see if it talks to it.

 

The next step is to connect the H80i for the other GPU to the header to get its firmware updated, then connect it to the CL-Mini to see if it talks to it.

1. Looking at [Cooling Status] all the sample counts are the same which is as it should be, so I now expect the H100iV2 is getting the constant +12 volts that it needs.
   
2. Before updating the 2nd H80i I would move the 1st H80i back to the CLCC and check that it's still reported.

I will try connecting the GPU2 H80i to the CL-Mini tonight. It is a bit of a project since I have to remove both GPUs to do so. If that works well, I will disassemble my HG10 on GPU1 and connect it and get the firmware updated.

I do have a bit of a concern about the H80i on my GPU2. My GPU2 seems to get hot, much hotter than GPU1, which is peculiar for an SLI set-up where the prime card usually runs much hotter. GPU1 will run at like 45 degrees and GPU2 will run even over 70 degrees.

After I get everything talking to each other I'm going to run test to make sure that GPU2 H80i is running right...

Until we can see both the H80i coolant temperatures then it's hard to know what could be causing this. Post [status] so I can see both the 2 x H80i temperatures + all the 2 x GPU information.

Do Menu->Tools->Maximum Lines->Set NN Lines to tell SIV how big a window it can use.

I felt the GPU temperatures should be in [Cooling Status] so added them.

OK so some good news. I was able to do the following and now have both H80is properly showing up in CL4. Here is what I did:

1 - I hooked H80i#2 up to the Mobo (had to disassemble an HG10 n780 to do so) and updated the firmware.

2 - I connected both H80i pumps to specific motherboard fan connectors then went into the bios and disabled the fan controller over it so they both run at Manual 100.

One thing. When I do link devices it says that one device is offline. I don't know which one it is as the actual cooling devices are showing up elsewhere.

Now my other question is why one of my GPUs is running much hotter than the other. I have SLI set up, and my GPU 1 (which is GPU-1 in SIV) is running much cooler than GPU-2 (GPU-0 in SIV). I have to check the utilization, this might just be how it is.

1. It's good that everything is now working, but why did you not attach both H80is via the CLCC? Doing this will also cause them to be adjacent on the SIV status panels ;):.
   
2. Looking at the GPU-1 temperature this is too low to be correct :confused:. There is no way the GPU temperature should be lower then the H80i temperature.
   
3. Can you use one of the CLCC temperature sensors to get a 2nd opinion?
   
4. Use another to monitor the case air temperature.
   
5. I would use Menu->Tools->Configure->Link Export to give the H80i different names so it's clear which is used for which GPU. Same for the CLCC temp sensors. I would use names such as H80i-0 Temp, H80i-1 Pump, etc..
   
6. Given the GPUs are cooled by the H80is I am surprised a none zero fan speed is reported for them. Do you also still have fans?
   
7. The H100iV2 sample count is low (125 vs. 137) and an error was reported for it on [Link Devices]. Hover the mouse over the @ and report what the error is.
   
8. [Link Devices] shows there is a ghost H80i, press [uninstall] to remove it. This is a left over from when you USB attached it to update the firmware.
   
9. I have now released SIV V5.12, so please update from the beta.

Here is a screen for the H100iV2 error

As for the others:

1 - I did not connect the 2nd H80i to the CLCC because I don't have a digital link cable to do it. I only had 2...

2 - The GPU temperature is identical to what is reported in EVGA Precision...? Which is odd.

3 - I can change the names of the H80is...If I can figure out which goes to whic :)

4 - Uninstalled the ghost H80i

5 - Updated to 5.12

 

Here is a screen for the H100iV2 error

CL 4.2.4.25 has a bug and caused this :mad:. In simple terms Corsair failed to correctly implement the locking semantics, see http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=866159.

I e-mailed the CL4 product manager about this issue on Wed 10-Aug-2016 @ 08:02 GMT and as yet have not even received a reply :(:.

1 - I did not connect the 2nd H80i to the CLCC because I don't have a digital link cable to do it. I only had 2...

2 - The GPU temperature is identical to what is reported in EVGA Precision...? Which is odd.

3 - I can change the names of the H80is...If I can figure out which goes to whic :)

1. OK, I thought you initially had both attached to the CLCC. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-link-accessory-cable-kit contains one, I would get a couple though as they are rather fragile.
   
2. These are read via NVAPI so all utilities should report the same.
   
3. The first one is the USB attached one.

The first one is the USB attached one.

Thanks for that. I will change the names and put some temperature things in when I have a chance here.

OK so question is why is the temp being read wrong? .... Any way to find out?

First off, thanks for the help and tips through this. I appreciate it and think, thanks to your help, I'm finally at a stable system where things are working correctly (or, as correctly as they possibly could get). Here is what I have done since I last posted:

1 - I added three temperature sensors to the top/mid/bottom of the case.

2 - I re-installed the H80i on my GPU-0 which was running very hot. After doing so, it is running significantly cooler (66% of what it was running). So it appears that it was a TIM issue and/or the heatsink wasn't making proper contact with the GPU chip.

3 - I renamed my GPU Coolers so they matched GPU-0/1 respectively. Same with the temperature sensors (this didn't make it into my screen, but 1-Top, 2-Mid, 3-Bottom).

Not sure there is anything left for me to do....Until i get a Z270 Mobo this winter :)

Thank you for the update and it's good to hear all is working well.

About all I would change is "Temp 1" to just "Temp" when there is just one; Same for the LEDs and Fans. I would also order a C-Link cable.

I suspect with SIV 5.13 you should use [Link Setup] to specify the CPU cooler as the H100iV2, see http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=867786.

Good luck with the Z270, what CPU do you plan to get? I fancy a 28-core Skylake-E, but suspect I will need to win the lottery first ;):.