Fans Drop RPM on Bootup, Also Randomly

Hi everyone,

I have 4 fans attached to a commander pro (3 case fans from 570x and 1 SP i ordered from Amazon). This issue has been occurring randomly over the year I have owned this system, but most recently it occurs more frequently. On bootup (the moment iCue starts loading up) there would be two fans that are incredibly noisy and will eventually stop generating so much noise after 10 mins of being up and running. If I look at the iCue I can see those two are at a lower RPM despite being on the same profile(about 200 RPM difference). Im not sure why they generate so much noise. I can run a custom profile set to 0% RPM and immediate silence if I assign to those two fans. 99% of the time if there are two fans experiencing this issue, it will be the ones labeled Fan 2 and 4. 100% of the time if its just one it will be Fan 4, the amazon ordered one.

As I have mentioned, before it would just quiet down and regulate to the same RPM after about 10 mins. It still does that but Fan 4 eventually runs into the issue. I can "reset" it by doing the 0% profile and then putting in the default balance profile but it will go back to experiencing the issue about 5 mins later.

I have tried reinstalling, everything is updated (firmware and software). I am lost as to what to do. I am not sure if I have a faulty fan, faulty commander pro, or if this is some iCue bug.

corsair_cue_20181128_20_06_49.txt

Sorry for third post, just saw the option to export debug logs. Maybe this will be of better use. I took a quick skim and do see some error notes on there.

https://a.uguu.se/wXHFDTlkKBQe_debug.zip

I tried uploading directly as attachment but it gave me some security token error so I found a temp file hosting. If you need me to reupload or prefer I do so at a different location, please advise and I will do so.

Try manually setting the fan type to DC instead of auto (assuming they are all DC). Are you using the quiet/balanced presets? Try a custom curve and use something other than CPU temp.

by that do you mean 3 pin? if so I have gone back and forth between using auto and 3 pin. same result. i will attempt to use a fixed rpm for some time, but that is unfortunate if I have to implement something to circumvent an issue.

I don't think it's your system, I have a similar issue which I posted here:

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=182848

When I bootup or restart the iCue service sometimes my fans (especially Fan #1) do not obey the fan curves and are just stuck on the lowest RPM in the curve. I have to sometimes restart the service, switch fan curve profiles, or reboot to fix the issue.

I've opened a support ticket with little response back, so who knows if they are even aware or working on it.

I like the concept of iCue so far, but it's unfortunate it's a bit buggy, especially with the premium you pay for Corsair products.

Mine did the same thing. I forced a firmware update in iCue and then rebooted the system. It seems to work better.

I have tried this on several occasions... has not been a permanent solution.

This is a fairly unique set of circumstances and I don't remember anything similar. So your custom fan profile includes a "zero rpm" (off) state? This is why I inquired about the DC/PWM/Auto selection. In DC mode it will need to provide the requisite start-up voltage (probably 9v or so) and it might need to "fan check type" every start when on auto. However, if it still does this with all fans set manually to DC and since 1 & 3 seem unaffected, there may be another answer.

Try either: 1) Swapping 1 & 3 with 2 & 4 on the Commander Pro fan ports and see if the behavior stays or travels with the fans. That may incriminate the fan or the port. 2) Move 2 & 4 to ports 5 & 6 on the C-Pro and see if they behave, although you may have tried this already.

This is a fairly unique set of circumstances and I don't remember anything similar. So your custom fan profile includes a "zero rpm" (off) state? This is why I inquired about the DC/PWM/Auto selection. In DC mode it will need to provide the requisite start-up voltage (probably 9v or so) and it might need to "fan check type" every start when on auto. However, if it still does this with all fans set manually to DC and since 1 & 3 seem unaffected, there may be another answer.

 

Try either: 1) Swapping 1 & 3 with 2 & 4 on the Commander Pro fan ports and see if the behavior stays or travels with the fans. That may incriminate the fan or the port. 2) Move 2 & 4 to ports 5 & 6 on the C-Pro and see if they behave, although you may have tried this already.

Where is that mode set? I do not recall seeing it before. I have tried swapping the ports around but it remains the same. seems to be a random fan that gets affected. i run 1-4 for ocd reasons, but they all randomly may cause the issue with different fans. This is what makes me think its a software issue. If iCue is not installed I do not see this problem. All my gear is corsair, so uninstalling iCue defeats the purpose of having bought all this sweet rgb stuff :(

Go to the "settings" tab at the top, then select the Commander Pro. On the right side should be a list of all connected fans and the ability to set Auto/PWM/DC for each. I suspect when set to Auto, the fan controller needs to do a fan check (for motor type) each time it starts up. That would usually be a full 12v blast to cover fan with very high starting voltages. I don't know about the SP120 RGB fan specifically, but that may be related to the odd behavior.

I would certainly run 1-4 as well, but when you move the fans around then random fans act up? This is strange. What are you using as the control variable for the fans? CPU temp? One of the temp probes? GPU temp?

Go to the "settings" tab at the top, then select the Commander Pro. On the right side should be a list of all connected fans and the ability to set Auto/PWM/DC for each. I suspect when set to Auto, the fan controller needs to do a fan check (for motor type) each time it starts up. That would usually be a full 12v blast to cover fan with very high starting voltages. I don't know about the SP120 RGB fan specifically, but that may be related to the odd behavior.

 

I would certainly run 1-4 as well, but when you move the fans around then random fans act up? This is strange. What are you using as the control variable for the fans? CPU temp? One of the temp probes? GPU temp?

Well it does not show me PWM/DC... I see auto, 3 pin, 4 pin, disconnected. I know 4 pin headers allow pwm control. But for these 4 I have them set to be 3 pin. I was using the default "balance" profile. Per one of the recommendations they mentioned using fixed RPM. So I set them to be 950 (per online google search of similar issue) but it is still happening. I had mentioned fan 4 (amazon fan) was typically the one to experience the issue but this morning it was fan 2 (case fan). And as of now the values are not updating, doesnt seem to be reading or updating properly.

I should also mention that the values (RPM in iCUE) "not updating" is not a constant with this issue. The issue will occur regardless, this not updating thing happens occasionally.

DC=3 pin

PWM=4 pin

Auto = we believe it runs a fan check on each start to determine of the fan is DC or PWM.

Based on your above remarks, this would not seem to be the issue.

When these fans are "getting loud" I assume this is because the speed has increased substantially. Does iCUE/Link show the two noisy fans as running faster? Or is it more or less the same as the others? Can you tell if the fans are actually spinning faster? I am trying to differentiate a hardware problem (fan controller) from a software problem.

i have very similar issue with ek vardars. funny thing is icue doesnt even detect my fans all the time, it used to

they never stay at a constant speed theyre always speeding up or slowing down, not sure what the issue is, but i regret getting the commander pro and using icue. its the reason i bought a corsair psu and ram too. little did i know its crap

DC=3 pin

PWM=4 pin

Auto = we believe it runs a fan check on each start to determine of the fan is DC or PWM.

 

Based on your above remarks, this would not seem to be the issue.

 

 

 

When these fans are "getting loud" I assume this is because the speed has increased substantially. Does iCUE/Link show the two noisy fans as running faster? Or is it more or less the same as the others? Can you tell if the fans are actually spinning faster? I am trying to differentiate a hardware problem (fan controller) from a software problem.

thing is they sound like they are speeding up, but also like struggling. however the rpm actually drops, unless iCue is not reading the values properly.