Why is the software such a piece of crap?!

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for the crude title but i'm just sick and tired of it.

I had so many troubles with Corsair Link software over the past two years that I've had it. At first you realize that the first profile you put on will stay there for the rest of your life, everytime you restart your computer. I was just randomly testing stuff and didn't know this. Now i have to switch to proper profile every time I restart.

I had learned to live with its crappiness. Never used any of the features that had been advertised like amazing fan control, light control etc. etc. Everything just stayed on basic and i just set lights to a single color because the software is such a nuisance to work with. This has continued for some time until recently it randomly started giving me the error that corsair commander not found. I deleted, and re installed the program and now I can't see my h100i at all. Whats worse is that the profiles don't save any more. No matter what I try, it just resets to what ever it likes.

I really like corsair products. I've also been considering buying the new RGB k70, but if this is the level of software support than regardless of how technologically advanced their keyboard is, it will never reach its full potential.

Am I missing something? I'm running windows 8.1, and have been for some time. Don't tell me that I should have read the forums or other posts to get a better understanding of my problems because there is no excuse for the crappy software.

Yes, I should have read the dozens and dozens of complaints, and I did try to get through them when I first got this product however, the point still remains that we shouldn't have to fight and struggle to be able to get this thing to work. They charged a good bit of money for it and now they are even releasing a newer, smaller version. Screw that! Fix your software before ripping more people off, corsair!

Update: Just checked for firmware upgrades in corsair link software. It said that Lighting nodes (I have two) needed to be upgraded from 1.18 --> 1.18. (Not a typo). I clicked Update both, and now one of them is not working. The LEDs are simply turned off for that one.

Is anyone willing to give feedback on this issue? The community doesn't owe me anything but corsair reps should reply because I paid for their product.

As I mentioned before, the h100i was not being detected, and today after an attempted firmware update, the Lighting Node is not being detected either.

When i go to Devices--> Update All, I see two unrecognized devices. When I click "Update All", the recovery process starts but fails shortly afterwards with the error:

"Unable to update Corsair after multiple tries."

What can you tell me about this, Corsair?!

the problem is in that it varies from computer to computer.

people fail in areas such as rebooting when needed i think so even uninstalling it,if no reboot is done in essence its still running so the reinstall messes up..lets say a usb keyboard is interfering,some will unplug it but unless a reboot is done then unplugging it does no good.

when something faults its always best to ''clean'' the devices and add one at a time.

one other thing to consider trying is a rear usb port as their more proprietary where as the internal usb's are shared.

Because of the bad software that comes with my H80i i was starting to regret my purchase and not getting a Noctua NH-D14 or 15 cooler... Tried all kinds of releases, there are always issues, the program never seems to remember to start minimized, i have to unplug my USB and plug it again to be detected for the first time. Devices keep o changing after restarts , RPM curves not working and finding my CPU at almost 70°C with fans at minimum... and all got solved when i removed the Corsair Link software, disconnected the USB cable and plugged my Fans into my MB Fan plugs ... now my MB controls the H80i fans and i couldn`t be more happier ... cant change the logo color but since i don`t see inside my case i don`t care about it.

I love Corsair products .. i`m using Case/memory / SSD/ PSU/ Cooling ... but your software is a piece of crap.

Okay i tried what you suggested, i've disconnected the malfunctioning lighting node however, no luck in trying to reconnect.

Corsair Link software says that there is an Unknown Device. When I click recover, it shortly detects that its the lighting node. Then just says that "Unable to proceed" bull****.

Can someone from corsair tell me wtf is going on?!

Its been over a month now, I've simply ripped the corsair link out of my system. Its a shame that a corsair rep has not even acknowledged my issue let alone offer support.

I think i'll definitely think twice before I ever buy a corsair product again.

Thank you for your feedback guys, I've also set up my h100i with my mobo. Obviously can't control the LED now but w.e. At least it works (no thanks to you Corsair).

My other concern is that I can control my fans with mobo/separate fan controller, but what about the RGB LEDs that I bought with Link?

I bought two Lighting Nodes so I have all those RGB LED strips as well as one node that worked. The other one, as i mentioned, is screwed. Have any of you used your Corsair RGB LEDs without the commander?

I can buy an RGB led controller, but due to Corsair's own RGB LED connectors, i'll have to do some soldering and rewiring. I'm wondering if you guys were able to use the lighting node without the commander so that I won't have to go through that. If no help here, then i'll see if i can start a thread about it.

If you don't have CL running my SIV (http://rh-software.com/) utility should be able to control your ligting nodes.

Holy freaking crap. That is amazing. So what you're telling me is that I hook up the commander & the lighting node just as before and I can use YOUR software to control the lights on my h100i & RGB LED strips?!

will this work on windows 8.1 x64?

I don't care about the cooling node at this point since i've resorted to a different fan controller, but if this works for RGB LEDs then man I cannot thank you enough.

will this work on windows 8.1 x64?

Yes, of course ;):. I have tested SIV on all of Windows NT 4.00 to Windows 10, though CL reporting is only for Windows 2000 and later as NT4 does not have USB support.

You may need to do the registry changes, but using Menu->Tools->Link Devices you can do this with a few mouse presses and don't need to reboot.

I released SIV 4.49 today which adds support for more CL hardware. Please let me know how it does, I would be inclined to start with trying to change just the H100i LED and take it from there.

If SIV does not report any CL hardware and you post images of the [Link Devices] and [uSB Bus] panels I expect I will be able to tell why and how to fix this. There are some you can compare with in http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133850. For starters you need to have EnhancedPowerManagementEnabled etc unchecked for things to work on W 8.1 and W10.

Hey Red,

First of all, I apologize for the long post. I just want to be as thorough so I don’t give you any false positives or negatives. I cannot thank you enough for helping us out with this. It's appalling that Corsair has been a mute regarding these issues.

So i have the commander plugged into USB header with a lighting node connected to it. The lighting node has LEDs connected to both channels. I have connected the USB of h100i to another USB header on my mobo. I do not have CL installed on my computer.

I loaded up SIV software, at first I was unable to change the color of the two LED strips of the lighting node, but after unchecking "EnhancedPowerManagementEnabled", they are working just fine. I change the RGB values, click Apply and am presented with prompt response. One question though, is it possible to name these strips for my reference rather than "Light 1" and "Light 2"?

Just a side note, the first time I connected up the Commander and booted up the windows, I kept getting the Windows’ device unconnected notification sound. It kept going on and on until I started the program. This hasn’t happened again upon subsequent restarts, and I hope it was just for the first time.

As for the h100i, I could not have its settings show up in the Link Lights section. I went on Link Devices and saw that there were two devices there. One was a USB bridge with two LEDs connected to it (i.e. Commander) and the other one was also a USB device but no info. I clicked on its name and it told me that I would have to expand the GDI and USER handles per session. It was currently set to 10,000 which I assume is the default maximum. The only option available to me was “Other” which was 65,000. I set it to 65,000 and restarted comp. Now the h100i shows up in the Link Status section and under Link Lights I can change its color values however it says there are 5 different h100s (see Screenshot 02). I do not know what that means, could you please explain that to me?

I’ve attached screenshots of my Link Devices and Link Status page. I have a few questions if you don’t mind:

Firstly, I’m a bit paranoid now that I set the max handles to 65,000 when it may have only needed 15,000 or so. I do not want my computer to start crashing due to lack of memory. Is there a way to go back and set it to only the required value? Am I worrying for no reason?

Secondly, for past month or so, i’ve been controlling my h100i Pump and Fans using my motherboard and its own fan-management software. Will this SIV program, in any way override the current fan profiles of the pump and fans? If yes, then is there a way to disable that? Because I only wish to control the lights and use its amazing wealth of info.

Lastly, The colors do persist if I restart my computer (soft reset), however if I do a hard reset like shutting down and restarting, the settings are not saved. Is this a limitation of the Corsair Commander? If so, Is there a way I can save my preferences in SIV and simply load those up on boot rather than having to go in and set up color values everytime? This is just a feature request, nothing urgent.

Firstly, I’m a bit paranoid now that I set the max handles to 65,000 when it may have only needed 15,000 or so. I do not want my computer to start crashing due to lack of memory. Is there a way to go back and set it to only the required value? Am I worrying for no reason?

There is nothing to worry about. On a Windows 2000 system with < 256 MB of memory 10,000 is sensible, but these days 65,536 is fine and I have been using this for about 10 years on XP (3GB of memory) and later. Should you choose you can use regedit to change the values in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows to a smaller value.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724291(v=vs.85).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms725486(v=vs.85).aspx

it says there are 5 different h100s (see Screenshot 02). I do not know what that means, could you please explain that to me?

The "different h100s" are the 4 fans and the pump of the H100i, there is only one H100i. Have a look at the [ Status ] panel.

Secondly, for past month or so, i’ve been controlling my h100i Pump and Fans using my motherboard and its own fan-management software. Will this SIV program, in any way override the current fan profiles of the pump and fans? If yes, then is there a way to disable that? Because I only wish to control the lights and use its amazing wealth of info.

No, by default SIV never makes any hardware configuration changes. You could use [Link Fans] to change things should you choose.

Lastly, The colors do persist if I restart my computer (soft reset), however if I do a hard reset like shutting down and restarting, the settings are not saved. Is this a limitation of the Corsair Commander? If so, Is there a way I can save my preferences in SIV and simply load those up on boot rather than having to go in and set up color values everytime? This is just a feature request, nothing urgent.

You need to get Corsair to tell you what settings are saved by the link commander, good luck ;):

At the moment SIV does not have code to setup the CL hardware on start-up. I may add this one day, but I want to be sure SIV controls the hardware correctly before starting this.

One question though, is it possible to name these strips for my reference rather than "Light 1" and "Light 2"?

At the moment no, but I am thinking about adding the ability to do this for all the default names. Should I do this I will do in in such a way that the new names are still used when other CL devices and added or removed. I feel any program that requires the profile data to be recreated when other hardware changes is either poorly designed or badly implemented.

After unchecking EnhancedPowerManagementEnabled you don't need to reboot. Just press the check box to the left of USB\VID_1B1C&PID_0C... and SIV will restart the USB device with the updated Device Parameters.

I keep wondering if I should make SIV to this automatically on start-up, but SIV would then be automatically making hardware configuration changes and by design SIV will never do this.

Btw I responded to your other thread however it may have been deleted or something because I can't go back to it now. I do have the Old Commander.

Thank you for you extensive post and I am happy to hear that SIV is successfully controlling your LEDs :biggrin:. I think I have addressed all your queries.

The Bearded Corsair Employee deleted the thread so I have added some words to http://rh-software.com/.

It clearly shows that Corsair look at these posts. I feel they should explain why you are unable to get CL to control your LEDs but are able to get SIV to do this :o:

Hi Red,

Thank you for answering all of my questions. This helps a lot, and it really sucks that you have to do Corsair's job for them but hey! the community will love you for it!

I have been playing around more with SIV and I understand everything a lot better now. Two more questions arose while fidgeting with the program:

1) In the Corsair Lights menu, I can see that there is an option to change LED modes. I can select Static, 2 Color, 4 Color or Temp for the H100i. However, if I select 2 or 4 color option, how do I select the second, third and fourth colors?

2) In the same menu, the option to select light mode is faded out for the actual Lighting node LEDs (Lights 1 & Lights 2). How can I enable the selection of lighting modes for these LEDs?

I've attached a screenshot of my Corsair Lights screen.