commander pro Having to "End Task" on Corsair.Service (32 bit) in "Task Manager" to get fan control back on Commander Pro

[Schmittius]

I've started having this problem with my system where all of a sudden my fans wired up to my Commander Pro go from calm and quiet to max rpm out of nowhere.

I've found that the problem lies in iCUE where my Commander Pro seems to "forget" the RPM control of my fans, and simply starts showing the voltage.
I have a total of 6 fans:

• 3x HD140mm fans hocked up to my Commander Pro. (In the Gif these are the Fan #4-6 in the Commander Pro "Cooling" page), and the main problem.
• 3x HD120mm that has the RGB hocked to a RGB hub for so to be hocked up to the Commander Pro, while the fan control is hocked up to my H150i CPU cooler. Unnecessary? Maybe. Have it worked so far? Yes! (In the Gif these are the Fan #1-3 in the Commander Pro "Cooling" page, and can even be hidden.)

In order for me to get the RPM down again on my fans and get iCUE to recognise the fans correctly again, I've come to the conclusion that the fastes way is to use "End Task" on Corsair.Service (32 bit) in the "Task Manager" over and over again. This was something I have only needed to do every blue moon or so when it started, but now I'm at times having to do it 2-3 times a day and it's getting old. And I've come to the realisation that I need to figure out what the problem actually is and have it fixed. I have tried to google the problem to see if other people have the same problem as me, but I can't say I've found a definitive explanation there that is the "Holy Grail" solution that have fixed my problem.

Things I have tried to solve it is reinstall iCUE, but I used the export/import profile as I didn't feel like dealing with setting everything up again, and that's about it.

 

I'm making this in hopes that it could shed some light, possible for Corsair to find/fix a possible bug in the software, and to get a definitive answer to WHY it is happening.

 

[Technobeard]

2 hours ago, Schmittius said:

I'm making this in hopes that it could shed some light, possible for Corsair to find/fix a possible bug in the software, and to get a definitive answer to WHY it is happening.

I'd suggest contacting support at https://help.corsair.com and they can assist you with this.

[c-attack]

There is a current issue on the 5.7 release with Commander Pro fan control using any variable other than the native temperature probes.  However, the drop out fans and mixed up voltages are classic signs of software entanglement when two programs are trying to access the device at the same time.  AIDA and HWinfo are common collisions, but it can happen with anything attempting to read the Commander Pro in the software environment.  HWinfo is easy to correct by right click disable of the Commander Pro in that application.  You may want to check your PSU data as well.  AIDA is a bit harder but you can manually select not to monitor fan speed in the larger window.  

[Schmittius]

Thanks for the advice c-attack, it could seem like the base of the issue may lay there. I do however not use AIDA and/or HWinfo as I tend to use the programs like HWMonitor, TechPowerUp GPU-Z, Task Manager and/or MSI Afterburner if I need to monitor my system. And the problem with the fans do still happen even after I have restarted my computer and not started any other monitoring program but iCUE.

But it seems like it could be some software entanglement as I did test by installing HWinfo, just to check it out, before quickly uninstalling it again as it immediately provocated the same issue I'm having with iCUE.

Is there a proper log system for iCUE, or any other logging system, that I could use to pinpoint what/where the problem could be?
To see if it is just a software entanglement crash that is the problem, or just a problem with iCUE and my Commander Pro in general, and how to permanently solve it.

[c-attack]

HWMonitor should not do this as both it and CUE use the same CPUID sub-program to fetch the data.  GPU-Z and Afterburner do not monitor the Commander and should have no effect on it at all.   Some programs have deployed drivers that may run with the start up sequence, but generally it's not an issue unless the main app is deployed and polling.  This also would generally have the same affect on the AIO and I am assuming that is not taking place.  

 

The other possibility is a genuine hardware issue with the Commander.  It can look like this as well and I've been fooled both ways before with a hardware problem appearing like a software issue and vice versa.  However, if end task on the Corsair Service does work on occasion, that does not seem like a hardware issue even if we can't pin down the problem immediately.  If you have some type of power event that blows out the fan controller and scrambles the voltage/temp sensors, they won't come back again on the next boot or with a service restart.  

*One of the ways to check this is to set CUE not to launch on start up in it's gear settings, then reboot.  Launch HWMonitor or HWInfo that can read the Commander's fans and/or voltage rails.  If those programs read it fine, that does suggest a software CUE side problem.  If they do not, it is evidence of a hardware failing or a very strange conflict we don't typically see.  

 

This is sometimes reported with other general control apps like Lian Li Connect, MSI's Control Center (multiple names), Gigiabyte Fusion, etc.  Those programs have interacted in unfavorable ways with various components and it's not always clear why it happens to one versus another.  

 

In the Corsair Settings Gear is the "debug logging" option.  Turn it on and then export the log the next time this happens.  It may not be very useful to you, but it likely is time to start  a Support Ticket if there is no immediate and obvious solution.  

 

Far less common is a corruption of the cooling config or the device config file for the Commander Pro.  You can manually remove both, but frankly when this stuff happens it is better to do a clean install and this is likely one of the first things Support will ask you to do.  If you have saved your profiles to an export/import file already, then that's half the work.  Doing so will erase all settings and app configurations. 

https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025166712-Perform-a-clean-reinstallation-of-the-Corsair-Utility-Engine-iCUE-

 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by c-attack

[Schmittius]

9 hours ago, c-attack said:

Far less common is a corruption of the cooling config or the device config file for the Commander Pro.  You can manually remove both, but frankly when this stuff happens it is better to do a clean install and this is likely one of the first things Support will ask you to do.  If you have saved your profiles to an export/import file already, then that's half the work.  Doing so will erase all settings and app configurations. 

https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025166712-Perform-a-clean-reinstallation-of-the-Corsair-Utility-Engine-iCUE-

Once again thank you c-attack, there is a lot here to try and do. Worst case senario I'm having hardware issue, and my component is now over the warranty life time 😞.

But this seems like a good place to start, when I have tried the reinstallation I have completely blanked on doing a full clean reinstallation. So I'll start here, if the problem presist I'll try the other suggestion where I temporary uninstall iCUE and install HWinfo to see if the problem is with iCUE or the Hardware.

But this seems also like a fine weekend project, *Fingers crossed* that this isn't the typical tech issue where the moment you ask for help on the tech the problem completely disappears until you have closed the issue with support/forum, as it hasn't happened again since I installed for so uninstalling HWinfo.

So I'll be back with an update in a week or two depending on whether it's cooperative or not.

[Schmittius]

That didn't take long, after the clean reinstall of iCUE it took roughly 30 min before the problem acted up again. Seems like I'm in need of the Corsair Support staff on this one to see through my Debug-logs.

But before I open a ticket, c-attack, you seem like you have the knowledge of various programs that might interfare with iCUE. Do you know if the side program to MSI Afterburner called RivaTuner Statistics Server could interfare with iCUE?

[c-attack]

32 minutes ago, Schmittius said:

MSI Afterburner called RivaTuner Statistics Server could interfare with iCUE

No, a huge number of us use that program and there are no reported issues.  I use it daily.  It polls a lot of stuff, but none of them are the proprietary Corsair internal devices like Commanders and AIO that cause most of the problems.  Same thing for EVGA Precision X.  You an use these without worry.  

 

Interesting it lasted for 30 min after the clean install.  I am trying to draw some type of inference from that but nothing yet.  

 

 

[Schmittius]

Worst part is only since my last post, the issue appeared 3 more times on more or less 30-40 min intervalls.

I guess my next test ought to be the disabling of iCUE on startup, for so to test with HWinfo to see if I can connect to the Commander Pro without issues, that you suggested. As it's beginning to sound a lot like a hardware problems.

[Schmittius]

Second to last ditch-effort before the last mentioned test. I've just factory reset my Commander Pro, following this guide:
https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360057712532-How-to-Perform-a-factory-reset-on-the-Commander-Pro

iCUE is currently updating the firmware on it but seems stuck at 0% though, for now. And once it's done, I'll run a short period in order to see if it fixed it or now. Oh boy please fix it... and don't be stuck on forever 0% to get it to version 0.9.212

[Schmittius]

On 11/2/2023 at 12:37 AM, c-attack said:

*One of the ways to check this is to set CUE not to launch on start up in it's gear settings, then reboot.  Launch HWMonitor or HWInfo that can read the Commander's fans and/or voltage rails.  If those programs read it fine, that does suggest a software CUE side problem.  If they do not, it is evidence of a hardware failing or a very strange conflict we don't typically see.  

Welp even a factory reset of the Commander Pro didn't fix it 😢
So I have now also tried this (⬆️ quote), and the HWinfo was able to read the info from the Commander Pro. I didn't have it run for that long, but considering it's able to read from it, I do believe that it's not a hardware fault here but a problem with iCUE software.

But now I have exhausted all tests I can do myself, time to go to the Corsair support staff and hope they can check my logs to see if they find what is causing this fault.

[Schmittius]

Small update:

I've now been in contact with support, where I shared my logs and stuff. The support-technician said that there were a problem with that version of iCUE and the use of custom fan curves, and said I should set it to default. So I retried it, but it did not solve it for me but I did send over more logs, and not many days after while still troubleshooting did a new software update for iCUE: 'Core, v. 5.8.130' come out, and this one seems to have solved the issue for me. Even-though the technician said that version had a new known issue, and recommended me not to install it but iCUE auto updated before I saw the message, and now the problem has so far not reappeared and 🤞 it won't return.