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iCue Link Max brightness reduced due to hub power limitation and pump noise


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I forgot to mention that I also have 2 Corsair Dominator Titanium. Maybe Corsair rgb ram is a factor? Every now and then, icue gives an error that it needs to be restarted to control the rgb on the ram. I do have the Asus plugin installed in icue.

Here's my motherboard. https://rog.asus.com/us/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-z790-e-gaming-wifi-ii/

For trouble shooting purposes, I have the exact same Corsair Dominator Titanium kit on the way to see if it's the ram or icue. If Corsair needs my help to trouble shoot icue link, please let me know. I am and always have been, deeply invested in the Corsair ecosystem and don't mind helping out. 20240312_203417.thumb.jpg.1416bc7804876ebd88e3ff0696bdb723.jpg

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2 hours ago, skygunner27 said:

Maybe Corsair rgb ram is a factor?

RAM is not a factor with CUE Link Hub behavior and the memory gets its power from the motherboard directly.  However, you did mention you are running 6 QX + AIO on one side of the hub.  That would have triggered the device number or over-current error prior to this update as the AIO seems to count as more than one device.  The notes suggest you should be able to run 7 QX - HUB - 6 QX - AIO under the new system, but at reduced brightness.  If you are getting the brightness warning when using one hub, that is the expected behavior.  

 

Are you still getting the brightness warning when using two hubs?  How did you split the fans and AIO?

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  • Corsair Employee

Sorry to hear you're having some hiccups with the BETA firmware. Please try performing a complete uninstallation of iCUE with Revo Uninstaller and then re-install v5.12, it should resolve your issue with the missing fans.

 

If you have profiles you want to save, make sure you back them up somewhere and when you're uninstalling check the box that says delete all user data. Ensure that you delete all of the registry and other leftover bits that Revo points out. 

If this still doesn't work, you can roll back using the "Force Update" under the System Hub firmware update to roll back to v1.8. 

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20 hours ago, c-attack said:

RAM is not a factor with CUE Link Hub behavior and the memory gets its power from the motherboard directly.  However, you did mention you are running 6 QX + AIO on one side of the hub.  That would have triggered the device number or over-current error prior to this update as the AIO seems to count as more than one device.  The notes suggest you should be able to run 7 QX - HUB - 6 QX - AIO under the new system, but at reduced brightness.  If you are getting the brightness warning when using one hub, that is the expected behavior.  

 

Are you still getting the brightness warning when using two hubs?  How did you split the fans and AIO?

I appreciate the help. I am running 7 QX 120 to one side of a link hub..... and 6 QX 120(push/pull) + Link H150I LCD AIO to an additional one side of a 2nd link hub. 20240325_092014.thumb.jpg.bea6085b4307f48e9ceb63db46af5c2e.jpg

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9 minutes ago, skygunner27 said:

and 6 QX 120(push/pull) + Link H150I LCD AIO to an additional one side of a 2nd link hub.

So the device count has gone from 14 to 24, but something not quite clear yet is if the per side limits remain that same.  Meaning if you have more than the 7 devices on any side of any CUE Link Hub, it will trigger the brightness reduction state.  I suspect this is going to be true, but something for Corsair to clarify.  In the meantime, if you have any CUE Link cables left over, you could try running the AIO to the other side of the hub to see if this drops the message.

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21 minutes ago, c-attack said:

So the device count has gone from 14 to 24, but something not quite clear yet is if the per side limits remain that same.  Meaning if you have more than the 7 devices on any side of any CUE Link Hub, it will trigger the brightness reduction state.  I suspect this is going to be true, but something for Corsair to clarify.  In the meantime, if you have any CUE Link cables left over, you could try running the AIO to the other side of the hub to see if this drops the message.

I agree. Corsair needs to clarify how many devices does the H150I LCD AIO represent.

From my situation, the AIO LCD must not represent 1 device.

Currently I shouldn't have this brigtness error because with 6 QX 120 fans and the AIO, the amount equals the supported 7 devices to one channel.

 I have tried removing 3 of the pull QX 120 fans from the one side of the link hub and with an additional cable adding to the other side. Doing this removes the brightness error, but adds another long cable that shouldn't be necessary.

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24 minutes ago, skygunner27 said:

I agree. Corsair needs to clarify how many devices does the H150I LCD AIO represent.

From my situation, the AIO LCD must not represent 1 device.

Currently I shouldn't have this brigtness error because with 6 QX 120 fans and the AIO, the amount equals the supported 7 devices to one channel.

 I have tried removing 3 of the pull QX 120 fans from the one side of the link hub and with an additional cable adding to the other side. Doing this removes the brightness error, but adds another long cable that shouldn't be necessary.

The LCD screen counts as an extra device.

So 6 x Fans, 1 x AIO, 1 x LCD = 8 devices = brightness warning, is this not expected behaviour on the BETA firmware?

As i understood it on the BETA firmware you now get 12 devices per side, but anything over 7 will  trigger a reduced brightness warning, rather than some devices not lighting up.

So i guess you need to move something to the other port on the second hub.

 

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I decided to leave the added additional cable to control 3 out of 6 of my pull fans on the AIO. I can't see the additional cable so.... I'll get over it. Breaking up 3 out of 6 fans connected to one channel, with the AIO has solved all the problems. Now the lighting is too bright lol. I had to drop it down to 66%🤦

I swapped out my ram today for the exact same kit. I no longer randomly get a red warning indication. At the moment all of my problems are solved. I would like 6 QX 120 fans and a link AIO with LCD to work off of one channel for a total of 7 devices.

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8 minutes ago, giggsy11 said:

The LCD screen counts as an extra device.

So 6 x Fans, 1 x AIO, 1 x LCD = 8 devices = brightness warning, is this not expected behaviour on the BETA firmware?

As i understood it on the BETA firmware you now get 12 devices per side, but anything over 7 will  trigger a reduced brightness warning, rather than some devices not lighting up.

So i guess you need to move something to the other port on the second hub.

 

Thanks. While you were responding, I was also responding. I did exactly what you suggested. All problems are gone at the moment. It would be nice if a push pull and LCD AIO would work off of one channel.....

 

If this is intended by Corsair they probably need to have some type of notice, stating that adding a Link LCD AIO to a push-pull setup will cause the brightness reduced error on one channel. And state exactly how many devices the AIO with LCD represents. This would have saved me hours of troubleshooting.

Edited by skygunner27
Too much info.
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Anyone from Corsair would like to give us any update about this? Following this for a while now and from what I can tell after updating to beta FW that was provided here - "brightness reduced" error on icue is gone but still having issues like flickering on my pump cap leds and the screen itself. it happens intermittently while gaming, watching movies or twitch streams. No other 3rd party programs open, I even disabled the lighting services from Asus / uninstall aura & armory crate totally.

 

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6 hours ago, skygunner27 said:

I swapped out my ram today for the exact same kit. I no longer randomly get a red warning indication.

If this pops up again, start a new thread and we can try to work it out.  The red triangle of death is a generic warning with multiple possible triggers.  Most of the time it's not a fatal flaw -- just communication issues along the SMBus.  However, it also can happen with a bad kit making it a little complicated.  

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6 hours ago, c-attack said:

If this pops up again, start a new thread and we can try to work it out.  The red triangle of death is a generic warning with multiple possible triggers.  Most of the time it's not a fatal flaw -- just communication issues along the SMBus.  However, it also can happen with a bad kit making it a little complicated.  

I really hope to never see that red triangle of death again....

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14 hours ago, skygunner27 said:

 

Thanks. While you were responding, I was also responding. I did exactly what you suggested. All problems are gone at the moment. It would be nice if a push pull and LCD AIO would work off of one channel.....

 

If this is intended by Corsair they probably need to have some type of notice, stating that adding a Link LCD AIO to a push-pull setup will cause the brightness reduced error on one channel. And state exactly how many devices the AIO with LCD represents. This would have saved me hours of troubleshooting.

That's good news, glad you got it sorted!

Maybe the device limits could be a little clearer, certainly with the LCD screen.

I'm not sure if in the documentation it mentions anything about it counting as an additional device, i know that when i first built my PC i went over the limit because i didn't know there was a limit until i Googled it , but that could have been me eager to get things built and not reading the instructions properly.

Edited by giggsy11
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On 3/26/2024 at 2:03 AM, giggsy11 said:

That's good news, glad you got it sorted!

Maybe the device limits could be a little clearer, certainly with the LCD screen.

I'm not sure if in the documentation it mentions anything about it counting as an additional device, i know that when i first built my PC i went over the limit because i didn't know there was a limit until i Googled it , but that could have been me eager to get things built and not reading the instructions properly.

I appreciate the help. It feels good to have an error free icue link system. I hope that nothing gets broken, fixing other problems in the future.

I'd still like Corsair to add "Rainbow Channel" to the hardware lighting QX 120. It's strange that for all these years it isn't there......................................

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Rainbow channel is a funny story.  It wasn't in the original software effects.  It was a hardware lighting pattern only to serve as a placeholder for Spiral Rainbow, which could not be run from memory by the controllers of the day.  It was later added as a software mode lighting effect by popular demand. The new CUE Link hub controllers are more advanced and these QX can do all their tricks in HW mode too.  I wonder if they thought there was no need to include it since QX can now do Spiral Rainbow in HW mode?  Of course, a lot of people just like Rainbow Channel, me included.  No reason not to add it.

 

It is somewhat logical the LCD top counts as an extra device as it both shows and operates as one in CUE.  However, even if you have a regular CUE Link AIO, user experiences thus far have frequently mentioned they couldn't add the regular AIO to a typical 6 QX fan arrangement on the same side.  The AIO and/or some of the fans had to go to the other side channel or not everything would light up.  It seems like a safe bet the AIO uses more power for lighting and pump than a typical QX fan does for the same.  

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Problem came back today without any reasons, no changes in software or hardware . Fans flashing red and getting overcurrent. I have 5 devices (4 fans + AIO ) on 1 port and then other one 3 fans. 

I dunno what to do anymore... i guess we need to wait for another version again?

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First - Ive read all pages of this thread - appreciate the troubleshooting and the Corsair attempt at a beta fix.  I have a brand new box that I powered up today.  10 fans in total qx120..  I added the three side fans before power up.  h150i with lcd.  I have 11 devices counting the lcd.   So -- upon boot the machine looked great.  I did some windows updates - typical tailoring - system up and down - everything stable no brightness error message - system was operating at full brightness.  When I went into icue, it wanted me to update the firmware.  This is not my first corsair box - and Im always leery about updating icue when its working...  Well - I did the update and as soon as I did I received the brightness message AND the brightness was in fact reduced.

That got me to this thread.

so - is there an updated status?  Would you guys think adding a second bridge is wise?  I have it with the extra fan kit so I was thinking of installing it and taking 6 fans over to it...  Or - is the beta software 'working somewhat'?  

Would also be nice if Corsair could clarify device expansion beyond 7 per side - if by default it will reduce brightness.  to me that's a non starter and at that point I would imagine adding an additional bridge would be the way to go...

 

Thanks again

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Well - I went to download the beta software and Corsair has in fact defined the dimming behavior if you connect more than 7 devices per side...  I answered my own question 🙂

However - note below that Corsair states 'When you hit the seven device soft limit on either channel, you will correctly receive the 'brightness' warning....'  Perhaps Im reading literally - but AT 7 - no such warning should be displayed as the side supports 7 without dimming and its on the 8th that dimming should occur.

From the beta software:

The new firmware for the LINK System Hub will allow you to connect up to 12 devices per channel. Once you pass a seven device (238 LEDs) soft limit on either channel, the controller will dynamically reduce the brightness in 10% steps to handle the additional power budget required by each additional device up to 12 total. We’ll apply the same brightness step to both channels even if one of the channels is below the seven device soft limit, that way you have uniform brightness across devices.


When you hit the seven device soft limit on either channel, you will correctly receive the “Brightness” warning in iCUE that can then be dismissed or you can adjust your LINK chain appropriately.


If you do not want to have your brightness reduced, simply abide by the previous seven device limit when building your PC. This merely adds the flexibility to choose a slightly easier build path at the expense of full brightness RGB.


If you have multiple System Hubs in one PC, they will control their dimming independently.

Edited by VaxAce
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51 minutes ago, VaxAce said:

Well - I went to download the beta software and Corsair has in fact defined the dimming behavior if you connect more than 7 devices per side...  I answered my own question 🙂

However - note below that Corsair states 'When you hit the seven device soft limit on either channel, you will correctly receive the 'brightness' warning....'  Perhaps Im reading literally - but AT 7 - no such warning should be displayed as the side supports 7 without dimming and its on the 8th that dimming should occur.

From the beta software:

The new firmware for the LINK System Hub will allow you to connect up to 12 devices per channel. Once you pass a seven device (238 LEDs) soft limit on either channel, the controller will dynamically reduce the brightness in 10% steps to handle the additional power budget required by each additional device up to 12 total. We’ll apply the same brightness step to both channels even if one of the channels is below the seven device soft limit, that way you have uniform brightness across devices.


When you hit the seven device soft limit on either channel, you will correctly receive the “Brightness” warning in iCUE that can then be dismissed or you can adjust your LINK chain appropriately.


If you do not want to have your brightness reduced, simply abide by the previous seven device limit when building your PC. This merely adds the flexibility to choose a slightly easier build path at the expense of full brightness RGB.


If you have multiple System Hubs in one PC, they will control their dimming independently.

I've been reading through this thread but don't have more than 7 devices on each side. I JUST updated on accident to the 5.12.97 software update.
I don't have the LCD display either, just the regular link pump. As soon as it updated, the brightness just went to crap.
I have 7 on one side and 6 on the other.

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17 minutes ago, aaahhrealmonsters said:

I've been reading through this thread but don't have more than 7 devices on each side. I JUST updated on accident to the 5.12.97 software update.
I don't have the LCD display either, just the regular link pump. As soon as it updated, the brightness just went to crap.
I have 7 on one side and 6 on the other.

Well... I installed the beta and 5 fans stopped working. Forced it back to the 1.8 and got all fans working and the brightness full with no warning errors. Not sure what the deal was but guess we'll see what happens now lol

Edited by aaahhrealmonsters
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4 hours ago, aaahhrealmonsters said:

Well... I installed the beta and 5 fans stopped working. Forced it back to the 1.8 and got all fans working and the brightness full with no warning errors. Not sure what the deal was but guess we'll see what happens now lol

Yeah a few of us are getting the fans RGB stop working with this latest firmware. Hopefully there's a full and final fix soon.

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Came in to say that I also have this issue on my new setup, 7 fans on the left and H170i LCD + 1 fan on the right.

I hope that this is a firmware error and we will soon have it fixed. 

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Bonjour,

 

Good morning,

 

I am in the same situation

1 AIO H150 + 1 QX120 fan on one side and 6 QX140 fans on the other

 

Same error message (Maximum brightness has been reduced due to power throttling of the iCUE Link system hub. Reduce the number of connected devices to apply a brightness level)

Edited by davboy69
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2 hours ago, davboy69 said:

Bonjour,

 

Good morning,

 

I am in the same situation

1 AIO H150 + 1 QX120 fan on one side and 6 QX140 fans on the other

 

Same error message (Maximum brightness has been reduced due to power throttling of the iCUE Link system hub. Reduce the number of connected devices to apply a brightness level)

That is exactly my error as well, I hope we have a fix soon

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I have a Link hub, on the LEFT has H170i LCD + 1 fan and on the RIGHT 7 fans so like everyone here I got the Maximum brightness error.

I just connected a second hub.

1st hub LEFT has H170i LCD + 1 fan RIGHT has 4 fans.

2nd hub LEFT has 3 fans RIGHT is empty

I still get the brightness error. 

I am waiting for Corsair to fix the beta version link because it no longer works saying that I am not authorized to enter.

 

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