H150i PRO RGB flashing red in ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero

So just finished a 90min call with Corsair tech support (I know don't ask). Problem goes unresolved. Cooler LED just flashes red no matter what I try.

 

Unit is obviously getting SATA power as fans spin, led flashes red. Only thing I'm unsure of it the 3pin CPU fan connector interfacing with only 4pin headers. Specifically only the CPU Fan In pin only.

 

Have read all about the ASUS QFan control BIOS options and tried PWM, DC, Auto, full speed, etc to no avail. LED just constantly flashes red and I assume pump never starts given when on the CPU it immediately overheats and the system turns itself off.

 

Tech support refused to troubleshoot further because I refused to constantly let my CPU get to 100c before turning off with it sitting on top of the CPU.

 

Would love an AIO solution that worked, and had assumed Corsair's product was the go to best of the best. Don't want to just refund through Amazon, but also don't want a replacement if I have to go through all the headache of having to troubleshoot it all over again.

The 3 vs 4 pin connector back to CPU fan does not matter. It isn't even really 3 wires. It's just a tach wire that reports pump speed to the BIOS and gets you past the CPU fan error check. I am assuming the BIOS is not throwing out a CPU FAN boot error at you, which would certainly be a grim sign as well.

 

One thing to be aware of is if you use the Notification settings in iCUE to actively create a 'color flash warning' on the pump (like red or anything else), it stays until you actively dismiss it. Of course if you are seeing your CPU temp rise up to 100C, then its not a false alarm. Worth mentioning anyway because several dozen people will land on this thread because of the title and their only issue is not turning off the alarm.

 

Based on what you've said, it appears you can boot up, then watch the CPU temp tick up 50-55-60-65-70-75... etc. up until the BIOS shuts you down or you pull the plug first. That is a classic sign of a zero flow state, particularly if that process happens in 30-120 seconds. A partial blockage will allow you to operate, but at elevated baseline and load temps where you know something isn't quite right. This seems more severe.

 

My first suggestion is to power down for the night and leave things be. If you have been at this for a while and continually attempting to power up, the coolant around the CPU (that is presumably not moving) is going to be very warm. You'll be lucky to make it to the desktop. You need to let it naturally cool back down to room temperature and that could take a few hours without normal movement. Also, there isn't going to be anything else you can do tonight.

 

Tomorrow, when you first boot up, try to get iCUE open as quickly as possible and get to the H150i tab. Watch the coolant temp. There are other reasons for CPU temp to be out of control. There is only one if the coolant temp is ticking up 35,36,37 up to the 50-60C I expect you got to tonight. Grab a screen shot if you can. Not for us. Keep it if necessary for support. All you need to do is report what the coolant temp was and what it was doing (sitting still, continually but gradually rising, etc.)

 

Also take note of the pump speed. That is not a guarantee of anything and it is not uncommon for a pump to show a positive speed, yet have zero flow. One of the warning signs along with this is a pump speed that is higher than it should be. The three speeds should check in at 1100 for Quiet, 2160 for Balanced, 2850 for Extreme (all +-30 rpm). If your Extreme setting is running at 3100+, that is often a sign something is mechanically wrong or the extra pressure from the blockage is affecting the pump. I have to think you would have noticed the classic "dead pump", 0 rpm, CPU boot error state, so this seems the more the likely scenario.

 

Let us know. You don't need pictures for us. Just coolant temp and pump speed info if possible. If it is shutting down too fast before you get there, we'll have to consider that a terminal state as well. You probably only get one good shot at this if the flow state is near stopped before subsequent attempts become impossible.

Yes it does throw a CPU fan error. Not sure why Corsair or we should expect any different when a single pin wire is on the header.

 

I'm not able to have the system stay powered up for more than 5 seconds into seeing the BIOS screen due to thermal shutdown, so iCUE software or Windows details are irrelevant at this point. Imagining I'd have enough time to open a browser, go download software, install it, run it to look for temps is unfathomable.

 

Apart from being in Windows running the iCUE software is there any way to know with certainty that the pump is even running? The fans from the system run, so there's clearly power going through the things. I was flummoxed talking to the Corsair support that flashing red on boot isn't a known indicator of one or more specific issues to diagnose. Of course I'm assuming a never ending flashing red on boot is indicative of something not being right, along with BIOS reporting CPU temp going atmospheric in 10 seconds of course.

Edited January 1, 2020 by FrustratedUser

Ok, so after cooling myself down having wasted nearly my entire day trying to troubleshoot this thing. With the stock cooler reinstalled, I'm able to preinstall the iCUE software.

 

What I did next was take the H150 back out of the box, I was preparing to ship back to Amazon and plugged it back into power, the AIO PUMP header on the motherboard, the fans it came with, and the USB header on the MOBO.

 

Rebooting, the iCUE detects the H150 however oddly shows 0rpm fan speed and 0rpm pump speed even when seemingly setting them all into whatever "EXTREME" mode means.

 

Is this thing just defective?

 

EDIT: The stock cooler and fan are still on top of the CPU, so that I can actually boot up my PC and run the iCUE software.

If you had sata power, it should run at one of the three speeds. That would be easily detectable outside the case. The flashing red stuff isn’t normal for a flow restriction. It appears to be dead on arrival and if you bought from Amazon, I wouldn’t waste another second trying to troubleshoot this. Exchange it and be done.

 

The Pro series has been extremely reliable in the two years it has been out. I can only remember one other DOA in that time frame and actual use issues on the Pro are few and far between. I am not sure how your troubleshooting session went as it did. This conclusion should have been determined almost immediately with no pump speed.

Edited January 1, 2020 by c-attack

Just took delivery of a replacement from Amazon, facing the exact same issue. Fast flashing red on system start up. Again this is with the cooler off to the side so I don't overheat and burn out my CPU power cycling it a dozen times troubleshooting.

 

Everything is plugged in per the manual, except for the lead to the CPU fan header. It's plugged into the AIO header pin, that is configured in the BIOS to run the AIO header on DC mode at full power.

 

Also the iCUE software shows 0 fan rpm, and 0 pump rpm with all set on extreme mode. Having called Corsair support and them concluding the previous system was defective, I have nothing else to go on here. I even replaced the SATA power cable to the power supply, with no different results.

[sOLVED] OK, last update. Swapped another SATA cable to power the pump and now on system start up have a color cycling pump / water block. Yay! Not sure whether it was the connection to the power supply or the previous cables. either way working great now.

 

I didn't think it was a power issue given when I unplugged the previous SATA power cables the light would go off. Thanks for the responses.

Well, this turned out to much more difficult than expected. The only thought I have besides the obvious (something was wrong with the SATA cable) is occasionally people have issues with devices when powering from PSUs or cables that do not have all three voltage rails (3.3, 5, 12v) on that line. Sometimes people get into trouble with Molex-SATA converters or the like and it isn't getting all the power. Now, you may have just had a bad cable, but if troubles continue this may be the place to look. Where the fans spinning during this process?