H110i v2 - Can a broken PWM Cable stop PC from Posting?

[B77WGE115B]

My computer has not been posting for the past few days. All of the lights come on and the fans spin up, but then, a few seconds later, everything restarts.

I opened up my PC and noticed that one of the cables on the splitter attached to the H100i v2 is broken (not the fan cable, but one of the cables that plugs into the unit itself).

I was wondering if there is some login within the unit that tells the computer to automatically shut down if there is no current between one of the PWM cables as a safe measure.

As a test, I stripped back some of the wire and tried my best to tie the two ends of the wire together and put some electrical tape over it. I still had the same problem, but I'm not the best handyman, and I'm not sure if the connection is good (I don't have a multimeter).

Additionally, I noticed that when I try to boot, the two fans connected to the unit spin up for a second and then stop (while the case fans continue spinning). Is this normal behaviour pre-post since not too much cooling is required at that point.

Also, if the problem lies elsewhere (motherboard, ram etc) would I be able to use a PWM splitter and put both fans into one of the inputs on the unit, knowing that I would only be able to control the fans as one unit?

[Corsair Lettuce]

Does you computer constantly restart? From what you have described it sounds like it could be a PSU issue. When the computer turns on does the pump appear to be working?

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by Corsair Lettuce

Does you computer constantly restart? From what you have described it sounds like it could be a PSU issue. When the computer turns on does the pump appear to be working?

Yes, it constantly restarts. I thought it was a PSU issue too, but I tried connecting an power supply from older PC (Corsair CX500) to my machine and the same thing happens. When I put the CX500 back into the old build it works fine. Unfortunately, the old build has an older motherboard spec and DDR3 ram, so I can't use it as a test bench.

All of the lights on the waterblock come on. How can I tell if the pump appears to work? I felt the radiator and waterblock and none of them got hot.

It might be helpful to add that I started having this issue when I tried to apply 1.4V for an overclock and enabled the motherboard's XMP Profile. I've also tried resetting CMOS and resetting the CMOS battery.

[c-attack]

Take off the XMP profile and try again. If there were some kind of short, you would probably get a Over Current Protection error from the board. If the H100i v2 pump was not getting its power, you would get the classic CPU Boot error. This kind of smacks of memory setting issues and 1.40 Vcore and whatever frequency XMP invokes may be a step too far - at least at those specific settings.

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by c-attack

Take off the XMP profile and try again. If there were some kind of short, you would probably get a Over Current Protection error from the board. If the H100i v2 pump was not getting its power, you would get the classic CPU Boot error. This kind of smacks of memory setting issues and 1.40 Vcore and whatever frequency XMP invokes may be a step too far - at least at those specific settings.

I would love to be able to do that, but I cannot even get into the BIOS. I try to boot and nothing comes up on screen, and then the computer restarts itself and the process repeats.. Even if I press the delete key while booting up, I can't get into the bios.

[c-attack]

Are you sure the clear CMOS is "taking?" Normally, I would also suggest unplugging the PSU from the wall for a while, but that should have triggered a reset on the PSU change, both with the new PSU and putting the old back in.

Do you get any kind of error code on the motherboard itself?

[DevBiker]

Are you getting any beep codes on boot? Any kind of error indication? Check your motherboard manual for any troubleshooting codes that the motherboard may provide.

You may also want to clear your CMOS. That's a jumper on the motherboard; again, check the manual to confirm the process.

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by c-attack

Are you sure the clear CMOS is "taking?" Normally, I would also suggest unplugging the PSU from the wall for a while, but that should have triggered a reset on the PSU change, both with the new PSU and putting the old back in.

Do you get any kind of error code on the motherboard itself?

Originally Posted by DevBiker

Are you getting any beep codes on boot? Any kind of error indication? Check your motherboard manual for any troubleshooting codes that the motherboard may provide.

You may also want to clear your CMOS. That's a jumper on the motherboard; again, check the manual to confirm the process.

I don't have a motherboard speaker, so I am not hearing any beep codes. After looking through my motherboard manual (Gigabyte Z170X UD3 Ultra), it seems like it does not have any error indication lights, and since nothing comes up on screen, I'm not seeing anything there either. I tried clearing the CMOS both using the onboard pins (shorting them with a screwdriver with power off and PSU unplugged as stated in the manual) and by taking out the CMOS battery. In addition, I left the unit unplugged with the CMOS battery out overnight on Saturday (at least 10 hours).

[DevBiker]

I find it difficult to accept that this is the cooler - as c-attack mentioned earlier, this isn't they typical behavior that we'd see from a failed cooler. But you do have the cooler plugged in to the fan header, yes?

Honestly, it sounds like a short or a component failure. So try booting with a single stick of RAM (and try different sticks if you have them). And see if you can grab a motherboard speaker from an old build to see if there are beep codes. That'll narrow down issues pretty quickly.

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by DevBiker

I find it difficult to accept that this is the cooler - as c-attack mentioned earlier, this isn't they typical behavior that we'd see from a failed cooler. But you do have the cooler plugged in to the fan header, yes?

Honestly, it sounds like a short or a component failure. So try booting with a single stick of RAM (and try different sticks if you have them). And see if you can grab a motherboard speaker from an old build to see if there are beep codes. That'll narrow down issues pretty quickly.

Good to know that its not the cooler. Yes, I do have it plugged into the cpu fan header. I tried booting with a single stick of ram as well, I tried both of my sticks individually in each slot (i.e. stick one only in slot 1, 2, 3, 4 and the same with stick 2). I don't know about a short since this problem started before I even opened my pc (its was working fine for 2 years before), but its possible. If it isn't a short, do you think it would likely be a motherboard or ram failure, or even possibly both?

[DevBiker]

Originally Posted by B77WGE115B

If it isn't a short, do you think it would likely be a motherboard or ram failure, or even possibly both?

It's certainly possible. It's tough to say without those beep codes.

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by DevBiker

It's certainly possible. It's tough to say without those beep codes.

Yeah, I’ll hopefully have time to run out and get a motherboard speaker by tomorrow for testing.

[c-attack]

So back to the original query... where exactly is the break in the wire? It is on the fan splitter coming off the H100i v2? If so, this is a fairly easy premise to test. You don't need fans to boot up or even run the system at low level. Disconnect the fan splitter and make sure it's not making conductive contact with anything. Try again.

If it is the power line coming from the motherboard header to the pump, that is a little trickier but can be done. You can take a fan off a radiator fan and connect it to CPU fan to get by the boot error protection. Leave the pump unpowered. You can go that way for 60-90 seconds -- enough time to get past the current sticking point. Not sure how you would feel about loading up without moving coolant, but this is essentially what happens when a pump fails on boot. Nearly everyone survives unscathed.

I do think we are looking for something else, but you have already covered most of the first recommendations anyone would make. If we eliminate the cooler, PSU, and RAM, that leaves two things you hope are not responsible... CPU and motherboard.

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by c-attack

So back to the original query... where exactly is the break in the wire? It is on the fan splitter coming off the H100i v2? If so, this is a fairly easy premise to test. You don't need fans to boot up or even run the system at low level. Disconnect the fan splitter and make sure it's not making conductive contact with anything. Try again.

If it is the power line coming from the motherboard header to the pump, that is a little trickier but can be done. You can take a fan off a radiator fan and connect it to CPU fan to get by the boot error protection. Leave the pump unpowered. You can go that way for 60-90 seconds -- enough time to get past the current sticking point. Not sure how you would feel about loading up without moving coolant, but this is essentially what happens when a pump fails on boot. Nearly everyone survives unscathed.

I do think we are looking for something else, but you have already covered most of the first recommendations anyone would make. If we eliminate the cooler, PSU, and RAM, that leaves two things you hope are not responsible... CPU and motherboard.

The break is between the cooler and the fan splitter. Tried making sure it the wires were isolated and not conducting against anything. No luck. I ordered a motherboard speaker, hopefully the beeps can tell me more.

[B77WGE115B]

Originally Posted by DevBiker

I find it difficult to accept that this is the cooler - as c-attack mentioned earlier, this isn't they typical behavior that we'd see from a failed cooler. But you do have the cooler plugged in to the fan header, yes?

Honestly, it sounds like a short or a component failure. So try booting with a single stick of RAM (and try different sticks if you have them). And see if you can grab a motherboard speaker from an old build to see if there are beep codes. That'll narrow down issues pretty quickly.

I got my hands on some new DDR4 RAM that I could use in my build. If I get a beep code that indicates a possible memory error, would it be safe to insert the new ram as a test? I'm slightly paranoid that my (multiple) CMOS resets didn't "take" and if its a ram problem, then inserting the new ram could destroy it as well.