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iCUE Inconsistent Fan Control


falcon7370

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I started noticing an odd problem with my fan curves over the past couple days. I currently a Commander Pro with ports 1-5 for fans, and port 6 for a Hydro X pump. Everything has always worked until a few days ago I noticed my fans have not been running consistently per their profile. I would have one fan randomly spin up, ignoring its profile settings while the others sit at 0 RPM. Eventually, after about an hour of the system being on, things seem to 'reset' and all the fans seem to stutter, but eventually work as they should per the Hydro X profile. Any thoughts? See the attached screenshot for what their eventual spin-up looks like.

1029970495_2019-12-0417_34_53-Window.png.94b6f407e5e8990ce7179d5ae7313fb6.png

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Just a quick update, I went in and tried creating a fixed RPM profile, setting the fans to 0. The one fan that does run at start up, would also not adhere to the fixed RPM. It's almost like the Commander Pro is ignoring all profile settings. Yet, it seems that after the system runs for a while, it randomly will start working and responding again. Are there any other known applications or services that cause issues with iCUE?
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What fans (model) are plugged into 1-5?

 

I have splitters, splitting 9 LL120s. Honestly, as I experiment more and more it only seems to be port 4 that is having the odd issues. It seems everything else is responding as it should be. Just checked my connections and everything seems good there. I also forced a firmware update and I reinstalled iCUE. Port 4 has 2 fans running on it.

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Go into the Commander Pro settings and change Ports 1-6 from Auto to PWM. You likely already did this for the pump on #6. Even if not related, this will prevent an unnecessary "fan test" on boot for your PWM models.

 

However, this is reminiscent of some of the issues we see when you get into the 8 fans or more zone on the C-Pro. I have run 9. It's not guaranteed to work or fail, but this seems like the place to start. On the PWM splitter for #4, reverse the two fan connections (swap A<->B). Sometimes you get a weird PWM signal on one fan. You only need one for the pair. If this is not sucessful, you might try a different splitter or swap that splitter to with the other one in use to see if the problem travels.

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Go into the Commander Pro settings and change Ports 1-6 from Auto to PWM. You likely already did this for the pump on #6. Even if not related, this will prevent an unnecessary "fan test" on boot for your PWM models.

 

However, this is reminiscent of some of the issues we see when you get into the 8 fans or more zone on the C-Pro. I have run 9. It's not guaranteed to work or fail, but this seems like the place to start. On the PWM splitter for #4, reverse the two fan connections (swap A<->B). Sometimes you get a weird PWM signal on one fan. You only need one for the pair. If this is not sucessful, you might try a different splitter or swap that splitter to with the other one in use to see if the problem travels.

 

Interestingly enough, everything was configured for Auto on the PRO, but I just tried setting everything to 4-pin PWM and no luck. I've been running this setup for around 8 months now with no issues until a couple days ago. I have occasionally seen light flickering on some of the fans before but nothing major. I tried swapping the splitter thats plugged into port 4 for the one on port 5, and the problem still seems to persist with whatever is plugged into port 4, so it really seems to be that specific port. I also tried clearing out all of my iCUE settings and that didn't seem to help either. Technically the same could be said for port 6, the one my pump is on. It also refuses to adhere to certain profiles (granted, I would never want my pump to go to 0 RPM anyways, but it is something I tested just to see). It does seem to ramp up correctly based on the Hydro X pump profile, however. Not sure if that is an indication of anything or not. The other ports and fans (all with splitters) seem fine.

Edited by falcon7370
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Last resort, you might try swapping port 4's fan with another that only needs a single - just to see. After that, contact Corsair Support through the ticket system.

 

I'll try that and report back. What is typically recommended for a setup with a large number of fans, 2 Commander Pros working in tandem?

 

EDIT: Had a single fan on port 3, so I swapped ports 3 and 4 so only a single direct fan is on port 4. Sadly there is no difference. It adheres to anything but setting it to 0RPM (which is what Hydro X fan profile sets it to when the temp is below a certain threshold), so it just sticks at around 1000 RPM randomly, until the other fans start spinning per their profile. Once they do, it randomly starts working again. Ill attach the normal ramp-up of the other fans, and the odd behavior of port 4 at the same time as it normalizes (port 4 on top, port 5 on bottom)

403233328_fanspeeds.thumb.png.70d5ba07bf756e2fa199738409c2246d.png

Edited by falcon7370
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Essentially what you have been doing. My Corsair 740 water build is 9 fans + Pump on #6. I've been running it for two years. The commander pro holds up. I have had quite a few wonky splitters over that time. One thing people are starting to try is adding in a power fan hub or splitter to the Commander Pro. The C-Pro for control, the SATA powered splitter/hub to take on the abundance of fans. Two C-Pros would work, but they are a bit big and you don't need 8 temp sensors.

 

It's very difficult for me to tell whether this is hardware (C-Pro) or the software. I don't use the Hydro X profiles and prefer active cooling at all times, even if at low speeds. If the problem only exists when the C-Pro is attempting to enter/exit a 0 rpm state, it might be software. You can submit a ticket to Corsair, even if you don't intend to RMA the unit at this time. I would do so now so the option is there. I will pass this on the Hydro X and iCUE people, although I don't know if there were any changes made in the recent updates.

 

Short term - if this really is only at enter/exit of zero rpm, I would switch to a manual curve of your own design. There is no universally perfect fan curve. Your internal ambient creates a baseline lowest possible coolant temp and what is perfect for someone in a cold Scandinavian winter would be maddening for someone in the tropics. Give your self a nominal speed at the baseline coolant temp you see. Relatively flat the next 3-4C to guard against daily room temp swings, then slowly ramp up. You can set the fan speed limit to your noise tolerance.

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Essentially what you have been doing. My Corsair 740 water build is 9 fans + Pump on #6. I've been running it for two years. The commander pro holds up. I have had quite a few wonky splitters over that time. One thing people are starting to try is adding in a power fan hub or splitter to the Commander Pro. The C-Pro for control, the SATA powered splitter/hub to take on the abundance of fans. Two C-Pros would work, but they are a bit big and you don't need 8 temp sensors.

 

It's very difficult for me to tell whether this is hardware (C-Pro) or the software. I don't use the Hydro X profiles and prefer active cooling at all times, even if at low speeds. If the problem only exists when the C-Pro is attempting to enter/exit a 0 rpm state, it might be software. You can submit a ticket to Corsair, even if you don't intend to RMA the unit at this time. I would do so now so the option is there. I will pass this on the Hydro X and iCUE people, although I don't know if there were any changes made in the recent updates.

 

Short term - if this really is only at enter/exit of zero rpm, I would switch to a manual curve of your own design. There is no universally perfect fan curve. Your internal ambient creates a baseline lowest possible coolant temp and what is perfect for someone in a cold Scandinavian winter would be maddening for someone in the tropics. Give your self a nominal speed at the baseline coolant temp you see. Relatively flat the next 3-4C to guard against daily room temp swings, then slowly ramp up. You can set the fan speed limit to your noise tolerance.

 

I was really hoping it was just a splitter, but I guess that would have been too easy. I can't quite remember when I upgraded to the latest version of iCUE, but it may have been in the past couple days so it could possibly be a bug with the current release. It does honestly seem software related, but I did submit a ticket so that an RMA option exists should I decide to go that route. I might mess with some custom fan curves and see what suits me. Honestly, the default Hydro X profiles have been perfect for me for the past 8 months so I never bothered configuring my own.

 

Just for future reference, how are people integrating a power fan hub along with a Commander Pro? By splitting out the control pin and only plugging that into the Pro, while the other 3 pins are plugged into a powered hub?

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Just for future reference, how are people integrating a power fan hub along with a Commander Pro? By splitting out the control pin and only plugging that into the Pro, while the other 3 pins are plugged into a powered hub?

 

 

Right. So say I am running push-pull on a 360mm (or whatever). I can take 1 C-Pro header and connect the master control wire from the powered hub. Then put all 6 fans on the hub. They pull their 12v power from the PSU and not the C-Pro. The only real downside is this makes them run all the same speed, so perhaps just fine for 6x120 on a 360mm, but a little less helpful on other set-ups or if you need individual or paired control. I have to admit, I like tighter control and do a lot of fan/radiator testing. I could likely only utilize it on the bottom 280mm rad with 4x140. So I kept up with the 9 in various pairs.

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Can you take a look at your splitters?

Do the fan connectors on one splitter both have 4 pins?

Would these happen to be Rosewill splitters from Newegg?

 

I've checked my splitters and they all seem fully functional. They are not Rosewill splitters from Newegg, they are JBTek I bought on Amazon. As I stated, if I swap from a split fan to a single fan on port 4, it still retains the same odd behavior. I believe it may have started happening when I updated to the latest version of iCUE (or it is just a coincidence in timing)

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Well, the splitters can be functional but still be wrong.

 

The most important question of the three was to check if the splitters have 4 connectors on each fan connection. You've not answered that. I suggested the Rosewill splitters because I know that they do. This, by the way, is wrong. Only one of the fans should have pin 3 (RPM/tach) connected. If both are connected, you'll get the tach signals interfering with each other.

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Well, the splitters can be functional but still be wrong.

 

The most important question of the three was to check if the splitters have 4 connectors on each fan connection. You've not answered that. I suggested the Rosewill splitters because I know that they do. This, by the way, is wrong. Only one of the fans should have pin 3 (RPM/tach) connected. If both are connected, you'll get the tach signals interfering with each other.

 

I checked into what you have said, and on each splitter, one of the fan connectors has 3 pins, and on the other it has 4 pins. That being said, is there anywhere I can download the previous release of iCUE to test and see if the update caused any sort of issue? That would allow me to eliminate the possibility at least since I upgraded around the same time the issues started happening (rig has been up and running for 8 months with no issues).

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The download would be https://downloads.corsair.com/Files/CUE/iCUESetup_{Version Number Here}_release.msi

 

I re-installed version 3.21.88 and unfortunately that did not seem to work. At this point, I am wondering if I should RMA the Commander Pro, as it really seems the issue is stemming from the tach pin on Port 4, as the issue persists no matter what I plug into that port; fans will not ramp up from 0RPM, or ramp down to 0RPM on that port, whether it is a split fan or not. All other ports are fine.

Edited by falcon7370
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