Fan-Tastic issue

[new boy]

Hi

I've come across a problem with Fan-Tastic on my z97 extreme4 board.

I've got the fans for my Noctua D14 on the CPU Fan2 header (as they are 3 pin fans) and 5 PWM case fans connected to the Chassis 1 header (using a 6 way splitter that takes all power of a molex)

The Chassis fans work great, the CPU fans have an issue.

For some reason, the fans will only run at the lowest RPM set in the fan curve no matter how hot the CPU gets. If I mess around with the fan curve and press apply, then 50% of the time, it will then start working properly and follow the curve until the PC is restarted, and then I'll have to mess around with the fan curve again to make it start working again.

As I said, the Chassis fans dont have this issue, they follow the fan curve fine. ASRocks own monitoring software can see that CPU is heating up, and that the CPU fans are stuck at 820RPM. I dont get it...

Its pretty annoying to have to run a CPU stress test, monitor the Fan RPM and mess around with the fan curve EVERY TIME I start my pc before I start gaming :(

Is this an issue any of you have had? Did you resolve it?

[bahram_alinezhad]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Hello
Since you have too many chassis fan connected, then, have you disconnected chassis fans and try? May chassis fan and CPU fan have a common supply of power and one affect the other?

[new boy]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Hi

I use this fan splitter



It takes all power directly from the PSU, the pin for power isnt even connected to the motherboard, it only takes the PWM signal from it.

I've tried using just the BIOS to control the fans, and exacly the same thing happens.

I then tried taking the 3 pin CPU connector, and putting it onto the 3 pin CHASSIS2 header, and putting the 4 pin case fans, and putting them onto the 4 pin CPU1 header.

Now, the CPU fans work great! Unfortunatly, now the case fans wont follow the fan curve :(

Next step is to put the case fans back onto the CHASSIS1 header I guess. I couldn't find a option to disable fan warning in BIOS, so I think I'll have to find an old fan and plug it into the CPU1/2 header to make the motherboard boot...

I'm looking forward to it all working properly TBH.

[SandsOfTime]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

I asume that the cpu fan control works only via the 4-pin PWM signal of the cpu header. What happens if you connect the splitter to the 4-pin cpu header of the motherboard and the noctua cpu fan to the splitter. Does it make the cpu fan controller follow the fan curve? If yes, consider to use a second splitter, one for the case fans and one for the cpu fan.

[new boy]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Hmmm. Not quite following, I'm not sure if I'm confused or you are, so I'll try and make my problem as confusion free as possible.

I have 2 CPU fan headers, CPU1 and CPU2

CPU1 is a 4 pin header, CPU2 is a 3 pin header.

The above headers cant seam to control either my 4 pin case fans on CPU1, or my 3 pin CPU fans of CPU2.

I have some CHASSIS connectors, I am using CHASSIS1 and CHASSIS2 at the moment.

CHASSIS1 is 4 pin, CHASSIS2 is 3 pin.

So far, these have controlled the 4 pin case fans on CHASSIS1 fine, and the 3 pin CPU fans on CHASSIS2 fine.

I haven't got round to plugging all the fans into CHASSIS1 and CHASSIS2 yet, but fingers crossed that will fix it.

Why the CPU fan headers don't work properly I have no idea.

Only remaining problem is that I will likely have to connect a fan to one of the CPU fan headers to prevent a "CPU Fan Failure" or similar message stopping the board from booting.

I think I have a 92mm Noctua fan somewhere, so I'll just plug that in and dial the rpm down to something really low and try and chuck it over the motherboard VRM heatsink or the RAM or something.

[SandsOfTime]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Ok, that made things a little bit clearer to me. So neither a 4-pin fan at connector CPU1 nor a 3-pin fan at connector CPU2 can't be controlled, right? Is this true for the noctua cpu cooler fans only or with other fan brands too?
What fan settings are you using in BIOS? With a usb stick connected you can make a screenshot by hitting F12 in BIOS very easily.

[new boy]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Yep, that's exactly it.

I cant tell you if its only Noctua fans or not, I have Noctua NF-12 or somthing case fans and the stock fans that came with the d14

Bios shots bellow (thanks for the f12 tip)





The above are for CPU fans in Chassis2, and case fans in CPU1

I'm currently using Fan-expert to control the fans, but exactly the same behaviour happens with using the bios, exept I cant mess around with it and get it working eventually like I can with fan expert.

[SandsOfTime]

[new boy]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

15% to 23% gives me a range of about 800 RPM to 1200 RPM. That's exactly what I want my case fans to do, and I am happy with that when they function at that in the CHASSIS1 slot.

100% is literally hoover loud lol.

[SandsOfTime]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Ah, sorry. Somehow I missed this sentence: "The above are for CPU fans in Chassis2, and case fans in CPU1".

[new boy]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Problem now resolved :)

The CPU fans in CHASSIS2 and case fans in CHASSIS1 with a random 3 pin fan plugged into CPU2 plan works great.

Random fan is cable tied to the bottom of my hard drive cage chilling out at 720RPM. Doubt its going to do much, but who knows, maybe it'll help prevent GPU heat soak.

ASRock should probably sort this issue out, as I dread to think what would happen if you put a 4790k @ stock with the stock Intel HSF and it didn't increase RPM with load, it would probably throttle.

Thanks for the help sandsoftime. Nice just to have someone helping you out.

[bahram_alinezhad]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

Hello again
your English is so that much review and concentration is required to understand it! Sorry, surely weak we are, not you.

About fan connection:
You cannot interchange CPU and case fan connection with each other because by doing so, case fans will be controlled by CPU temperature while CPU fans follow case temperature!
If it is possible to separate your CPU fan from its heat-sink, please do so and then set all fan connections and BIOS settings to the standard and right modes. Start computer but do not enter Windows. By changing the distance between fan and heat-sink you can change cpu temperature (touching the heat-sink tells you). In this state check the correctness of its rpm control by bios. This procedure guarantees your CPU fan control is not affected by software or ACPI configurations.

[SandsOfTime]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

The second screenshot shows, that the case fans (cpu fan in real) follow the cpu temperature. It is item "Chassis Fan 2 Temp source = Monitor CPU". You can choose if chassis fans follow cpu or motherboard temperature.

[bahram_alinezhad]

Re: Fan-Tastic issue

The second screenshot shows, that the case fans (cpu fan in real) follow the cpu temperature. It is item "Chassis Fan 2 Temp source = Monitor CPU". You can choose if chassis fans follow cpu or motherboard temperature.

Thanks, I didn't notice that!