Fan controller seems to kill PC

[thil]

I've just bought a H2 as a new case, and have a fairly major problem.

When I plug the case fans into my PSU, the entire computer refuses to start. There may be a slight twitch of the CPU's fan, and the power LED might blink for a second, but after that, nothing.

Unplugging the fans from the PSU seems to fix this issue, but, as you can figure out, this obviously isn't ideal as it's the only form of ventilation this case has. Right now, I'm running the case topless.

I've seen a few other problems with the H2's fan controller on these forums, and I'm wondering if this is the case for me.

[TCC]

The only reason for that I can think of is that your power supply is not strong enough for all of the components and the fans. I doubt this, but i cant think of another possible reason.

[thil]

No. That's definitely not the problem. According to the PSU calculator on various sites, my system draws at most 400W.

I'm running a 700W PSU (I do love overhead.) Well, it's a Thermaltake Litepower 700W, so it's more like 600W constant. Still, that's plenty of power to run more than the 3 stock fans of the H2...

[TCC]

Thats weird... The only other things i can possibly think of are 1) its not grounding. which it is. and 2) you are somehow overloading your 12v... But its not that. I have never seen something like this happen...

[thil]

Yeah, that's what I thought, too, but while it is a fairly average PSU, it's not exactly an ultra-cheap from Shaw or Chairman Mao's Peoples' Revolutionary Glorious Power Supply And Lightbulb Factory #5.

I don't think the fans, which are designed to be quiet and slow, in the H2 would be drawing all that much power. (Plus, am I right in assuming that the SATA dock on the top of the case runs off the same power as the fans?)

Oh, and the Molex lead that the fans are running off is a completely different one to the one my DVD-ROM's running off.

(By the way, the case is pretty awesome, otherwise. It's my first "modern" case that didn't involve those HDD spacers or poorly-machined parts. And it looks better than the Fractal R3, in my opinion.)

[TCC]

I dont know 100% about the top sata power. But I do now know that the more modern fans use a pwm which alternates an on-off power signal to the fans, so the actual control is done by either making those signals longer, or shorter. But case fans usually run at 12v. (which i of course overlooked when i rigged up a fan from a dead psu...) and take about 1.6 watts each. so with 3 that is 4.8 watts. So The only thing that i can think of, is that there is something really weird happening. And it should start up. Have you tried waiting for like 5-6 seconds? cause my computer, when i press the power button, if its after a power outage or something like that, will spin up, then turn off, then run stable a few seconds later.

[sjB]

Dodgy fans, the most annoying thing in any case (unless it's a CoolerMaster, then it's just annoying that you have a Coolermaster and have already had 45 replaced under a 1 year warranty).

Try the following combos of things to pinpoint your problem:

PSU + Mobo + Cpu + Fan Controller + All fans to fan controller | Then try and boot
Not working? As above, but remove 1 fan each time you try and boot

PSU + Mobo + CPU + All fans to (available) mobo fan headers | Then try and boot
If you get to your POST screen go in and see if you can monitor the fans speeds etc. may be a faulty fan as opposed to a faulty controller.

If first combo doesn't let you boot still and 2nd doesn't help then ... photos! Post them in the thread, we can help.

All the obvious stuff thought that I've seen cause similiar problems:

- CPU fan on wrong header - no boot
- Faulty PSU - no boot
- Poor pin contact between fan power pins - seriously just make sure they are pushed together properly - pc may boot but may not be properly grounded

DIAGNOSTIIIICS! They are painful. If it still isn't sorted in a day or two I'd take it to point-of-purchase - they should test/replace or both if it is broken.

[thil]

PSU + Mobo + Cpu + Fan Controller + All fans to fan controller | Then try and boot
Not working? As above, but remove 1 fan each time you try and boot

That's the combination I started with talking about - all fans plugged in, and she don't work.


PSU + Mobo + CPU + All fans to (available) mobo fan headers | Then try and boot
If you get to your POST screen go in and see if you can monitor the fans speeds etc. may be a faulty fan as opposed to a faulty controller.

Well, it's nigh-on impossible to plug the H2's case fans in to the mobo plugs - they're designed for the fan controller.

Of course, the point is I shouldn't have to plug the case fans into the mobo sockets - I paid $118AU (about $125US, as it stands...) for this case.

Still, I'll put some pics up when I've got more time, maybe I'm doing something wrong. The instructions contain nothing about there being some special order to plug in the case fans.


- CPU fan on wrong header - no boot

No, it's in the right header - I've run this setup in the a different case, and it works fine. I'm writing this on the PC in question, in fact - just that I'm running it topless because have no case fans in a H2 with that much foam in it's a recipe for disaster.


- Faulty PSU - no boot

PSU's fine, only about 3 months old.


- Poor pin contact between fan power pins - seriously just make sure they are pushed together properly - pc may boot but may not be properly grounded

Could be it, but that's NZXT's fault, not mine. The entirety of my hardware has worked together perfectly in my old iCute case.


DIAGNOSTIIIICS! They are painful. If it still isn't sorted in a day or two I'd take it to point-of-purchase - they should test/replace or both if it is broken.

Yeah, I know, and that SSD I was going to spend the money on is looking better by the day.

This guy got a replacement fan controller for his H2 (http://www.nzxt.com/forum/showthread.php?8648-H2-Fans-not-working) from NZXT (and according to haxmor's profile page, NZXT has sent out a lot replacement hardware,) and his problem was nowhere near as serious as mine.

I had the Molex plugs plugged in the same way as him, too.

I've sent NZXT an email, but haven't heard back from them (granted, it is the weekend, so I'll wait.)

Look, it's a nice case, looks good, but without the SATA dock and fan controllers working, I've been ripped off by, I'd say, about fifty bucks.

[thil]

Well, it appears my last post in reply to SJB has not been approved by a moderator. Don't know why, but maybe because they had to check a link I put in it - but that was only to another forum post where NZXT offered to send a replacement fan controller to another person who had problems with his H2.

[thil]

All the none-fan controller cables work correctly. It's only when the fan control cables are plugged in does the system not start.

And there are no POST beeps because there's not POST.

When the fans are plugged in, there is no power reaching the mobo.

[thil]

Anyone from NZXT is quite welcome to reply to this thread or the email I sent...

[h a x m o r]

I've had our service department forward me your email. It does seem to be the fan controller is the source of the problem from what I've read throughout the thread. I'll reply to your email and ask for your ship to address.

[David Mack]

Hope this gets sorted and thanks Va :)