Fan lighting question

[NorKris]

never looked into corsairs  "Only one color at the time ARGB fans"  

[VelikiPCguy]

8 hours ago, RevGAM said:

Is that the Corsair Commander Core XT (larger black fan box)? It handles both RGB and PWM, right? But not aRGB.

 

The small board on the right side (behind the mobo) is called the lighting core and it controls RGB (not aRGB).

 

Any aRGB fans have to be plugged into an aRGB header.

 

Does your case also have a second small board, possibly to the left of the core, that you plug the PWM cables into, or are you connecting them directly to the mobo?

 

No, ok so here's the thing: the AIO fans are ARGB, and the 200mm case fans are also ARGB. All of them previously worked - so that must mean all the connections are in the right spot. I reinstalled my Windows (didn't touch ANY hardware) and what happened was the middle of my 3 AIO fans lost its RGB, and both of my 200mm case fans lost their RGB. I reconnected the middle AIO fan to a different slot on the Corsair black fan box (or whatever it's called - the thing where the cables go which then connects to the power supply and mobo) and it now works. I have nowhere to reconnect the 200mm case fans, as they can only go into one thing - a single slot on the Cooler Master black fan box that's attached to the case itself.

What doesn't make sense to me is:

 

Why would reinstalling Windows mess up RGB at all?

 

Why would replugging cables help in this situation?

 

What can I do since I have nowhere to replug my 200mm case fans?

[RevGAM]

56 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

 

No, ok so here's the thing: the AIO fans are ARGB, and the 200mm case fans are also ARGB. All of them previously worked - so that must mean all the connections are in the right spot. I reinstalled my Windows (didn't touch ANY hardware) and what happened was the middle of my 3 AIO fans lost its RGB, and both of my 200mm case fans lost their RGB. I reconnected the middle AIO fan to a different slot on the Corsair black fan box (or whatever it's called - the thing where the cables go which then connects to the power supply and mobo) and it now works. I have nowhere to reconnect the 200mm case fans, as they can only go into one thing - a single slot on the Cooler Master black fan box that's attached to the case itself.

What doesn't make sense to me is:

 

Why would reinstalling Windows mess up RGB at all?

 

Why would replugging cables help in this situation?

 

What can I do since I have nowhere to replug my 200mm case fans?

You haven't answered my questions, so...

 

If you look up the ARGB connector, you'll see that it's like the RGB connector but with one pinhole covered. I don't know if your cable plugs are male or female but if they are male, then plugging them into an RGB female connector would not be a problem because the RGB connector has 4 holes. They aren't male, though, based on your picture, because I can see pins in the board's plugs. The small board marked H500M is clearly marked ARGB, so it's not a mismatch and, thus, isn't the lighting core I was referring to. The larger black box is the one I theorize is a Commander, so it's a question of whether it's RGB or ARGB. If you look at the connector, you'll see 3 or 4 pins. The black box is clearly labeled RGB, suggesting that it's not ARGB, although you'd need to look at the male and female sides to see if there are 3 or 4 holes/pins.

I can only theorize at this point that something about the driver update affected the way RGB vs ARGB behave, and that caused some sort of disruption to either the drivers or the firmware in the cores you have. I had something similar happen in which my speaker jacks stopped working entirely after I updated the drivers. I had to uninstall the drivers, reboot and reinstall them, and then they came back. Yay Corsair and Asus. I don't see any indication that you tried this, so why not?

[VelikiPCguy]

22 hours ago, RevGAM said:

You haven't answered my questions, so...

 

If you look up the ARGB connector, you'll see that it's like the RGB connector but with one pinhole covered. I don't know if your cable plugs are male or female but if they are male, then plugging them into an RGB female connector would not be a problem because the RGB connector has 4 holes. They aren't male, though, based on your picture, because I can see pins in the board's plugs. The small board marked H500M is clearly marked ARGB, so it's not a mismatch and, thus, isn't the lighting core I was referring to. The larger black box is the one I theorize is a Commander, so it's a question of whether it's RGB or ARGB. If you look at the connector, you'll see 3 or 4 pins. The black box is clearly labeled RGB, suggesting that it's not ARGB, although you'd need to look at the male and female sides to see if there are 3 or 4 holes/pins.

I can only theorize at this point that something about the driver update affected the way RGB vs ARGB behave, and that caused some sort of disruption to either the drivers or the firmware in the cores you have. I had something similar happen in which my speaker jacks stopped working entirely after I updated the drivers. I had to uninstall the drivers, reboot and reinstall them, and then they came back. Yay Corsair and Asus. I don't see any indication that you tried this, so why not?

Sorry, I'm a noob when it comes to PCs so a lot of this terminology goes over my head. You're right, my 200mm case fans are female ARGB, as you can see here:

 

 

 

These are the connectors which go from my AIO fans to the Corsair Commander:

 

 

So it seems based on what you said the AIO fans are only RGB, not ARGB. However the AIO Commander connects to the Cooler Master module at the back of the case, and then that module connects to the power supply. As I said, this setup previously worked normally and all the RGB / ARGB was working.

 

" I had to uninstall the drivers, reboot and reinstall them, and then they came back. Yay Corsair and Asus. I don't see any indication that you tried this, so why not?" - I've reinstalled Windows and with it all the drivers, is that what you mean? I also contacted Cooler Master and they sent me a link to update my case firmware (I'd never done that before - not even when I got the case, but it worked normally at the time), but now I can't even do that cos it's telling me "H500M not recognised" so idk what else to do

 

[RevGAM]

Your message abruptly terminated. 

[VelikiPCguy]

1 minute ago, RevGAM said:

Your message abruptly terminated. 

Yes sorry, I've edited my comment now

[VelikiPCguy]

2 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

Your message abruptly terminated. 

Also if it helps here's the manual for my AIO Commander:

 

 

[RevGAM]

I think I finally might have a clue. Maybe.

 

Ok, the little H500 board that you've got the Commander Core plugged into is aRGB, but the CC is RGB, which presents a problem. I think somehow the old driver tolerated that mismatch, but the new driver doesn't. That may have resulted in either physical damage or firmware corruption, thus your problems.

 

If aRGB fans connected to the little board work correctly, great! I suggest following the CC's manual instructions and bypass that little board entirely for the AIO's sake.

 

Plug in your pump, the RGB and PWM connectors to the CC.

Plug in the pump tach to the pump header or, if you don't have one, the CPU fan header.

Plug in the CC's USB plug to an available USB 2.0 header on your mobo.
Plug in the power cable to an available SATA power connector,

 

Let us know if that works.

[RevGAM]

As for the H500M board not being recognized, you'll have to seek advice from CM, since they made it. Was the driver update from them?

[VelikiPCguy]

20 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

I think I finally might have a clue. Maybe.

 

Ok, the little H500 board that you've got the Commander Core plugged into is aRGB, but the CC is RGB, which presents a problem. I think somehow the old driver tolerated that mismatch, but the new driver doesn't. That may have resulted in either physical damage or firmware corruption, thus your problems.

 

If aRGB fans connected to the little board work correctly, great! I suggest following the CC's manual instructions and bypass that little board entirely for the AIO's sake.

 

Plug in your pump, the RGB and PWM connectors to the CC.

Plug in the pump tach to the pump header or, if you don't have one, the CPU fan header.

Plug in the CC's USB plug to an available USB 2.0 header on your mobo.
Plug in the power cable to an available SATA power connector,

 

Let us know if that works.

Thank you, but the AIO RGB fans work normally through the Commander > CM board > power supply. It's my 200mm ARGB case fans that aren't showing any colours, and they go directly into the CM board. The CM board itself cannot be broken (or at least not fully broken), cos otherwise the AIO fans wouldn't be working either. So maybe the 200mm fans' lights are broken? I don't think that's the case either because I DID at one point see them flash with colour, and then it was gone. So what else is left to check?

[VelikiPCguy]

21 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

As for the H500M board not being recognized, you'll have to seek advice from CM, since they made it. Was the driver update from them?

The firmware update you mean? Yes it was from them, got the link directly from the customer support people, but it's telling me my H500M case isn't recognised. They said they'll send me a new CM board, but as I said above, I doubt that's where the problem lies, otherwise the AIO fans that connect through it wouldn't be working either. Maybe it's the specific part of the CM board where the 200mm case fans connect to that's broken? That seems oddly specific...

[RevGAM]

40 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

So maybe the 200mm fans' lights are broken? I don't think that's the case either because I DID at one point see them flash with colour, and then it was gone. So what else is left to check?

Given that you got some to work after moving the plug, I don't think so.

39 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

Maybe it's the specific part of the CM board where the 200mm case fans connect to that's broken?

I suspect that is the case, although I still lean towards firmware corruption. Let us know after you've swapped the CM board and installed the drivers, please.

[VelikiPCguy]

2 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

Given that you got some to work after moving the plug, I don't think so.

I suspect that is the case, although I still lean towards firmware corruption. Let us know after you've swapped the CM board and installed the drivers, please.

Ok so I tried something new, instead of connecting the ARGB cables to the CM board, I connected one of them directly to the mobo, and now it works, kind of - the fan is lighting up, but I can't change the lights at all (currently it's just an orange colour, and it's supposed to be able to do rainbow, etc.) plus the MasterPlus programme still doesn't recognise my device and the Cooler Master firmware also still doesn't recognise my device... soo I don't know what, if anything, this proves?

[RevGAM]

3 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

Ok so I tried something new, instead of connecting the ARGB cables to the CM board, I connected one of them directly to the mobo, and now it works, kind of - the fan is lighting up, but I can't change the lights at all (currently it's just an orange colour, and it's supposed to be able to do rainbow, etc.) plus the MasterPlus programme still doesn't recognise my device and the Cooler Master firmware also still doesn't recognise my device... soo I don't know what, if anything, this proves?

Ok, so if I understand you correctly, you bypassed the CM board and plugged the case fan into the mobo's ARGB header? It works, but only somewhat, right?

 

I assume by "device" you mean the board?

 

Look, I know you feel like it's a waste of time, but please try doing what the Commander's manual says to do. You have nothing to lose.

[VelikiPCguy]

1 minute ago, RevGAM said:

Ok, so if I understand you correctly, you bypassed the CM board and plugged the case fan into the mobo's ARGB header? It works, but only somewhat, right?

 

I assume by "device" you mean the board?

 

Look, I know you feel like it's a waste of time, but please try doing what the Commander's manual says to do. You have nothing to lose.

Yes exactly, it works but only somewhat. By "device" i meant my case - H500M. Both the MasterPlus and the CM firmware are supposed to recognise my H500M, but they're saying it can't be found.

 

No of course, I'll try whatever you think is worth trying, but are you talking about the AIO (Corsair) Commander's manual? Why would I mess with that, if the problem isn't with it?

[RevGAM]

6 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

Yes exactly, it works but only somewhat. By "device" i meant my case - H500M. Both the MasterPlus and the CM firmware are supposed to recognise my H500M, but they're saying it can't be found.

 

No of course, I'll try whatever you think is worth trying, but are you talking about the AIO (Corsair) Commander's manual? Why would I mess with that, if the problem isn't with it?

Oh boy. Well, I'm pretty sure the replacement will resolve THAT problem, but I don't recommend continuing to plug RGB lights into ARGB ports - there's an extra pin for RGB, and that makes a difference. Also, the pin-outs are possibly different.

 

Yes, I'm talking about the manual. I'm suggesting you do it because you didn't connect things the way the manual said to, plus you connected an RGB device to an ARGB device from another company and I doubt they have an alliance with each other, and THOSE 2 things could also have an effect.

[VelikiPCguy]

17 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

Oh boy. Well, I'm pretty sure the replacement will resolve THAT problem, but I don't recommend continuing to plug RGB lights into ARGB ports - there's an extra pin for RGB, and that makes a difference. Also, the pin-outs are possibly different.

 

Yes, I'm talking about the manual. I'm suggesting you do it because you didn't connect things the way the manual said to, plus you connected an RGB device to an ARGB device from another company and I doubt they have an alliance with each other, and THOSE 2 things could also have an effect.

Ok, ty, I will keep the SATA cables separate then.

 

Plug in your pump, the RGB and PWM connectors to the CC. - done

Plug in the pump tach to the pump header or, if you don't have one, the CPU fan header. - done

Plug in the CC's USB plug to an available USB 2.0 header on your mobo.- I'm not sure if this is this is a USB 2.0 header? The one it's plugged into and the one to the right of it just say "F_USB1" and "F_USB2"

 

Plug in the power cable to an available SATA power connector, - done

[RevGAM]

12 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

Ok, ty, I will keep the SATA cables separate then.

 

Plug in your pump, the RGB and PWM connectors to the CC. - done

Plug in the pump tach to the pump header or, if you don't have one, the CPU fan header. - done

Plug in the CC's USB plug to an available USB 2.0 header on your mobo.- I'm not sure if this is this is a USB 2.0 header? The one it's plugged into and the one to the right of it just say "F_USB1" and "F_USB2"

 

Plug in the power cable to an available SATA power connector, - done

Without the manual, I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure that's correct. I think the USB 3.0 header types are all larger.

[VelikiPCguy]

14 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

Without the manual, I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure that's correct. I think the USB 3.0 header types are all larger.

Ok well I've followed all the steps but nothing has changed really, the 200mm case fans still lack any kind of light effects, while the AIO fans work normally. Guess there's nothing to do now but wait for the replacemenet CM controller and see if that fixes it

[RevGAM]

14 minutes ago, VelikiPCguy said:

Ok well I've followed all the steps but nothing has changed really, the 200mm case fans still lack any kind of light effects, while the AIO fans work normally. Guess there's nothing to do now but wait for the replacemenet CM controller and see if that fixes it

Thank you for trying. It was a long-shot. Any idea when the replacement will arrive?

[VelikiPCguy]

2 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

Thank you for trying. It was a long-shot. Any idea when the replacement will arrive?

No, thank you for helping! They said it should be 2-3 weeks (I'm in the UK and I think they're shipping from the US), I'll post an update here once it arrives and I try it out