BSOD Issues - Fans

R_Crandall · January 23, 2016

I'm using the M5A97 R2.0 and my Cha_1 fan connector seems to be faulty, no matter which fan I plug into it.

I have a Corsair 750D case and fans and I can plug any of the three fans that came with the case into the Cha_2 & 3 plugs with issue. As soon as a fan is plugged in to the Cha_1 connector, it makes an odd noise from startup until I unplug it and it doesn't spin. It also causes crazy high and fluctuating fan speed feedback in the other to Cha fan connectors. The CPU fan has never been affected by glitches in the other three.

After spending four days chasing down ghost BSODs from a new Windows 10 install, I left the fan unplugged entirely and the BSODs stopped happening almost completely (Windows update forcing incompatible patches on me still caused a few). I returned and reordered the MB (M5A97 R2.0). Installed it and the first few times I booted the computer it worked just fine. I think problems started happening when I changed the bios power profile from a neutral profile to one that favoured performance. Now, every time I turn the computer off, I have to unplug the fan and plug it back in once windows has loaded on next start up.

It's a storage and HDD repair and recovery machine so I'm constantly switching out drives anyway and I don't mind having the side open all the time, it's just a pain in the ass.

I can't say I agree with the statement that having a fan cause these glitches doesn't cause damage. The constant, unpredictable and irrecoverable BSOD errors have forced me to reinstall Windows 15-20 times inside of a few weeks. I'm shocked my hard drive has survived and the machine's brand new.

Haven't tried changing my power profile back yet because I need the performance boost but when I do I'll update the comment.