GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 CPU fan starts/stops

[Chubby]

Hello All 

Please help me with the following query.

I have just put together a new computer and have noticed that when the computer is switched on the CPU cooler fan starts then stops and then starts up again and then runs as normal. If the computer has gone into sleep mode and is then woken up the CPU fan starts straight up and continues to run. I have not seen this before and wondered if there is a fault or something is not set correctly in the BIOS that I'm missing? Any ideas please.....

My components:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 (BIOS v.F8)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K
CPU Cooler: Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced
Graphics: Gigabyte GV-R677SL-1GD HD6770 Silent Cell
Memory: 16GB (4X4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance LP PC3-12800 (1600) (CML16GX3M4A1600C9)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 240GB
PSU: Kingwin Lazer Platinum LZP-550

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

Don't worry, you don't have a problem. It is purely the way it works and is because the fan is heat/speed controlled.

[Chubby]

Hi Dark Mantis

Thank you for the reply and welcome.

When I first seen the fan stop spinning on initial start up, my heart jumped to my throat, as I thought the CPU was about to fry. I was majorly relieved when it started up again!!! Having built a couple of PC's previously and using Zalman CPU coolers in those, I have not seen such a tactic used. The motherboards in those PC's were Abit and then an Asus board.

Is this a feature of Gigabyte MB's, so no matter what CPU cooler I'd gone for it would have done the same on initial start up?

[Dark Mantis]

Is this a feature of Gigabyte MB's, so no matter what CPU cooler I'd gone for it would have done the same on initial start up?

It is more a feature of the CPU and motherboard together. These newer boards have several ways of making sure that your CPU doesn't overheat. I suspect that if I am correct the start/stop/start would be there whatever cooler you were using. Are you sure that it is only the cooler that does this not the whole system ?

[Chubby]

Hi DM

I just checked and the only other fan plugged into the motherboard (case fan plugged into PWR_FAN) starts and continues to run when powered on. I also just tried un-plugging the CPU cooler from the Gigabyte motherboard and plugging the lead for it on to an ASUS motherboard and the CPU cooler fan started on power up without stopping, so it would appear to be something with the Gigabyte board that causes the start/stop/start.

A gent from Scan suggested to me yesterday that he had seen something similar with an ASUS board and that the situation was cleared by altering some power settings in the BIOS from AUTO to ENABLED. I have looked into the Gigabyte board's BIOS, but could see any similar options to change........

I wonder if there is anybody else on the forum with the same motherboard and CPU cooler and if this same scenario happens to them?? All help much appreciated. Off for the day now, will look into the situation again tonight and tomorrow.

[Dark Mantis]

No so it is only the cooler so that is fine then. It just occurred to me that maybe the whole system was doing a reboot cycle.

[TigetLi]

Hello Chubby,

Refer to your MB manual BIOS section under PC Health Status  (page 57-58 in mine) and read the CPU Smart Fan Control option. Looks like your BIOS is selected to  "Normal" allowing BIOS to Control Fan Speed. Selecting "Disabled" would let your Fan run continually. Normal Mode is OK if you do not overclock your CPU, use large cooling Fan(s) on you CPU HSF or plug in something different such as the water pump of a Corsair H70 cooler.

For your consideration,

[Chubby]

Hello TigetLi

I'd got the setting in BIOS for CPU fan control set to silent, but thought I'd give your suggestion a try and set it to disabled save that setting and re-started the PC - it still starts/stops/starts........ I do wonder if I've got a board with a glitch??

[TigetLi]

Chubby,

Do a full shutdown of you computer and leave it off for 10 minutes. While waiting open up your computer case and double check that the 120 mm fan on your" be quiet dark rock advanced" is properly installed and free from any possible interference by wires, HSF block or fan casing attachment. Check for dirt anf debris. make sure it spins freely. If all is fine leave case open and reboot. Stop in BIOS and double check that the BIOS CPU Fan speed control option is indeed disable. Resave BIOS and boot to Windows. Assert Fan status:

Working full time - do small celebration tap dance...
Fan still intermittent - Scratch head and ... answer these...

Do you have any other type of fan control applications on your system such as Speed fan..? if so could it be the culprit...
Do you use any activated Power management features in BIOS? Iif so which one?

Try plugging your HSF fan into another motherboard outlet, remember to disable CPU fan speed warning in BIOS prior. Keep a close eye on the HSF fan to make sure that it runs.

Run a cpu temp monitoring program such has Real Temp 3,67 to see if you can correlate fan stops and starts with temperatures. Use a chrono as well to see if there might be a timing pattern.

Good luck,

[Dark Mantis]

Normal Mode is OK if you do not overclock your CPU, use large cooling Fan(s) on you CPU HSF or plug in something different such as the water pump of a Corsair H70 cooler.

Hi

I would agree with most of what you said there and it is good advice however it wouldn't be very clever to run a pump or other  quite high load off the motherboard headers as they would probably burn out. Better to use a fan controller like the Lamptron or similar that can handle the power or of course direct from the PSU.

I know that you did say the pump of a H70 which is low power but a lot of people probably wouldn't realise the difference.