God Damnit!!

[Kill-Switch]

I'm ... P!SSED ... for lack of a better word :mad:

Well today I was happily using my computer, as you do, when I notice a strange smell. To be honest I ignored it as I had just been dusting and there was a lot of dust in the air ... so I thought it was that. This was as around 2pm and I leave my computer on to do it's thing while I go do my thing (house cleaning and all that fun stuff).

At about 9pm I get back on my computer and all is well as I browse the web and do and run a few apps. So I thought I'd play some Unreal Tournament 2004, pretty safe you'd think? Well my computer acts all :mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:ed up, the game took forever to load the title screen and the harddrive began to make a VERY loud clicking noise every few seconds. Then without warning the screen corrupts and my system goes off ... the Vapochill shows an Error 0020 (low PSU voltage). I hit the power again and ... nothing, not a damn thing. So I open the case up to have a nosey round. As I take the left side panel off I see the ChillControl of the Vapochill and notice the powerblock as melted!!! Some of you may remember last time (over a year ago) when the exact same thing happened.

So now my computer is totally out of commision while I wait on Asetek getting back to me. With any luck they'll replace my ChillControl again free of charge, but even this will take a couple of weeks. After which I'm pretty sure my PSU will have been nuked as well, like last time ... so I'll have to spend another £80+ to replace that too!!!

As you can imagine I'm not in the best of moods right now. No matter how I look at it this is going to cost me money to sort out, money which I really don't have to be wasting.

[Player0]

Heh...they should pay for the PSU eh?

[Synthohol]

sorry to hear, R.I.P.

if chip IS fried, get a 2600+M i bet you could hit 2.9:)

[Kill-Switch]

Hmmm, that's an idea, never thought of that.

I may contact them (once they send out a ChillControl replacement LOL) and demand they foot the bill for the new PSU as it would appear to be their fault hehe

As for the CPU, I think it's ok. Last time this happened it didn't suffer any damage. What's also bugging me is that I plan on selling this rig in a couple of months to build my, much delayed, new one. In fact I already have a buyer and a price set, just need to save a little longer to start building my new rig (begining of June time if all goes well).

[illmatik]

Ugh.. This makes me very worried about putting in my new dfi and 3200 into mine. Both of my phase change rigs have been nothing but problems.. I'm seriously considering just running air rigs from now on.. Lost way too much hardware already..

[Kill-Switch]

Well so far I've only lost one PSU ... maybe 2, will find out once I get a replacement ChillControl.

Still waiting on Asetek getting back to me, damn slow support :(

[Flybye]

I promise I did no voodoo magic to anyone here :D

I'm sure you know that I, too, feel the pain for ya. :( It's a shame I'm not in the UK. I have an OCZ 520W sitting in my house that I could have lent you.

[Kill-Switch]

So you've been working your voodoo magic again huh? Damn you! LOL

I am hoping that the PSU went undamaged this time around, again nobody has a clue why the PSU went last time ... just like it appears Asetek don't have a clue why (on occasion) their ChillControl get's melted.

[Flybye]

...... just like it appears Asetek don't have a clue why (on occasion) their ChillControl get's melted.
They probably didn't even design the thing. They may have just simply spoken to an electrical parts manufacturer and told them "We need X item to do X job"

In any case, it's kinda silly to tell a customer "we have no clue" as opposed to "we are working on it"

Maybe you should just stick to air. You guys have nice cold air up there ;)

[Kill-Switch]

Actually everything for the Vapochill was completely designed in-house (IIRC) so they should have a fair idea about how it all works and what can go wrong with it. I guess some problems are a little harder as there are a lot of different factors involved, I just hope they figure it out before something more severe happens than a melted powerblock.

As for sticking to air ... you have to be kidding LOL Once you've been to the extreme end of the scale it's quite hard to go back (unless you REALLY must). Oh and thanks for reminding me that our weather sucks ;) It's more wet than cold.

[Flybye]

....Oh and thanks for reminding me that our weather sucks ;) It's more wet than cold.
Yeah, you guys don't have mandatory rear foglights for nothing :D

[Kill-Switch]

OK back on topic again ;)

Today I finally got a response from Asetek regarding my melted ChillControl, they are going to replace it again :thumbsup: and they offered this explanation as to why it happened:


The reason for the wires melting is that the current through the wires is too big. This happens if the voltage drops. If your PSU cannot hold the +12V, but drops to +10V, then the current in the system increases, as the system still needs the same power. (You know Ohm law: P=U*I).


I'm no electronics expert so I barely understand how the 12v rail dropping causes the current to increase and thus a meltdown. Furthermore what could cause such a drop in voltage? Can someone who understands explain it to me? LOL :worship:

[Kill-Switch]

Woohoo I'm back up and running :D

The replacement ChillControl actually arrived yesterday but I wasn't in, so it was taken back to the local sorting office and then redelivered today. Got that thing into my rig REAL fast I tell you. I was worried the PSU was damaged but so far it's looking alright, it's been running for a few hours now and the 12v rail hovers around the 11.5 area which is how it has always been.

So all's good :D

[WesM63]

Sounds like your psu is a little under powered for running the Vapo.

My Turbo-Cool 510w never drops below 12.2v

[Kill-Switch]

It could be MBM reading the voltage wrong, I'm not sure, but even with the old 550watt Antec TruePower I fried the 12v rail hovered around 11.5!

The system ran fine for over a year before I overclocked it that little bit too far and screwed it all up LOL so I guess the PSU is ok :)

[WesM63]

Use a DMM to measure voltages ;) That will tell you real quick like.

[Flybye]

Glad you are up and running!!

But IMHO, 11.5 is WAY too low. I had all sorts of issues when my voltage was around 11.65. My system kept crashing everytime I tried to play a game with my new X800XT PE. Once I installed my old OCZ 520w, everything was perfectly normal :) And this was using voltages from MBM.

[Kill-Switch]

My system did run fine for over a year with the 12v rail like this so although I should be concerned I'm not LOL Not to mention this system won't be here in a month or two ... I may finally get to build my uber rig!!! Well I have the cash, it's just finding places that have the items I want in stock and then don't charge over the odds because they have them and nobody else does. Parts in question FX-55 and a decent branded x850xt PE.

[Flybye]

Of course your system is working fine...........you only have a 9800 Pro ;)

[Kill-Switch]

Hehe yeah, it has served me well for the past couple of years. Hell this system has served me well ... don't normally own a system this long (over 2 years, 2 1/2 I think) before I completely build a new one LOL