Molex Fan Controller not working? Did I connect it wrong?

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toastedbread

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May 28, 2015
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Hi - just finished my first build and everything seems to be working except the fan controller.

Basically my case came with two pre-installed front fans, one pre-installed rear fan and space for two top fans. It also came with a fan controller.

The rear fan was attached to a molex connector. The two front fans had male two-pin connectors that were already connected to female two-pin connectors (forming a sort of loop that kinda of disappeared into the top of the case. There were two further two-pin connectors labelled "top fan" presumably for the top fans if I bought any. Then there was another molex connector hanging nearby. I am had assumed this was to power the fan controller and that the two front preinstalled fans were already connected to it.

I have a modular power supply and hooked up the cable with a bunch of molex sockets on it. I plugged the rear fan into one, and what I assume to be the fan controller into another.

The rear fan is working as expected - it runs full constantly because it's hooked into the PSU.

But the front fans just aren't doing anything and the fan controller buttons on the case don't seem to do anything either.

Any idea what I did wrong?

Thanks in advance...
 
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R4lNM4N


Sounds good. The control is really by BIOS or UEFI. To be honest fan my fan controller is just eye candy to me and the only reason I keep it in my case is so I can turn all but 1 fan all the way off when I'm not using it. Next time I upgrade somehting in my case I'll probably plug them all into the mobo and ditch the controller
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R4lNM4N

R4lNM4N

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Fan controllers are pretty straight forward. They generally work or they just don't - there's not much to them. Do you have multimeter, voltmeter or power tester by any chance. Myabe try another one of those modular cables? Or another port on the PSU?
 
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toastedbread

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Nope sorry don't have those things. I'll try the other cables and ports from them. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't made a rookie mistake and totally misunderstood what I was looking at to be honest. Sort of reassured it doesn't sound like I did, though it does mean fixing it may be more tricky...
 
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R4lNM4N

R4lNM4N

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Listing your system specs is always nice. Especially a PSU in a situation like this, although molex ususally comes from the 12v rail, I doubt you are too short on power for a little device like that. As a test you could try unplugging your other hardware and seeing if it will power the fan controller
 
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R4lNM4N

R4lNM4N

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Listing your system specs is always nice. Especially a PSU in a situation like this, although molex ususally comes from the 12v rail, I doubt you are too short on power for a little device like that. As a test you could try unplugging your other hardware and seeing if it will power the fan controller
 
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toastedbread

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May 28, 2015
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no problem -

asrock 970m pro3 mobo
gtx 750ti
amd fx 6300
8gb ram
corsair cx 430w psu

I've discovered if I plug the power into the fan controller, then daisychain the back case fan into the fan controller molex, the back fan STILL works while the front fans do nothing. Am I correct in suspecting the problem is therefore that the fans aren't connecting properly, rather than the fan controller not receiving power?
 
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R4lNM4N

R4lNM4N

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Certainly looks that way. Since you have that modular PSU, you could just give the fan controller it's own power cord
 
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toastedbread

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May 28, 2015
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Okay - things are getting weirder. What I initially though was four two-pin connectors for front and top fans and a separate (but nearby) molex connector turns out is...um, I'm not even sure.

I have two double-headed male two-pin connectors - one set titled "top fan" and one set titled "front fan". They seem to be totally discreet like...I originally thought they were tied into the case, but they *aren't*. The two actual fan leads *were* both plugged into each end of the "front fan" set, though.

There is also a set of four wires up at the top which look deliberately cut. I'm wondering if I've gotten a duff case?

At this point I'd like to just plug the fans into the PSU but I'm not sure I have the appropriate connectors. I have one cable left which would plug into the eight pin slot and has a two-pin connector on the wire. Would this work?

Thanks again for all your help guys.
 
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toastedbread

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May 28, 2015
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Hmm, okay, temporary solution found. I attached the fans to the one chassis fan plug and the power fan plug on the motherboard and that seems to be working for now. Shame the fan controller isn't working, but whatever, at least I have three functioning case fans, two of which I should be able to get some control over via OS anyway.
 
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R4lNM4N

R4lNM4N

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Jul 30, 2014
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Sounds good. The control is really by BIOS or UEFI. To be honest fan my fan controller is just eye candy to me and the only reason I keep it in my case is so I can turn all but 1 fan all the way off when I'm not using it. Next time I upgrade somehting in my case I'll probably plug them all into the mobo and ditch the controller
 
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