Getting Owned By My Build

[AllDayBreakfast]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any pointers on what's going wrong with my build, as I've run into multiple problems.

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Specs:
4790K
Kraken X61
Asus Z97 PRO Wifi/ac
Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB 1866 CL9
EVGA GTX 980 Superclocked ACX 2.0
EVGA Supernova 850W Gold
NZXT H440
2x Samsung 850 PRO 256GB
2x WD Black 2TB
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First problem was me not seating the RAM properly, which was solved rather quickly.

When I got to the American Megatrends page I was getting a CPU Fan error and CPU Temp error. Got into BIOS and it looked like none of my fans were being recognized, however they were all running and the NZXT logo on the heatsink was lit up. For some reason though the CPU was running at 88 degrees. Tried plugging the CPU fan into the CPU opt header, which resulted in a spark and smoke coming from whatever chip is next to the CPU Voltage Jumper. Turned the system off, changed the fan back to the CPU Fan header and booted up again and still got to the BIOS. Everything seemed fine except for the CPU running at 88 and the same CPU Fan and Temp errors showing up.

Figured it had something to do with the thermal paste and that I needed to reapply it. Ran to Microcenter right before close and picked up some Artic Silver. Cleaned off the old thermal paste, reapplied, and now the CPU LED is lighting up and I can't get the system to POST. Does anyone have any suggestions for what might be going wrong and what a possible fix would be?

Thanks!

 

[Burpo]

Unplug everything. Double check the CPU and socket just to make sure you didn't bend any pins. Re-seat the memory and double check the power connectors to the board. Find the Clear CMOS jumper marked CLRTC, and move the jumper to pins 2&3 for 10 seconds, then replace back on 1&2. Plug it back in & see if it posts. If not, it's time to pull it all down, remove video card & see if it posts with onboard video.. Seeing sparks is never good when it comes to motherboards.

 

[crashtech]

Sparks and smoke would concern me greatly.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

That's what I don't get. It was posting after there was a spark, just with really high CPU temps. It only stopped posting after I reapplied the thermal paste.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

Another weird occurrence...after letting the build sit overnight, I just went to try it again and it actually did post. Sat in BIOS for all of a minute just to watch the temps and the CPU rose from 60 to 79 in that timeframe, at which point I decided to turn it off. No idea what is going on with this thing.

 

[Burpo]

Default bios settings to start.. Then let it boot up and see where temps run.. It will throttle if it gets too high..

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

Everything is on default, this is my first build. I haven't even gotten to installing an OS. It's seems like the CPU is hitting 88 degrees and just sitting there.

Not sure if the problem last night was due to the fact that I reapplied the thermal paste and then waited all of 5 minutes to try to boot up again.

I'm still a bit thrown off as to why switching CPU fan headers would cause a pop and then smoke and why none of the case fans are being recognized in bios even though they're running. Fwiw they're all hooked up to the fan hub that came with the case and not the mobo.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Did you try to move the Cpu fan header with power on?

 

[Burpo]

Your Kraken pump may be bad.. This would account for throwing a spark when you attached it. Can you feel it running?

Edit: I did find this about Asus Z97
"There is one issue I've had with my board and it's with Turbo settings. The default core ratio settings are to sync all cores. This will bring your CPU outside of its rated spec and in the case of a i7 4790k it will cause your CPU to overheat and throttle at extreme loads. At first I thought I had a defective CPU, but after investigation the board is maxing out at 4.4ghz with 4 cores instead of 4.2ghz. With the correct settings my CPU does not throttle and stays within thermal limits. "

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

@Ch33zew1z: No, powered down, switched it, powered back up and got the pop with smoke.

@Burpo: Celcius. What would the proper settings be for the individual cores?

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

@Burpo - Also not entirely sure whether the pump is working or not. Just booted again, straight into bios (without hitting F2 or del??) and not really feeling anything on the pump or the pump tubes. Hovered around 60-70 degrees for a bit and then hit 88 and bios froze after about 30 seconds...

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

So I disabled asus multicore enhancement and went through the EZ tuning expert to select a water cooling system. CPU had apparently been running at 4GHz in bios, now it's at 800MHz, but still at 88 degrees. I can feel the water cooling tubes vibrating, but I'm assuming that's just from the radiator fans. The pump isn't vibrating at all. Beginning to think this is some sort of pump problem or a problem with the thermal paste (again)...

 

[Burpo]

Sounds like a failed pump.. RMA the Kraken & alleviate your problem with a $29 EVO 212..

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...ik9oPTWOSpc5kSEJGUZxYuG3WAr57l03lfBoCinXw_wcB

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

Had initially picked out the EVO 212, but decided not to go with it for aesthetic reasons. FML. Might just go to MicroCenter for the 4th time in 36hrs and pick one up.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

Do you have any idea why none of the fans are showing up in bios though? It's not even showing that there's a CPU fan attached.

 

[crashtech]

If problems with the aftermarket cooling are suspected, temporary use of the stock Intel HSF will eliminate that as a variable. But if something on the motherboard has burned, the motherboard is compromised, and you'll never be sure if any problems you are experiencing are somehow related to that bit of failed circuitry.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

So basically I need to go get a new motherboard to determine whether or not it's actually the pump? I'm assuming I probably can't RMA this?

 

[MongGrel]

Sparks and smoke would concern me greatly.

Um, yes.

Something shorted.

I hope it is just the pump.

Sounds like a failed pump.. RMA the Kraken & alleviate your problem with a $29 EVO 212..

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...ik9oPTWOSpc5kSEJGUZxYuG3WAr57l03lfBoCinXw_wcB

Is still why I use air I guess, I've been tempted to do water, but it always makes me nervous, even being a toolmaker and very mechanically inclined.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

I don't even understand how plugging the pump into either the CPU_Fan or CPU_Opt header would do this. It shorted some unlabled chip next to the CPU_Over Voltage chip. I guess I'm going to take the Kraken off and try this out with the stock CPU cooler and see if I get a different result.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

So I unmounted the Kraken and mounted the CPU with the stock cooler. Initially plugged it into the CPU_Fan header and the fan wasn't recognized and wasn't spinning. Turned the system off and plugged the fan into the CPU_Opt header and it's now spinning and recognized in BIOS with the temp coming down from 45 degrees.

Assuming that the fan was never recgnized to begin with (before the pop and smoke) would that mean that the board is faulty from the start? Is it ok to continue using the CPU_opt header or should I just RMA this thing and start all over again?

 

[Ketchup]

Hello AllDayBreakfast, you have a bad area on your board. Now whether it is just than connection or if there is more to it, hard to say. Could be a short in the Kraken that traveled to the board.

If it were me, I would replace the Kraken and the board. Or just return the Kraken and get a good air cooler.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

Well I'm installing windows and using the stock cooler for now. Wanted to get this up and running before heading to GTC tomorrow. Will probably RMA the board when I get back next week and reinstall with an EVO 212. I guess this is what I get for trying to be fancy.

 

[bigboxes]

I would RMA the mobo and the kraken. The pump should plug into the cpu opt and the fans(s) into the cpu_fan. Nothing wrong with an AIO. Maybe get everything setup with the stock cooler and then attempt the AIO again. I just did a new 4790k build and had a problem with the mobo's ram slots (RMA'd it back to Amazon) and the ram (RMA'd two sticks back to G.Skill). See, you are not alone. Sometimes shiz happens.

 

[AllDayBreakfast]

Yea- I'll probably end up doing all of this later next week. Really annoying. In the Kraken directions it said to plug the pump into the CPU_fan and then the fans get connected to a SATA controller for power, and then there's another input that goes to a USB header. Kind of weird. Right now I'm just setting everything up so when I replace everything it's all ready to go. CPU is running at about 32 degrees with the stock cooler, which has me feeling a lot better.

 

[XavierMace]

Yea- I'll probably end up doing all of this later next week. Really annoying. In the Kraken directions it said to plug the pump into the CPU_fan and then the fans get connected to a SATA controller for power, and then there's another input that goes to a USB header. Kind of weird. Right now I'm just setting everything up so when I replace everything it's all ready to go. CPU is running at about 32 degrees with the stock cooler, which has me feeling a lot better.

Is it possible you hooked up the pump wrong?

There's one cable with a single CPU fan connector on it coming off the pump. That gets plugged into the CPU_Fan header on the mobo. There's one cable coming off the pump with 4 fan connectors on it. That's for your radiator/case fans. There's one cable coming off the pump with a SATA power connector on it. That's what powers the pump and attached fans. Lastly you have the USB header. That's what allows their software (CAM) to control the fans and read temperatures and pump data. It will function without that hooked up, you just won't be able to control it via software.