[Gigabyte GA-GC230D] Zalman FanMate2 stops

littlebigman · Post by **littlebigman** » Wed May 26, 2010 12:09 am

Hello,

In a tiny PC, I wanted to slow down the single fan left, which is the one cooling the GC975 northbridge on this Gigabyte GA-GC230D mobo.

The fan works fine when directly connected to the mobo, but when I add the FanMate between the fan and the fan power plug to regulate tension, when I boot up, the fan spins for a couple of seconds... and then stops

I assume it has something to do with the third wire (yellow?) that returns RPM or temperature information to the mobo.

Has someone seen the same problem, and knows of a solution?

Thank you for any tip.

maalitehdas · Post by **maalitehdas** » Wed May 26, 2010 5:34 am

Is it possible that the FanMate reduces the voltage under the lowest voltage that keeps the fan rolling?

There are two important voltages for each fan model: one that starts them up and the minimum that keeps them rolling. Most fans need at least 8-9V to start and 5-7V to keep rolling. Horizontally mounted fans start and roll easier than vertically mounted. Some individual pieces (in horizontal mounting) are happy with 2V after they have started, this might vary within the same model too.

When the computer is booted, it's normal that all fans are first given full 12V to start them up. Any hardware between the power source and the fan might cause them not to start at all - or stop them after the hardware takes the control. Yellow wire is only for measuring the speed of the fan, nothing to do with affecting it (unless there's software/hardware that differs the voltage based on fan speed). Most usually the voltage is changed based on temperature readings, not speed.

TESTS to make it sure:
- Mount the fan horizontally and see if it still stops. If it keeps rolling, set FanMate to let more power for it in vertical mount.
- Test your FanMate with full speed. If it still stops the fan, you either have a damaged FanMate or a bad fan (demanding 12V all the time to work)
- Test with different fan in the end, both horizontally and vertically

maalitehdas · Post by **maalitehdas** » Wed May 26, 2010 5:49 am

One thing more: Make sure you don't have any other things reducing the voltage at the same time. (resistance wires/BIOS settings/software)

littlebigman · Post by **littlebigman** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:39 pm

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'll go through these tips and see how it goes.

BlackWhizz · Post by **BlackWhizz** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:52 am

How is it connected? Mobo regulates fan speed?