H170M-ITX/DL CPU fan control

Hello,

I have the same problem. The fan is not spinning at all until 50%! Is this normal?

The fan is either at full speed or not spinning at all.

Isn't this start / stop behavior killing the stock fan?

My specs are:
AsRock H170M Pro4
i5-6600 stock fan/cooler
running with latest bios 1.80

I tried the presets (Silent, Standard, Performance) and Custom profile... but the result is the same.

Any suggestions?



Edited by h170m - 20 Dec 2015 at 12:51am

Some more details in the hope I can ascertain whether my problem is faulty parts or incompaibility:
I'm using H170M PRO4 with retail I5-6600 using the included Intel HS/Fan.
The fan is an NIDEC E97379-001 12V 0.28A, 4 wire.
The mobo seems incapable of running this particular fan at anything other than 2000RPM.  The fan rotates a small amount one way then the other at boot and at sporadic intervals thereafter.  I believe this is normal, when booting, with Intel boards to detect the presence of the PWM fan.  However it seems the board is trying and failing to spin up the fan at speeds/powers less than 2000RPM/50% (according the A-Tuning test).  When the CPU fan does eventually spin (at 2000RPM+), it stays on despite CPU temps having dropped to sub 25C.  This using various fan profiles, presets and custom.

I'm unsure whether this is an incompatibility issue between this model of fan and this motherboard, a fan fault,  or a faulty motherboard.
With previous motherboards, I've had no problems regulating the Intel Cooler (though these had Delta Fans IIRC) from as low as 600RPM fairly smoothly up to 3000RPM.  This is my first ASRock board.  And, I think, my first NIDEC equipped Intel cooler.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone also using Intel cooler with the same NIDEC fan on this motherboard or any other Z170/H170 ASRock board.

Thanks.

Thanks for posting information about your problems with the Intel stock CPU cooler and your ASRock boards.

Unfortunately the Skylake processor I use, the i5-6600K, does not include an Intel CPU cooler with it. So I don't have one to test with my ASRock Z170 board.

I would be surprised if Intel changed the behavior of the PWM fan used on their provided CPU coolers so much relative to their previous CPU coolers, that it would result in the situations you are experiencing.

I would also be surprised if Intel did change the fan's behavior, that mother board manufactures would not be aware of it.

Without doing any research into this situation, I can imagine a few scenarios that might cause what you are experiencing:

• The PWM signal range on your boards has an error that causes the odd fan behavior you are experiencing. But since some reports of this issue also include information that other PWM fans function normally with the board, that puts this theory into question.
• The PWM fan used on these Intel coolers are not operating within the expected PWM signal levels. That means the fans are either defective, or not appropriate for use with the standard PC mother board PWM signals. Given the screen shot of FanTastic Tuning, the RPM readings of the Intel cooler are not normal.
  

The best I can do immediately is check the Intel documents for the Skylake processors, and see if any changes were made to their CPU coolers. I also want to identify the actual CPU cooler being used, as it might be the same model used with Haswell processors, which I have now.

I'll post in this thread anything I learn about this situation, and hopefully come to a quick resolution. If you can, please check this thread for updates, as we may have more questions for you.

Hi parsec,

Thanks for your input.

Contrary to my earlier post, I did find an earlier Intel LGA775 cooler, which has a 0.20A NIDEC fan: D60188-001

The Intel skylake cooler I am using with my new H170M PRO4 has a 0.28A NIDEC fan: E97379-001

So these fans would appear to be different specs.

I temporarily connected the skylake cooler to CHASSIS-FAN1 and the old LGA775 cooler to CPU-FAN1.  According to the A-Tuning fan test, the board was able to vary the fan speed on the old fan from 830RPM @50% to 1650RPM @100%.  (Though IIRC this fan could run faster on the old P35 board on which it was previously connected.)

The new skylake cooler performed the same on CHASSIS-FAN1 as it did on CPU-FAN1.  i.e. nothing until 50% then flat 2000RPM up to 100%.  So, the ASRock H170 PRO4 I have here could not regulate the new cooler's NIDEC fan whereas it was able to regulate an earlier model of NIDEC fan.

Obviously I cannot rule out a faulty fan on the skylake cooler as I do not have another here to test.  What's annoying is the newer design of Intel heatsink housing makes it difficult or impossible to swap out the fan. 

Thanks for your help and Happy New Year!




Edited by keeka - 01 Jan 2016 at 11:29pm

AsRock motherboards for socket 1151 are not compatible with the Intel stock cooler.
Someone forgot to test the motherboards before  sending them to mass production.

One month later the customers are still waiting for a solution but AsRock doesn't seem to care. What a joke!