Ek Predator 240 problem

[Uaon]

Okay so a few weeks back my Ek Pedator has developed a water injection/squirting sound on boot up.I have tried removing the unit and shaking it around and cycle the power to it in hopes that it may just be tapped air, to no avail.

It's becoming more and more audible, any ideas?

A video to demonstrate what I am talking about can be found here

 

[Uaon]

Maybe there's not enough fluid in there, have you tried tilting the case forward to force any air into the other end of the rad, then cycling the power a few times. If the noise stops then i would guess air is going back into the pump every time the system stops.

Yes, have even gone so far as removing the unit to do so,tilted forward it just becomes even more audible,regardless of what way I tilt it and cycle the power it still does it. I am going to the local hardware now to purchase some allen keys to check the fluid level

 

[Uaon]

Okay so I opened the fill port and can't really see any fluid, what I do see is a plastic mesh type material that I assume is some sort of filter.Tilting the unit I still do not see any liquid.

I imagine that this unit should be pretty much full to the brim no?

Not a great picture I know but this is what I see just a mesh type filter

 

[Uaon]

I will check on my Predator at home tonight but I think it should be pretty full and viewable from the fill port.

That would be great if you could, and yes I should imagine it should be almost brim full I would have thought so anyway.

 

[Uaon]

Solved

I meant to update this but had been busy.Just in case anyone had a similar problem. I bought some distilled water and in my case took 40ml to top it up. I did this by filling it to fill level and turning on the pump and rotating the unit and topping it up until it no longer was low.. The noise has left and everything appears to be okay since

 

[Uaon]

Oh wow I had no idea, well mine was a preorder I got it on release day.When I first opened it the whole unit felt damp, I just assumed it was condensation of some kind. I will remove the block after work tomorrow as it is getting late here right now. I will report my finding's then, have to say that's quiet a scary prospect.

Edit: After doing some reading just now, it looks as though many owners received that email but I did not.

Edit 2: Well I got worried so decided to check tonight and sure enough my block is indeed leaking water, so it seems it is not only units manufactured after Nov/Dec but even the preorders like mine also..

I'm going to remove the unit and throw on a stock cooler and remove my overclock for now.I hope no damage has been done

Edit 3 : Video showing the leak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecDhqdC-CeY

 

[Uaon]

If you find that the faulty predator has caused damage to your system they will cover this.

''Hi guys,

I am totally aware you are dissatisfied with this situation and I would be too. That's why EK is committed to cover all damages occurred because of the faulty O-ring. Please, everyone who has damaged hardware, start the RMA process here: http://www.ekwb.com/rma/

I can assure you, that EK will cover all shipping costs and other expenses. We only require some of your time to go through the RMA process. Everyone affected will be offered a brand new Predator, Revision 1.1 that is updated version and comes with extra improved mounting mechanism.

We'll go through with each individual to resolve this and correct our mistake.''

I honestly can't thank you enough mate for bringing this issue to my attention.Under further examination today in the daylight, I can see water in my top pcie slot where my gtx 980 is, it explains why I was experiencing some artifacting in game last week possibly. What worries me is that it's an Asus Z77 pro, a motherboard that is no longer available.

Honestly this predator has caused a lot of stress up to now, initially I had to buy lower profile ram as my previous ram would not clear the rad.My predator has always been noisy while browsing and I could never manually set the fan rpm even though the unit was plugged into the cpu header, to add to that one fan used to spin lower than the other at times.

I went with the predator as I wanted custom watercooling performance without the noise of my previous corsair units.

Honestly I am really bummed out right now

 

[Uaon]

Hi Luc , I really appreciate that yes and I received this email last night in response to my ticket:

EKWB USA [Ryan] (EKWB Support)

Jan 8, 19:33
Hello,

Thank you for contacting EKWB Support. I am sorry to hear you are having issues with our product. Please fill out the RMA form at rma.ekwb.com and we will work to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Thank you,

EKWB USA Support

I am worried mostly about my components however as there is quiet a lot of liquid in the pcie slot and along the rear of my video card and really don't know the extent of the damage it may have caused. There was approximately 40-50 ml of liquid lost..This probably explains why I was losing audio during Skype calls and why my Ethernet port became unresponsive over the past two weeks.

I was thinking of ordering some ipa spray and cotton buds.I will try get some photos of the damage this evening when I am home if I can.

Honestly I am on the fence about watercooling after this :/

 

[Uaon]

So here is the damage from what I can see so far :

Hard to see in the photo but there is liquid inside the pcie slot and on top, there is also a slight swelling on the right of the pcie slot, also notice the watermark/ damp around the wifi go text on the motherboard

Im unsure of how much seeped into the video card as I have not opened it as I fear it would void any kind of warranty etc.

What is the longterm damage of this, I think the fact I dust out my case weekly possibly prevented possible further damage maybe, but that slight swell in the right of the pcie slot is worrying.

 

[Uaon]

Okay well now I almost feel like crying, I took all parts out of my case,cleaned up the motherboard as best I could and found liquid in the cpu socket, i took a cotton bud and soaked it a bit in ipa to clean around the socket and pins.I left it to dry overnight and today when I reassembled it refuses to boot.so I removed the cpu and now see I moved one of the pins slightly. Now what do I do?

 

[Uaon]

Many thanks Luc

So I received that email today about potentially flawed Ek Predator units, tad late , I guess you guys are making sure everyone checks their units.

So I managed to track down and purchase a used Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard on an ebay auction, I'm not one for buying such components on ebay, but this one looked clean,still under warranty and the guys feedback is perfect.It's pretty hard to find a good z77 board these days it seems.

This is the auction I won, by luck I caught it near it's ending and beat the highest bidder by just €2.00, I literally set my alarm for 4 am to ensure I would get the winning bid lol.

So I got it for a total of €223.60 EUR incl shipping, not the cheapest but still cheaper than my own board brand new which I originally paid €206.38 for that now sell for obscene amounts :S
Estimated delivery Mon, 18 Jan - Tue, 26 Jan has to come from New York sadly so just going to have to be patient

That's a bit of a relief although my own board is under warranty still but not so sure how they would appreciate the water stain and the crooked pin.

Here is a bit of a dilemma that just struck me, I upgraded to windows 10 pro on that board last year, what happens now when I install the new motherboard is my license still tied to my old one? Can I simply reinstall windows 7 and upgrade again or will my key still be tied to my previous board?

Bah and I lose quiet a lot of work on that ssd, I wonder if I can just enter windows on it regardless (likely it will be deactivated) and just back up my files first of all?

One last thing to note I had that same white substance that is on my gpu down the side of my cpu and that was also in my cpu socket (that I fail cleaned:/ )

I presume the cpu should be fine as it is well sealed right?

 

[Uaon]

Presume you are using the same HD/SSD? If so it will work fine, it may flag that it is not activated but you just go to activation (in settings) and it should be fine... before you do this make sure you update to the latest version of Win 10 as the activation will fail on an upgrade with older windows 10 builds - I literally did this last week. If you are planning a clean install just download and create a windows 10 boot USB, you can do this online here (see 2nd point):

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Once installed activate as normal, it will either activate using your old windows 7 key or via the store automatically. Again be sure to update to the latest version as it will be a fussy little **** otherwise.

Ah nice if it activates like that me as it did for you I can just do a refresh, I sign in to windows using my Microsoft account so hopefully that goes in my favor also.. Well that's a relief.

 

[Uaon]

Seems EK are recalling all predator units now.

''Dear customer

We are really sorry for the inconvenience but sadly all the predator units manufactured before January 4th 2016 are being recalled, so please contact your seller of the unit to get a replacement, Revision 1.1.

We have noticed that Predator units manufactured before that date are critical for leaks and to avoid any damage to your hardware, we have decided to recall them. Please note that only a small percentage of units are effected by this, but it's better to be safe than sorry, so please follow the instructions.

If you have bought it directly from our web shop, than please file a RMA case at our rma site http://ekwb.com/rma/ and our engineers will contact you asap and arrange a pickup and a replacement for you.
And if you bought it from one of our resellers, than please contact them and arrange to get a replacement from them.

Again, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for understanding.''

Yes I just got that email also and to be perfectly honest I really feel bad for EK ,it's a huge hit for them and hope it doesn't effect them too badly.They have been in the business for what 17 years?

"The leakage may occur between copper cold plate and bracket on the water block after it is heated up and pressure rises. Current statistics show that 1 out of 10 units leaks."

That's a scary ratio, to be honest however my unit still leaks while not powered on, I assume it is due to the gasket been moved out of position over time.

It's good to see Ek doing the right thing by their customer, and it's why I have accepted replacement of the revision 1.1 unit as I still have a lot of faith in the company.

We have to remember here many early aio units had similar problems and in more recent history swiftechs units.It is not just isolated to xlc's or aio's either I have read of quiet a few various water blocks from custom loops doing the same.

I am quiet happy to go with the 1.1 revision and as long as Ek stay true to their word on compensating me on my motherboard and video card I'll be quiet content.

I can't reiterate enough on how sorry I feel with them at the moment and truly hope all goes well for them through this ordeal.

 

[Uaon]

We will get over it but it's one of the most frustrating moment we ever had to be honest.

Lots and lots of angry customers to help. Some won't even accept our help but some do.

Yes I bet Oh well every cloud has a silver lining, look at it as a chance to advertise your customer support.

 

[Uaon]

So DHL arrived an hour ago to collect my predator unit alongside my gtx 980 and motherboard, I think the replacement motherboard I bought is stuck at customs as it's been in Ireland for 24 hours and hasn't budged, cross fingers I don't get hit with import tax

I have grown to appreciate the fact that through all this I am not a huge fan of laptops at all, these things literally idle at what my load temps were in my desktop :S

 

[Uaon]

I am going the long route by sending it back to ocuk , that is after i know the stock is in.
As it is - it will take me a day or so to strip my pc down , that is after i manage to get the pc on my desk.

I don't have a complicated setup , it's just i am disabled & it's a lot of effort for me to move my switch 810 & that's because it's on a trolly. Did not expect i would need to put it on it's side again!

Fingers crossed this will be the last time it's on it's side. the rest of the upgrades will be on it's trolly.

Sorry to hear that, hopefully you can get someone to give you a hand.
I just recieved my new motherboard today, and my god was it hell to reactivate windows, even after much time spent with support I just gave up and bought a copy of windows 10 pro as my previous upgrade to windows 10 is still tied to my old motherboard it seems :S


So after much tweaking I am up and running, albeit with a stock cooler and no video card.I also can not login to Ek's rma section nor can I even reset the password to be able to, so I am stuck now not being able to view or respond to any new updates on my rma :S

 

[Uaon]

You can't login? What error are you getting?

Hi Luc

I enter the password that was emailed to me upon creating an rma account, but I get the message "Wrong email / password." . So I click on reset my password and I get the message "Success! Password was reset and will be emailed to (my email address) within a few minutes." . I do not receive a new password no matter how many times I try.

 

[Uaon]

Send an email to [email protected] with this issue. They will be able to help you fix this.

Hi Luc I already contacted support yesterday and spoke with Igor, whom today informed me to email Roman to continue the RMA process as I still have no ability to login to the rma section.So I asked Roman to update me via email

Checking DHL I can see :Estimated Delivery:
Monday, January 25, 2016
By End of Day

So my Parcel including my Predator unit, motherboard & Gpu should be with you guys Monday it seems.

I have since installed a new motherboard and stock cooler, clearance of the predator mounted in the top of my Fractal Define R5 might be tight due to the thermal armor, I did not keep that in mind >.< I don't know if you have any experience with the same combination? Should hopefully still clear it?

 

[Uaon]

Since the mounting on the Define R5 is offset i'm pretty sure it will still be okay

Yes it fits with clearance,my replacement unit arrived today, and yes it really is best to take the motherboard out prior,fitting's seemed a lot more secure than my previous and unit didn't feel damp at all also unlike the first unit.

Some of the fins on the rad were bent but nothing too drastic. Curiously they fans supplied seem to be the regular vardar and not the ones with predator labeled on them, not that it matters as I assume they are the same, one of the fans has a little coil whine but you would really have to beside the case to notice in all honesty.

On boot I had that same "water injection sound " as I previously had in my first video but after a few boots it seems to have died down. I assume it's working any remaining air out of the system?

@ 4.4ghz Temps are well under 60c so I have plenty of headroom to push back up to my previous 4.8 ghz oc

Now all I am missing is a gpu as I sent off my old motherboard and gpu to you guys last Monday.Being unable to login to rma still would it be possible to get an email update when you guys get a chance?

p.s that letter included with the replacement unit is a nice touch

Overall replacement unit is leak free thus far and hopefully shall remain so.


EDIT: I can login to the rma section again

 

[Uaon]

Okay so just a quick update, I received my replacement unit and fitted it on the 22nd of January, all is well with the new unit, no complaints here, I was also asked for my Bank details so as to be refunded the cost of my damages to which I am very grateful for.

The thing is that was a week ago, I would imagine that my refund would have processed by now?So to make sure everything is okay and to check I inquired as to the status of this on my rma ticket.

On the login screen I see the following message "Please note this is an OLD RMA application used to browse old RMA tickets.

If you want to create new RMA ticket please go to EK webshop returns.
For B2B customers please go to EK B2B webshop returns.

Sorry for inconvenience."

Now I was still able to login to post my inquiry on my ticket, but as of yet have not received a response. I was going to send an email to support but didn't want to be an annoyance.

@EK Luc If and when you see this can you please inquire within on my behalf?