Gelid Tranquillo prevents POST

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Hi,
Installed this cooler on an AsRock Z68 Extreme4 fitted with i5 2500K, will not complete POST - it hangs at message 45 on the motherboard display. Twice I have reverted to the stock cooler and everything seems to work properly. No difference with the motherboard sitting outside or inside the case. Even tried plugging the stock cooler fan into the motherboard connector in place of the Tranquillo plug (just long enough to test for POST operation).

Could it be the mounting plate beneath the motherboard is causing loading problems with the tracks on motherboard? I have fitted the black spacer/washers correctly too.

Everything is installed according to the cooler's instructions and the mounting plate as shown in this post by another user: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=19946759&postcount=1

Please help! Thank you.
 
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cold the cooler's back plate be shorting something on the back of the board ?
not sure if it would power on at all if that was the case

Thanks for your reply. I thought about shorts, but this is pretty much prevented by the white plastic insulation pads on the four "feet" of the plate. The only possibility is the introduction of additional capacitance across the PCB tracks under the feet.
 
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hmm very strange, have you had problems with any other aftermarket coolers ?

None at all, fortunately. This is the first / only occasion on which I have experienced a problem. It may just be that this cooler has an issue with this motherboard only. I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced difficulties in this way.
 
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How tight are you doing the mounting screws, some coolers bend the board and cause booting issues.

Good point, but I have checked this carefully. The mounting plate sits flush against the back of the motherboard on all four mount points and doesn't appear to cause any distortion or stress. The screws are just finger tight.

Have you tried it with the fan unplugged?

EDIT: that's a point actually, maybe you have it too tight and it's screwing with the pins?

Yes, I have tried it without the fan plugged in and with a stock fan (not installed) plugged in, with no improvement.



I could investigate placing a thicker spacer/insulator between the lower mounting plate and the motherboard next. Trouble is, this is very time-consuming with each cooler exchange as I need to re-apply the thermal compound each time.

Has anyone else had a problem like this?

Thanks for your replies.
 
Soldato
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It's not an uncommon problem with large coolers but it’s usually sorted with careful reseating – which you seem to have done already.

What tends to happen is the cooler causes the board to warp/bend and then this in turn effects the DIMM slots making it impossible for the memory to make decent contact.

Resulting in no post or BSOD etc…

Have you tried your memory in other slots – sometimes it only effects the first/second DIMM slot.

If you found that your other slots worked you would know for sure that you need to reseat again – or consider another cooler.
 
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It's not an uncommon problem with large coolers but it’s usually sorted with careful reseating – which you seem to have done already.

What tends to happen is the cooler causes the board to warp/bend and then this in turn effects the DIMM slots making it impossible for the memory to make decent contact.

Resulting in no post or BSOD etc…

Have you tried your memory in other slots – sometimes it only effects the first/second DIMM slot.

If you found that your other slots worked you would know for sure that you need to reseat again – or consider another cooler.

There are two x 4GB memory modules and I have tried these in both the white and blue socket pairs to no avail. Even one module has been tested in all four positions. If further insulation under the mounting plate doesn't work to space the plate further from the board, I'll probably have to conclude that the motherboard isn't suitable for this cooler.

Whether this is related or not, I am experiencing problems with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) updates installation. Certain updates are causing BSOD exception errors even with the stock cooler. There is no overclocking applied and I have upgraded to the latest BIOS revision.
 
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Whether this is related or not, I am experiencing problems with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) updates installation. Certain updates are causing BSOD exception errors even with the stock cooler. There is no overclocking applied and I have upgraded to the latest BIOS revision.

Your problem is starting to sound more complex - it maybe that the cooler is exacerbating an existing problem (maybe the MB or even the the CPU).

The larger cooler may be putting additional stress to failing part on the MB (maybe DIMM slots) due to weight/warpage or causing the CPU to have an odd contact with the MB socket (again causing memory instability) or other...

When you've removed the cooler have you looked closely as the MB socket pins?

If not next time you have the cooler off study the pins carefully for bent or slightly uneven pins.
 
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Your problem is starting to sound more complex - it may be that the cooler is exacerbating an existing problem (maybe the MB or even the the CPU).

When you've removed the cooler have you looked closely as the MB pins?

If not next time you have the cooler off study the pins carefully for bent or slightly uneven pins.

Forgive my ignorance, but which pins are you referring to - the CPU socket?
 

V F

V F

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Can someone confirm if this cooler has the socket 939 clips? for the 3 clips or rather it's the main middle clips that clip onto the 3 black plastic fingers.

Google images confuses me. The v2 doesn't have them apparently.
 
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The socket pins on the MB (updated previous post)

I will examine these next time I remove the cooler. Thanks for your suggestion. I could also test the POST operation without a heatsink fully fitted (very briefly) WITH the cooler mounting plate installed. I am beginning to think this motherboard is suspect.
 
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Can someone confirm if this cooler has the socket 939 clips? for the 3 clips or rather it's the main middle clips that clip onto the 3 black plastic fingers.

Google images confuses me. The v2 doesn't have them apparently.

The version I have doesn't list Socket 939 as a mounting option. Sorry.
 
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under no circumstances should you ever boot your pc with out a cpu heat sync.
The cpu would reach several hundred degrees with in 2-3 seconds normally and although modern cpu's throttle back to try prevent damage the chances are that you would still damage the cpu.
 
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under no circumstances should you ever boot your pc with out a cpu heat sync.
The cpu would reach several hundred degrees with in 2-3 seconds normally and although modern cpu's throttle back to try prevent damage the chances are that you would still damage the cpu.

I am aware of rapid heating and I said I would not *fully* fit the heatsink. Mounting the bracket beneath the motherboard means that the stock heatsink holes are occupied. I will hold a heatsink without its clamps in place for the brief duration of this test.
 

V F

V F

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The version I have doesn't list Socket 939 as a mounting option. Sorry.

Thats odd. As it does list it. As it was the reason I've currently bought one.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=2&cid=12&id=46

AMD Socket 754/ 939/ 940/ AM2/ AM2+/ AM3/ FM1:
CPU: All Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64, All Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, Sempron, Phenom, Phenom II

installation_kit(1).gif

unleddyh.jpg
 
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I am aware of rapid heating and I said I would not *fully* fit the heatsink. Mounting the bracket beneath the motherboard means that the stock heatsink holes are occupied. I will hold a heatsink without its clamps in place for the brief duration of this test.

Hmm as long as it makes constant contact with the cpu it should be ok but it is still a very risky thing to do :(
 
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