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Started By
Message
Need some help installing and running some NZXT LED Fans
Posted on 12/28/21 at 7:57 am
Posted on 12/28/21 at 7:57 am
Ok, so two years ago I helped my son build a gaming pc and the build went fine. At the time we put in 2 120MM Fractal fans which fit the case but we knew at the time we'd likely switch them out at some point in favor of more/larger/LED fans.
So we got him a NZXT AER RGB2 120mm for the rear of the case and two NZXT AER RGB2 140mms for the top.
From everything I read it seems these fans required an RGB Fan controller to get them to synch correctly, so we grabbed that as well.
Currently running a NZXT Kraken liquid cooler which is staying put but which, currently, is not attached to this RGB & Fan controller but directly to the MB.
Motherboard is an MSI B450 Tomahawk Max.
I've hooked up everything correctly as far as I can see. I have 2 USB2.0 spots near the bottom of the motherboard almost dead center just to the right of that battery, with the liquid cooler already using one of them. This RGB and Fan Controller uses the one next to it. Power is hooked up correctly and all three fans are daisy chained properly as per the instructions. When I boot up the computer, all fans spin to life and the RGB lights on the fans glow white. All good so far as per the instructions. Problem is none of them show up inside the Cam Software when I boot it up so there is no way to adjust them or do anything with them. Cam software is the NZXT software which runs all of their stuff.
Image is not this PC obviously, but as you can see in the screen all the way to the right, the Kraken is listed (as is the one of his PC) but you can also see the AER Fan. This software should see any of the NZXT LED fans, light strips, etc.
Tried simple things like unplugging the USB to the motherboard, stopping the Cam software in Device Manager and restarting it there. I've even uninstalled and reinstalled the Cam software. I'm kind of at a loss!
Anyone ever install this particular brand stuff, or have any ideas? Any additional info about the build I can probably provide if it helps.
So we got him a NZXT AER RGB2 120mm for the rear of the case and two NZXT AER RGB2 140mms for the top.
From everything I read it seems these fans required an RGB Fan controller to get them to synch correctly, so we grabbed that as well.
Currently running a NZXT Kraken liquid cooler which is staying put but which, currently, is not attached to this RGB & Fan controller but directly to the MB.
Motherboard is an MSI B450 Tomahawk Max.
I've hooked up everything correctly as far as I can see. I have 2 USB2.0 spots near the bottom of the motherboard almost dead center just to the right of that battery, with the liquid cooler already using one of them. This RGB and Fan Controller uses the one next to it. Power is hooked up correctly and all three fans are daisy chained properly as per the instructions. When I boot up the computer, all fans spin to life and the RGB lights on the fans glow white. All good so far as per the instructions. Problem is none of them show up inside the Cam Software when I boot it up so there is no way to adjust them or do anything with them. Cam software is the NZXT software which runs all of their stuff.
Image is not this PC obviously, but as you can see in the screen all the way to the right, the Kraken is listed (as is the one of his PC) but you can also see the AER Fan. This software should see any of the NZXT LED fans, light strips, etc.
Tried simple things like unplugging the USB to the motherboard, stopping the Cam software in Device Manager and restarting it there. I've even uninstalled and reinstalled the Cam software. I'm kind of at a loss!
Anyone ever install this particular brand stuff, or have any ideas? Any additional info about the build I can probably provide if it helps.
3
Posted on 12/28/21 at 8:13 am to GeauxTigerTM
Just an idea, but might try updating the motherboard's bios/software from MSI's site.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 8:16 am to Ricardo
quote:
Just an idea, but might try updating the motherboard's bios/software from MSI's site.
Ehhhh...Yeah, we haven't done that. I'm sort of half way proficient when it comes to this sort of stuff. I know enough to take things apart, and install things, and generally frick things up if I'm not careful!
It's why I've stayed away from messing with the MB BIOS because even I know that I can brick that thing if I do that wrong. Can anyone walk me through that process given the info I posted above? The kid (19 btw) is already freaking out because we haven't been able to get the fans to work...if I brick his MB I may have to talk him down off a ledge!
Posted on 12/28/21 at 8:35 am to GeauxTigerTM
Link to support site for your particular motherboard:
support link
How to flash bios link
How to flash bios
Latest bios
bios file
Driver link (select appropriate operating system from drop down box)
driver link
There's a link to utility software on the support site as well.
support link
How to flash bios link
How to flash bios
Latest bios
bios file
Driver link (select appropriate operating system from drop down box)
driver link
There's a link to utility software on the support site as well.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 8:39 am to Ricardo
quote:
Ricardo
Awesome, thanks. So quick question...I think the latest BIOS that was on there was from 2019. So do I need to go all the way back to the one just after that and install them all up to the present one, or use the latest one I'm assuming you linked? Like I said, I know enough to know what I know and what I don't...so this is a mistake I don't want to make.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 8:42 am to GeauxTigerTM
You can install latest one.
Almost make sure the fan controller plug is inserted properly. It's possible to place them on in an offset manner.
Almost make sure the fan controller plug is inserted properly. It's possible to place them on in an offset manner.
This post was edited on 12/28/21 at 8:49 am
Posted on 12/28/21 at 9:08 am to Ricardo
quote:
It's possible to place them on in an offset manner.
You mean that there are 4 holes on the plug, but you can slide it on only getting three of the prongs missing one?
Posted on 12/28/21 at 9:13 am to GeauxTigerTM
The plugs usually have a mark for the +12v pin. It's possible to plug them incorrectly. I don't know why manufacturers use such a crappy design standard, but it can be messed up.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 11:26 am to GeauxTigerTM
quote:
Tried simple things like unplugging the USB to the motherboard, stopping the Cam software in Device Manager and restarting it there. I've even uninstalled and reinstalled the Cam software. I'm kind of at a loss!
some confusion here, Device Manager is for hardware devices, do you mean you start/stopped the fan controller device? Or that you start/stopped Cam in Services?
After you update your mobo BIOS to the latest version, open Device Manager and 1. Check to see if there are any devices with warnings for missing drivers and install those drivers, 2. Make sure your USB fan controller is showing up as a device.
As someone with two Kraken AiOs I'll say the Cam software is complete garbage, so good luck
Personally I use liquidctl with some scripts I wrote to control mine, but that's definitely advanced stuff and you should try to get it showing up in Cam before you try anything else. Posted on 12/28/21 at 12:21 pm to efrad
quote:
Or that you start/stopped Cam in Services?
Sorry, this one.
quote:
After you update your mobo BIOS to the latest version, open Device Manager and 1. Check to see if there are any devices with warnings for missing drivers and install those drivers, 2. Make sure your USB fan controller is showing up as a device.
Yeah, I think this was an issue as well before. If I unplugged the USB form the MB while on I'd get an error message basically saying Windows did not recognize the device.
quote:
As someone with two Kraken AiOs I'll say the Cam software is complete garbage, so good luck
That's the problem with this stuff. Tons of great reviews, but a handful of absolutely terrible ones...or basically exactly the types of reviews you find on line for nearly anything.
quote:
Personally I use liquidctl with some scripts I wrote to control mine, but that's definitely advanced stuff and you should try to get it showing up in Cam before you try anything else.
Yup...way above my paygrade.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 1:06 pm to GeauxTigerTM
Is MSI Dragon Center installed? MSI Mystic (MSI's proprietary RGB software) is very aggressive in trying to override other RGB software, which can cause conflicts.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 1:14 pm to GeauxTigerTM
quote:
Yeah, I think this was an issue as well before. If I unplugged the USB form the MB while on I'd get an error message basically saying Windows did not recognize the device.
Is this still happening now even after Cam is installed?
If so, it sounds like there's a missing driver for the device, which would explain why Cam can't see it. If the driver is missing it'll show up in Device Manager with a warning next to it.
If this popped up before Cam was installed, that's probably expected though.
quote:
That's the problem with this stuff. Tons of great reviews, but a handful of absolutely terrible ones...or basically exactly the types of reviews you find on line for nearly anything.
Unfortunately almost all of the stock software for RGB stuff is pretty crappy and they don't play well with one another, so the bar is low
Posted on 12/28/21 at 2:15 pm to Joshjrn
quote:
Is MSI Dragon Center installed? MSI Mystic (MSI's proprietary RGB software) is very aggressive in trying to override other RGB software, which can cause conflicts.
No idea really. Would I disable/uninstall that if it is? Only RGB thing on the MB is a little light strip that's sort of behind it that you can see peeking through a bit that rolls through the rainbow.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 2:19 pm to efrad
quote:
Is this still happening now even after Cam is installed?
Cam has been installed since we built the computer as it was downloaded with the Kraken liquid cooler. On the install paperwork for the RGB and Fan box as well as the fans, it basically said to download and install CAM if you did not already have it, but we did and assumed it would just add it, like the way Bluetooth sees a new device.
quote:
If so, it sounds like there's a missing driver for the device, which would explain why Cam can't see it. If the driver is missing it'll show up in Device Manager with a warning next to it.
any idea where this may be located in Device Manager? I'll obviously look for anything with a warning by it, but if you knw where to look...
quote:
Unfortunately almost all of the stock software for RGB stuff is pretty crappy and they don't play well with one another, so the bar is low
We were struggling to find Christmas gifts, and he had room for an additional fan and to enlarge the ones on the top of the box...so we figured why not have them light up?!?
Live and learn.Posted on 12/28/21 at 2:23 pm to GeauxTigerTM
quote:
No idea really. Would I disable/uninstall that if it is? Only RGB thing on the MB is a little light strip that's sort of behind it that you can see peeking through a bit that rolls through the rainbow.
You can uninstall it, or you can just go in and turn off the setting to override other software. If it is installed, you could change the motherboard from unicorn vomit if you'd like
Posted on 1/9/22 at 12:18 pm to Joshjrn
UPDATE
So, still haven't been able to get it to work, but let me roll through what I've done so far.
1) Using Ricardo's advice, I updated all the latest drivers for the MB. Only one I could not figure out how to install was the first one listed at the link: AM4 Raid Driver. Looked all over in the zip file for an exe and did not see anything, so I skipped it. Any help there would be appreciated!
LINK
2) Using Ricardo's link, I did successfully update the BIOS. Everything went fine there, so thanks.
Unfortunately, none of this got the NZXT Cam Software to see the stupid NZXT LGB and Fan Controller though.
I then moved on to Joshjrn's suggestion of checking to see if MSI Dragon Center and MSI Mystic Lights was installed. Dragon Center is NOT installed, but Mystic Lights is. I for got to mention it up front, but we also have two G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 installed in two of the four memory slots, and my son is using Mystic Lights to control those as well as the LGB attached to the MB.
So, I did not uninstall Mystic Lights because I have no clue how the memory sticks would be controlled without some sort of LGB software on the MB...so some insight there would be helpful because I did not fully try that.
I also checked the +12v pin issue Ricardo mentioned. As far as I can tell, it's fine. Looking at this image, and having tried to plug it in upside down, I can't even figure out another way to plug them in except the way they are now. And when checking this, I did switch the devices currently plugged into the two USB ports at the bottom of the MB, and each time the current NZXT Kraken cooler worked perfectly, and the Controller was unseen.
Finally, I did a little searching online and found some suggestions to uninstall the current NXZT device (which in my case would be the Kraken cooler) and then reinstall it to see if that helped. When I went to do that and looked in Control Panel I found this:
The NZXT USB Device is the Kraken which is working. The one next to it is the LGB and Fan Controller. I know this because when I unplugged it it disappeared. I also looked for it in device Manager and found this:
I then uninstalled the Kraken AND the device which wasn't working and rebooted the system. Every time the Kraken found a driver and was installed properly and the LGB and Fan Controller was not and remained as is.
We have an email in with NZXT, but they seem pretty useless. Any further suggestions? The fans ARE spinning, and they are lit up white...but that's not really the reason for having gotten these, ya' know? Any help would be great, thanks!
So, still haven't been able to get it to work, but let me roll through what I've done so far.
1) Using Ricardo's advice, I updated all the latest drivers for the MB. Only one I could not figure out how to install was the first one listed at the link: AM4 Raid Driver. Looked all over in the zip file for an exe and did not see anything, so I skipped it. Any help there would be appreciated!
LINK
2) Using Ricardo's link, I did successfully update the BIOS. Everything went fine there, so thanks.
Unfortunately, none of this got the NZXT Cam Software to see the stupid NZXT LGB and Fan Controller though.
I then moved on to Joshjrn's suggestion of checking to see if MSI Dragon Center and MSI Mystic Lights was installed. Dragon Center is NOT installed, but Mystic Lights is. I for got to mention it up front, but we also have two G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 installed in two of the four memory slots, and my son is using Mystic Lights to control those as well as the LGB attached to the MB.
So, I did not uninstall Mystic Lights because I have no clue how the memory sticks would be controlled without some sort of LGB software on the MB...so some insight there would be helpful because I did not fully try that.
I also checked the +12v pin issue Ricardo mentioned. As far as I can tell, it's fine. Looking at this image, and having tried to plug it in upside down, I can't even figure out another way to plug them in except the way they are now. And when checking this, I did switch the devices currently plugged into the two USB ports at the bottom of the MB, and each time the current NZXT Kraken cooler worked perfectly, and the Controller was unseen.
Finally, I did a little searching online and found some suggestions to uninstall the current NXZT device (which in my case would be the Kraken cooler) and then reinstall it to see if that helped. When I went to do that and looked in Control Panel I found this:
The NZXT USB Device is the Kraken which is working. The one next to it is the LGB and Fan Controller. I know this because when I unplugged it it disappeared. I also looked for it in device Manager and found this:
I then uninstalled the Kraken AND the device which wasn't working and rebooted the system. Every time the Kraken found a driver and was installed properly and the LGB and Fan Controller was not and remained as is.
We have an email in with NZXT, but they seem pretty useless. Any further suggestions? The fans ARE spinning, and they are lit up white...but that's not really the reason for having gotten these, ya' know? Any help would be great, thanks!
Posted on 1/9/22 at 3:38 pm to GeauxTigerTM
Posted on 1/9/22 at 7:17 pm to GeauxTigerTM
Is the NZXT fan controller plugged into the power supply. You mentioned the USB controller connector. Just making sure it's getting adequate power.
This post was edited on 1/9/22 at 7:18 pm
Posted on 1/10/22 at 8:28 am to LordSnow
quote:
I'd watch this
Thanks, but this was one of the first videos I found when making sure we were installing it correctly. Basically, my issue is at this point where he boots up the PC and the fans spin and they light up white...but in my case they do not show up in the Cam Software the way his does. So what I'm trying to do is figure out why that is.
LINK
Posted on 1/10/22 at 8:37 am to Ricardo
quote:
Is the NZXT fan controller plugged into the power supply. You mentioned the USB controller connector. Just making sure it's getting adequate power.
Yup, as far as I can tell it is. I had not taken a photo of the back side with all the connections, but here it is. We have a power cord connected to the power block which has three connectors on it. You can see the cord labeled POWER coming form the LGB Fan Controller connected to the first SATA port on the power cord.
Could I be beating my head against the wall here and the real issue is just that the stupid LGB Fan Controller is faulty?
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