Today my computer shuts down and reports 89 degrees in the bios...

[blackjackel]

I'm using the Lepa LPWAC240-HF as shown here:
https://www.amazon.com/LEPA-Liquid-Cooler-Cooling-LPWAC240-HF/dp/B00RDLKYIC

I've had it since 11/2015, it has a 2 year warranty and it hasn't been a year.

Today the comp just shut down on it's own and threw a "CPU overheat" error, so i went into the bios and sure enough, 89 degrees...


Radiator is cool to the touch, even after i stopped the fans from turning physically with my hands, radiator stays cool. Fans run at full speed when the bios reports 89 degrees.

Bios reports 2900RPM on the water pump. Also, touching the waterblock (where the waterpump is located) i can feel vibration, can also feel vibration on the hoses connecting to the waterblock, so i think pump might be fine? Waterblock is HOT to the touch.


What could be wrong? There is no sign of a leak... and this is a closed loop system so what are the chances that there's a blockage of some sort in the water line?

I unscrewed the radiator from my case and sloshed it around to see if i could hear water, i didn't hear any...
Next I weighed the radiator by itself (I didn't detach the cpu block) and it weighed in at 2.33lbs or 1100 grams, I'm not exactly sure how much it should weigh, remember, this is just the radiator, which has two extra fans on top of the fans that it came with originally... So if there was no water in there, it should weigh significantly less than it would if there were water in it.... That's all the info I can get without actually opening up the closed loop system.

When I put the radiator back on, i disconnected all fans from it and ran it again, now the very bottom of the radiator gets warm and everywhere else it's cold... I'm thinking there's a tiny bit of water left in the radiator and that it somehow evaporated from the closed loop system.

What else do you guys suggest i do to troubleshoot?

 

[Alaric]

About the only thing you can do is reapply TIM to the CPU and reseat the waterblock/pump assembly. Any real inspection of the internals would require opening the system and screwing your warranty up. Just because the pump motor is turning doesn't mean the impeller is. If it's gotten loose on the shaft the water isn't circulating. If remounting the pump/block doesn't fix it RMA is your only option. I would get the RMA process started, then try new thermal paste.

 

[Flat-6]

The fact that the block is hot tends to indicate that there is no flow.

If water was flowing then the bock should barely get warm.

So you may have a loss of coolant which would cause the same symptoms you describe.

 

[jheb0y]

More likely its a dead pump or dry/clogged cooling system. If the cpu block is hot and the radiator isn't it only means one thing there is no flow...

 

[Mr.Scott]

You have a warranty. RMA that thing. Doesn't really matter what's wrong with it.

 

[LutaWicasa]

^+1^

 

[wingman99]

Just make sure the pump power is plunged into the header and if it is RMA the Lepa LPWAC240-HF.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

I agree on the fact that its a sign of no flow. Its either a nasty air pocket in there that won't budge or not much fluid in there. To save you from even more frustration, this calls for a RMA.

 

[Thick8]

It's a sealed system so unless there was a leak then it's still full. You wouldn't hear water sloshing because there is no air in the system to allow the water to slosh. My guess would be that something came loose internal to the pump and got bound in the impeller. It would still vibrate like it was running but it's not spinning.

 

[blackjackel]

Yeah I'm RMAing it, they want me to send it out to them and they'll send me a replacement.... which sucks because I don't have a stock cooler for my CPU and even if I Did, I don't want to go about detaching my motherboard to install a different cooler on it, so I'll be out of a computer for the time it takes to send it out and have a replacement sent back in...

They're only 30 miles from me, i asked if i can drive there, hand over the cooler and have them hand the replacement to me and the guy said no before hanging up on me..
So I'm asking if i can submit a deposit and have it refunded once i send my cooler back, we'll see what they say about that.

I'm pretty sure the water evaporated from the system, because after some tinkering with it, the system is now running albeit with really high temps, and the very bottom 1/4 of the radiator is piping hot while literally another 1/2 inch up from that it's cool to the touch, so again, pretty sure the water evaporated out of the system and now i'm runnong in the last bit of water left...

 

[wingman99]

I hope they will cross ship that would be nice.

 

[blackjackel]

though email they said they'd send out the replacement same-day fedex as soon as they get the tracking number on my RMA, that's good enough for me.

So after i took it out, i sloshed it around once again and this time i could definitely hear the sound of water in there....

ran the test again, and this time the waterblock got so hot i could barely touch it while the radiator again was cool to the touch.... I thought this thing was german made, didn't think it was gonna crap out in 9 months :/