[SOLVED] Do AIOs occasionally have a "bad start" or should I RMA?

[Rosencrantz]

Hello all!

I just built a nice new tower about a month ago, and for the first time today I was greeted with a horrid grinding mechanical sound (~40dB, twice as loud as typical case fan noise) that I am confident was the water pump (fans are all fine, sound was coming from the center of the case, GPU fans weren't spinning, no other moving parts in the system). Restarting did nothing, as the unit never shut off, but shutting down then immediately restarting fixed it.

Should I just RMA or has anyone else ever experienced a "bad start" with a pump? I'm not sure if it's early hardware failure or a software hiccup making it run wrong once.

It is the Corsair H1ooi elite capellix. The RMA period is 5 years so it's not like it's an immediate rush, unless I wanna replace through newegg.

 

[Bazzy 505]

Unless there's a mechanical failure, no they don't have "bad starts". But if you coolant temperature is what it normally tends to be, it would haven been unlikely caused by AIO pump.
Now the sound you describe is often caused by failing fluid dynamic bearing fans. They're often found in power supplies. Capellix radiator doesn't use this type of ventilators.

 

[Paperdoc]

If the pump made a lot of noise (quite abnormal) but stopped when you shut down and re-started, it MAY have had some junk in the system. But it also MAY have had a air bubble that got trapped in the pump. That causes "cavitation" and much more noise than normal, and VERY poor or no fluid flow. So keep an eye on it. If this happens again I suggest calling Corsair Tech Support, because normally these systems arrive completely filled and should not lose any liquid.