Solved: Aurora R3 GPU fans at 100%

A couple of days ago the fans of the GPU on my 6 years old (but in my case trusty) Aurora R3 suddenly started spinning 100% all the time, also during and after a reboot. As I upgraded the GPU recently I thought it was perhaps broken, so I replaced it with the old GPU but the problem remained. I moved the GPU to the lower slot, had to reseat some cables but the problem remained. I opened Alienware Command Center and it showed the error 'CPU pump failed'. I reinstalled Alienware Command Center but got the same error, so I decided to replace the liquid cooling. The Corsair H55 is indeed a one-for-one replacement, I did not even use the Corsair supplied mounting bracket(s) or case fan, I just reused the original mounting bracket and case fan (but used the Corsair long black screws to attach the liquid cooling to the case fan). I connected the fan cable of the new liquid cooling to the unused 'CPU Fan' connector at the top of the case, not to the 7-pin connector that the old liquid cooling used as you cannot connect it, but the problem remained. I cut the 7-pin connector from the old liquid cooling, stripped the wires and connected the fan cable of the new liquid cooling to it (Pin 1 = Ground, Pin 2 = 12V, Pin 3 = Sensor. If you happen to have breadboard alligator-clip-to-male jumper wires you don't have to cut the wires of the fan cable of the new liquid cooling) but the problem remained. Be careful, I happened to live test the 12V over-current protection of the power supply by creating a short circuit as the 12V wire accidentally came into contact with the metal casing (and it worked as my Aurora R3 is still alive). I checked the temperature sensors in Command Center again but none were showing, so I thought the problem now was with the Master IO board, perhaps caused by the short circuit. I found in the documentation of the Master IO board that it is also connected by USB to the USB1 connector on the motherboard, so I wanted to try if connecting it to a different USB port would resolve the problem, but then I noticed that it was not connected at all any more. This must have happened after moving the GPU back to the upper slot and reseating the cables, but it also made me wonder if the original 'CPU pump failed' error might have been resolved by just reseating the USB1 connector. I reconnected the USB1 cable but still the problem remained. As AlienwareAlienFXTester showed no Master IO board I decided to reinstall Command Center as a last resort and sure enough, everything is now working again!

Regards,

Gijsbert