Asetek VapoChill LightSpeed [AC]

Trying out the VapoChill LightSpeed [AC] (cont):

At this point, about thirty minutes into running with the VapoChill I had a huge problem: a bright flash and pop from inside the VapoChill, and then my whole system shutdown. The backlight on the VapoChill LCD and the blue LED on the Chill Control board both went dark, and the VapoChill would not start back up no matter what I tried. I visited the support forums, and the only answer I could find was to send the unit back to Asetek for service. For me, this would be the last option since publishing the review on time was of utmost importance. I decided to once again remove the side panels from the Vapochill to see if there was any visible source of failure. Luckily enough there was, there is a small glass fuse on the top right corner of the circuit board at the rear of the VapoChill and it was visibly blown. I removed it and searched in my area for a replacement, but it is a non-standard size and I was unable to find a fuse of the same size (22mm) with correct rating (250V, 10Amp). I did however find a fuse of the same rating in a standard 1.25" size, and decided to use an unorthodox approach to solve the problem. I don't recommend you do the same as Asetek would happily service your VapoChill or send a replacement fuse, but I de-soldered the fuse clips for the original fuse and soldered on a new fuse holder for the size fuse that is standard in my area. I then reinstalled the circuit board and sealed everything back up and sure enough the lights on the LCD and Chill Control board re-lit and the system started back up without a problem.  I haven't had another fuse blow since the first one, and it was likely a rare chance occurrence from perhaps a bad fuse. The Asetek representative I contacted was very helpful and offered to replace the original fuse right away, so I wouldn't hold Asetek at fault for the incident as these things just happen sometimes.

I managed to get my 2.4C fully stable at 290FSB (3488MHz) and got a quick shot of the LCD display in action.

After using the VapoChill for several days I noted all the little bugs and issues I encountered with it. There is nothing really serious, and everything I saw happen is discussed on the VapoChill forums. Firstly, every 5th time or so that I restart my system the VapoChill Control Panel software will report that it is unable to establish a USB link. When this happens the software cannot communicate with the VapoChill and the LCD reads "Waiting for USB Link." The problem is always resolved by just restarting the computer again. The next thing I ran into is the backlight on the LCD turned off and did not come on again until I rebooted my computer. Lastly, and this only happened one time, I started up the system once and it appeared as if the LCD was trying to display both lines of text on the top line of the display. It resulted in a weird garbled output. Aside from this I have not had one single problem with the VapoChill LS and I'm really not bothered by them considering the increase in overclocking it has given me.

I should note that the VapoChill Control Panel software is still relatively new and naturally Asetek is working hard to get all bugs out of the software. As new versions of the control panel software are released they can be downloaded from the VapoChill support forum.