Houston, the eagle has landed (New Apollo)

I am reporting that I am typing this on my new Apollo. It's running fantastic with never-before seen boot times. This is my first rig from DS, and the first gaming rig that I can say I truly own in my name.

1) I didn't make the mistake of plugging the monitor into the MB instead of the video card.

2) Immediate concern: I've noticed many people on here recently reporting issues with light strips failing or stop working. I seem to be an unfortunate casualty. My light strip worked great for about all of 10 minutes while I was flipping through the different lighting schemes and it got stuck on white. After rebooting they wouldn't show up at all. The remote seems to be functioning normally. I'll post in the tech support forum. It doesn't look like DS is open to tech support calls on weekends. Will have to call Monday.

3) Everything else seems to be working beautifully. I haven't had the opportunity to really test the limits of the system through gaming, but with headphones the system is moderately quiet.

4) The case was much bigger (and heavier) than what the picture suggested, which hasn't proven to be a problem. It looks like I may want to think about upgrading to a larger desk soon however.

5) Since I wanted my rig in my bedroom, which doesn't have a jack for a DSL modem. I opted for a PCI-wifi card. Having to screw on and adjust the bunny ears in the back felt rather antiquated. Technology really has come full circle.

My overall immediate impressions are good, and even without the light strip the blue accents from the case fans and mouse/keyboard make for great mood lighting. I'll post some pictures probably in about an hour or two.

overloaded wire connectors causing voltage drop perhaps?  does DS run their LED wiring in parallel (individual wires back to psu) or serial back to the psu? do you have a multimeter to test voltage drop?  does DS use stranded wire or solid wire?  stranded is much better at eliminating voltage drop and heating issues at the connection.  you might also have frayed/overlapping wires coming into contact with each other, causing a short.  or it could simply be a case of a wire or two that wasn't stripped back far enough (or shoved to far into the connection) so that the connection is clamped onto the pvc coating rather than the wire.  i suppose a DS tech could've also wired the LED incorrectly as well.  a multimeter and visual inspection should let you know what exactly is going on.

Originally posted by OccamsRazor The wire is sleeved. It runs back behind the hard drive tray and directly into the PSU. The port is labeled PERIF

check both ends of the wire. the exposed wire that is clamped down in the connector needs to be in contact and not clamped down on the sleeve.  also, look at the exposed wire and see if it's frayed at all.  if it is, it could be causing a short if it comes into contact with other metal (wires or anything).  make sure they are clean and straight so that you get good contact with the connectors/terminal.  how's about that multimeter?

edit:  which LED lighting option did you select?  did it require the thermal management control board and software?  if you're wiring is all good it could be a software problem.


Edited by db188 - 25 Sep 2015 at 8:56pm

have you tried gently pulling on the individual wires to see if they easily come out of the connection?