Corsair Issues Recall for Some HX1200 and HX1200i Power Supplies

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A bad lot

Corsair HX1200i
Corsair HX1200i (Image credit: Corsair)

Through a post on the company's forums, Corsair announced a recall on its HX1200 and HX1200i series of power supplies. While the issue isn't life-threatening, i.e., the power supplies won't burst into flames, Corsair still recommends that consumers contact the manufacturer for a replacement unit. The company has also put out the word for retailers to return affected units so none of them can make it to the consumer.

Corsair says that some HX1200 and HX1200i units may cause compatibility issues with certain motherboards, but the company didn't go into finer details. Essentially, the power supply will prevent the system from booting. The issue may arise immediately or after installation. Corsair has emphasized that the problem will not damage your hardware, but you should still call in for a replacement unit anyway.

The impacted HX1200 and HX1200i power supplies come with lot codes from 2030XXXX to 2041XXXX, which were typically commercialized after July 20, 2020. Corsair has provided a short and simple guide to decipher the lot code for your unit.

YYWWXXXX
2030XXXX

YY = Year = 2020
WW = Week = 30th week (20 Jul)
XXXX = Manufacture code

Since it's an isolated problem and one that only affects a small lot, Corsair didn't issue a full recall on the HX1200 or HX1200i units. Instead, affected owners of one of the aforementioned power supplies should contact Corsair's customer service team through this form to arrange for an advanced RMA.

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Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jonnyguru
    This is old news. Slow news day? ;-)

    You'll note from the forum link provided that this recall was done BACK IN NOVEMBER and because it only impacted a few units (HX's weren't made every week in those two months), so the number of units impacted is quite small. The inventory managed to get completely quarantined and has actually already been replaced by new units!

    If you want to understand the root cause: There is a TL431 (a programmable precision shunt) used to manipulate the timing of the power good signal. When LiteOn decided to discontinue their TL431, an OnSemi TL431 was put in its place. On paper, it looked like a one to one replacement.

    You'll not that, based on the lot code and when Corsair says these units were in stock, that these units were built and shipped during the summer. Temperatures are easily 25°C or higher in the Northern hemisphere and every unit passed burn in, bench testing, etc.

    Come November, it was found that the output voltage of the OnSemi TL431 was out of spec when operated when temperatures hit 20°C or below. This prevented certain motherboards from "seeing" the signal as it would come "too late". Fortunately, Corsair was able to find LiteOn TL431's on the market (retail) to continue production of HX1200 and HX1200i. For the long term future (since you can't really spot buy a discontinued TL431 off the market forever), the circuit has been completely redesigned to not use a TL431 at all.
    Reply
  • jpe1701
    jonnyguru said:
    This is old news. Slow news day? ;-)

    You'll note from the forum link provided that this recall was done BACK IN NOVEMBER and because it only impacted two lot codes (not a range, as implied in the forum post), the number of units impacted is quite small. The inventory managed to get completely quarantined and has actually already been replaced by new units!

    If you want to understand the root cause: There is a TL431 (a programmable precision shunt) used to manipulate the timing of the power good signal. When LiteOn decided to discontinue their TL431, an OnSemi TL431 was put in its place. On paper, it looked like a one to one replacement.

    You'll not that, based on the lot code and when Corsair says these units were in stock, that these units were built and shipped during the summer. Temperatures are easily 25°C or higher in the Northern hemisphere and every unit passed burn in, bench testing, etc.

    Come November, it was found that the output voltage of the OnSemi TL431 was out of spec when operated when temperatures hit 20°C or below. This prevented certain motherboards from "seeing" the signal as it would come "too late". Fortunately, Corsair was able to find LiteOn TL431's on the market (retail) to continue production of HX1200 and HX1200i. For the long term future (since you can't really spot buy a discontinued TL431 off the market forever), the circuit has been completely redesigned to not use a TL431 at all.
    Don't come around here spreading actual facts Mr Gerow, you're only supposed to talk about raspberry pi or the latest juicy rumors on here now. Lol
    Reply
  • drtweak
    Got me worried for a second. Got mine 2 years ago so I'm good lol.
    Reply
  • jonnyguru
    drtweak said:
    Got me worried for a second. Got mine 2 years ago so I'm good lol.

    Scaring people makes for good news posts.
    Reply
  • BobertCole
    This might be old news, but I bought my HX1200i in Dec and have been having exactly these issues with it, and it is in the batch specified. Seeing this post has saved me endless frustration and solved my issue (hopefully), so I'm grateful to the Tom's team.
    Annoyed at the retailer for selling me a PSU with a recall notice on it though!!
    Weirdly, I had tried a different PSU on the system and had the same issues, so thought I'd ruled the PSU out as the cause, but might be that the old PSU was just not compatible with the mobo as it was 8 years old and also Corsair.
    Reply
  • volkunus
    I have an HX1200i unit whose Serial Number starts with 2032, but haven't had any issues with it. Should I contact Corsair and send it back? Also, in case I need to send it, anyone knows how the RMA works? I can't stay a whole month or so without a PC, because I'm working from home since the Covid19 situation started.
    Reply
  • jonnyguru
    volkunus said:
    I have an HX1200i unit whose Serial Number starts with 2032, but haven't had any issues with it. Should I contact Corsair and send it back? Also, in case I need to send it, anyone knows how the RMA works? I can't stay a whole month or so without a PC, because I'm working from home since the Covid19 situation started.

    It's probably not cold enough where you are for the PSU to not turn on (see my first post, please).

    The problem only happens when it's operated in cold temperatures and once the PSU is on, it stays on.

    THAT SAID.... I'd still try to work something out within the guidelines of the recall. Like, continue to use your PSU and ask that a replacement and shipping label for the affected unit to be sent ahead of time while you continue to use your PC. That way there's no down time.

    Please see the thread on Corsair's website that is referenced in the article:

    https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=201807
    Corsair Nick said:
    End users with HX1200 and HX1200i power supplies in the affected lot codes may contact CORSAIR customer support directly to arrange for an advanced replacement unit.

    I believe that's how they're handling it. But you would have to open a ticket with Corsair to be 100% certain.

    It's weird how electronics don't like cold. You would think the opposite would be true. I have a lab quality IDRC CP-350 digital power meter. My daughter needed to use it for an engineering project. It's cold here and when I pulled it out of the garage, it wouldn't fire up. I let it sit inside the house for a day and now it powers up no problem.
    Reply
  • jonnyguru
    BobertCole said:
    This might be old news, but I bought my HX1200i in Dec and have been having exactly these issues with it, and it is in the batch specified. Seeing this post has saved me endless frustration and solved my issue (hopefully), so I'm grateful to the Tom's team.
    Annoyed at the retailer for selling me a PSU with a recall notice on it though!!
    Weirdly, I had tried a different PSU on the system and had the same issues, so thought I'd ruled the PSU out as the cause, but might be that the old PSU was just not compatible with the mobo as it was 8 years old and also Corsair.

    That is weird that you were sold that PSU as late as December! I mean, with the way everyone is buying PC parts at frenzy pace, nobody has inventory because it sells through too quickly. Maybe the vendor doesn't have a good FIFO inventory and kept putting new product in front of the old. :(
    Reply
  • Xandurr
    I tell you what, old news or not, this article was exactly what i needed! I was sold one of these units by a retailer in australia Jan 15 2021. I had this issue so returned it. The replacement i was sent did the same thing, so sent it back to them again. Got a third unit, was busy at work so only able to get a chance to put it in tonight (About a month after getting the third unit back) and same exact issue. Just checked (as i had to write down the details for returns) and all 3 were from one of these job lots. Im so glad i found this article as i have now filled out the Corsair form so hopefully i will get a working unit now! YAY!!!
    Reply
  • jonnyguru
    Xandurr said:
    I tell you what, old news or not, this article was exactly what i needed! I was sold one of these units by a retailer in australia Jan 15 2021. I had this issue so returned it. The replacement i was sent did the same thing, so sent it back to them again. Got a third unit, was busy at work so only able to get a chance to put it in tonight (About a month after getting the third unit back) and same exact issue. Just checked (as i had to write down the details for returns) and all 3 were from one of these job lots. Im so glad i found this article as i have now filled out the Corsair form so hopefully i will get a working unit now! YAY!!!

    That's the thing that sucks about Australia. Every part there tends to be from the same lot code because they ship in containers containing almost enough inventory to last them a year. Read about another guy with the same problem with SF450 PSUs. Over the span of six months, he RMA'd three units and every one of them were the exact same lot code.

    If you don't mind DM'ing me what retailer you were using, I'd love to reach out to them and have them clean their inventory.
    Reply