Zalman woes

I installed a Zalman CNPS9500A-LED this afternoon which involved stripping down the mobo to get the backplate on (I know I should have bought it BEFORE the build..
) it was time consuming to say the least.. then I powered up and... nothing, no POST.. NOTHING :(
Now my mobo has a 4 pin CPU fan connector, the Zalman has a 3 pin. I followed the instructions, connected the fanmate speed controller to the mobo, and the cooler fan to the fanmate. After a bit of head scratching (and adjusting the fanmate between full/half/minimum) I decided to unplug the fanmate and plug the fan direct to the mobo. It worked straight away, booted no probs.
Has anyone got any idea why this happened? I'm not that bothered about controlling the fan speed anyway but wondered why. Maybe my controller is knackered?
:-?

Now my mobo has a 4 pin CPU fan connector, the Zalman has a 3 pin. I followed the instructions, connected the fanmate speed controller to the mobo, and the cooler fan to the fanmate. After a bit of head scratching (and adjusting the fanmate between full/half/minimum) I decided to unplug the fanmate and plug the fan direct to the mobo. It worked straight away, booted no probs.
Has anyone got any idea why this happened? I'm not that bothered about controlling the fan speed anyway but wondered why. Maybe my controller is knackered?
:-?