DL380 G8 Fans spin fast when Rizer Card is installed

[gianlu_98]

Hello Everyone,
I wish to start by saying that I am not an expert on the Server Side of the IT, in fact I'm a network engineer but I found a very good deal for a DL380 Gen8 and decided to buy it for home lab porpuses, so please forgive me if I make some basic mistake.

The server i bought had a Rizer Card with a card with Fiber Optic connections for storage that I don't need.
At first I saw that all the fans spins at around 60% (Please note that I keep the server at rooms temps around 22C).
By lowering the power and cooling setting I got 3 fans spinning at around 30% and the other 3 still at 60%.
During my test I saw that the HD Controller was the hottest part and that the 3 fast spinning faster were the 3 on that side of the chassis, and since the Rizer Card was just near it I tried to change the slot for the Rizer Card thinking that it may be blocking some airflow to the controller, forcing the fans to spin faster.
After changing the side of the Rizer Card I saw that the fans speed inverted, the 3 that were spinning at 60% (On the HD Controller side of the chassiss) goes to 30% and the 3 that were spinning at 30% (On the new Rizer Card posizion side of the chassis) start spinning at 60%; also the HD Controller temps were the same as before.
After seing this I decided to try to remove the Rizer Card at all sice I don't need it, after removing all 6 fans start spinning at around 6% to 9%

Is it possible that the root cause is really the Rizer Card? Even if it's not being used at all?
At the moment I do not need it but I will shortly change my PC Graphic card and to not waste my old graphic card I wish to install it in my server using the Rizer Card.
I wish to avaoi having the fans start spinning to 30/60% again since it was too loud to keep it powered on, with the low speed instead I can kepp it powered on without issue because it barely makes any noise.

Many thanks to everyone that will help me understand this strange behaviour.

Regards,
Gianluca

[Bunsol]

Hi Gianlu,

First check if the Riser card and cage are compatible parts on the server. Below are the spare and option parts of the DL380p Gen8 and DL380e Gen8:-

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c03243782

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c03235291

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c03425410

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c03378475

If the cards are not compatible then there is a possibility that the fan issue may occur.  Also if it is reporting to HD Controller please do check if any non HPE drives are installed. Make sure that if there are HDD slots not used then the drive bays are occupied by drive blanks. If non compatible parts are installed then it is possible for the fans to be making this noise. If the components are all compatible components then make sure that the BIOS and ILO are updated and also check the cooling is set to optimal.

Regards,

Bunsol.