HP DL 165 G6 very noisy - fan speed

[irens]

HI.

I have Proliant DL 165 G6 and centos 5.5

Is any way to slow down of all 6 fans ? The server is very noisy ! By now it operates at 10K RPM of fan speed.

I have the lates bios and will upgrade to lates BMC firmware (from 3.11 to 3.20). Any chance to lower speed of fans ?

Best regards.

[Romulus6cbc]

I wondering has anyone found a solution to this yet. I just purchased a DL180 G6 server a month ago for a small office and the noise from the fans are extremely loud, to the point where it's interfering with daily office operations. This is during daily normal operations of the server, not during startup. As I understand it, there are no hardware monitoring sensors for the fans, and they are actually controlled by the health system agents which take over the fan operations after startup. There four non-redundant system fans, with one fan running at almost 10K rpm, one running at almost 6k rpm, and the other two around 3k rpm. Per HP tech support I have updated the system BIOS, the Lights Out Remote Management firmware, and the Management Controller drivers with no effect. The are no added riser cards in the system. I have tried re-seating the fans and switching the fans, with no effect. Has anyone tried replacing the non-redundant fan kit with the redundant fan kit? I guess my theory is more fans operating at slower speeds will tone the noise to some degree. Any help will appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.

[irens]

Hi.

I observed that speed of fans are dependable from temp of power ambient. So i observed at sensors screen in BMC:

Temperature - Power Ambient - Normal operating range - 23 deg. C and fans rotates from 7200 to 8200 so there is noise. So rotate of fans depend from Temperature - Power Ambient. This sensor is very sensitive and fans rotates faster and faster, when temp is growing constantly in 1 - 2 deg C.

So i think, when i could have this server in server room with proper cooling - maybe 18 deg. C then it would be not so noisy.

I think, it should be proper BIOS upgrade prepare by HP tech guy, to lower sensors sensitive. The border should be much more than present. This server in summary dos'nt do much and fans are so fast and louder.

Defenitly BIOS upgrade should be prepared for this issue.

Regards,

P.S. BCM in hp proliant series 100 is shit of crap, even in the lates version: 3.20

It was my last ever HP server.


I.Piasecki

[Saberus]

Don't let the 100 series be you measure of HP's servers, they are designed to be something affordable that works for a rack. The 300 series run quite well and quiet. Plus the iLO runs much smoother than the LO100

But 1U servers are going to be louder by design. Smaller fans have to run faster to move the same amount of air, or the server has to be built deeper to accommodate blowers.

[gui2_1]

Hi,

I have the same problem with a DL180G6.
I exchange many mails with HP support. For me it's seem to be a problem when we plug a PCIe card in riser or directly on the motherboard (independant from vendor i tried some "noname" NIC card). When there is no PCIe card, the fan operate at normal speed (2000~3000rpm) but whe PCIe card is plugged, this value is increased above 5000 rpm for all fans.
Do you have additionnal pcie cards in your systems ?
For me it's a firmware problem that must be fixed.

Best regards

[Romulus6cbc]

I have the same problem with a DL180G6.
I exchange many mails with HP support. For me it's seem to be a problem when we plug a PCIe card in riser or directly on the motherboard (independant from vendor i tried some "noname" NIC card). When there is no PCIe card, the fan operate at normal speed (2000~3000rpm) but whe PCIe card is plugged, this value is increased above 5000 rpm for all fans.
Do you have additionnal pcie cards in your systems ?
For me it's a firmware problem that must be fixed.

Yes, I do have a PCIe riser card in the system, however, this was part of the original configuration from HP (DL180 PID: 532074-005). The riser card is a HP Smart Array P410/256MB Controller card, so I cannot uninstall it to test the system, as it's essential for system operations. I've been working with HP support for the past few weeks, but the progress is excruciatingly slow. I think they are aware of the problem, but refuse to do anything about it. I recently ordered the redundant fan kit (P/N: 516009-B21) hoping it would reduce the fan noise. It arrives tomorrow. I will post my results after testing out the kit.

[irens]

@Gui2

It is standard configuration DL 165 G6 with pci-e card - smart array P212. I don't have made any test, if it noisy with this card or without.

In future, when i will have occasion, i will try it.

And YES - +1 - it should be fixed.

[gui2_1]

Do anyone experience another problem of unwanted bmc downgrade/updgrade when you plug AND unplugged some additionnal pciE cards? In my case, a network card NC360T?
After a successful upgrade the BMC reset and error 627 is displayed (see atachment) and fan runs @ full speed.

I take a picture of the behavior i attached it to my reply.

[Romulus6cbc]

Gui2.....Your POST related error sounds like a loose cable, PCI card or a system board component. Since you just uninstalled a NIC, I would re-seat all the PCI cards, and check the connecting cables.

Getting back to the fan problem, I have at least figured out the problem thanks to Gui2. I uninstalled the riser kit form the DL180 G6, turned it back on, and after the POST check, lo and behold the server was running at a whisper quiet. In fact the DL120 G6, which is a 1U server also with four system fans, and installed in the same rack, was now louder than the DL180. I checked the fan rotation rate in the BIOS; fans 1, 2 and 4 were running at 2472.2 RPM, and fan 3 was running at 3996.8 RPM. As soon as I reinstalled the riser kit, fan 3â s rotation rate went up to 9223.3 RPM, fans 1 and 2 went up to 5709.7 RPM, and fan 4 went up to 2997.6 RPM.

Uninstalling the riser kit permanently, is not an option for me since it was part of HPâ s original configuration (Proliant DL180 G6 Special Rack Server), and connects the Smart Array P410/256MB Controller to the hard drives and the system board.

So the question now it seems, not what the cause or the problem is, but what the fix is? I will forward my findings to the case manager handling this issue, and hopefully he/she will have fix, which I will post.

[andy-x]

It also happens with my ML350 and NC112T NIC card .... If you mount the NIC the fan runs very strong and is very noisy.

Hopefully there is a solution fast.