HP ProLiant DL360 G7 Fan Speed Issue

[ArcticWolf_11]

Hello all, I just got a DL360 G7 from a public auction and everything works fine. However, the fans go to about I want to say 50% speed then sometimes it drops down to where you can barely hear them then goes back up to 50%, is there a way to fix this and set a constant fan speed or at least stop it from doing this? I am running windows 10 64 bit and the the server has 2 X5650 CPUs pre installed so I have the preformance model and I was also wondering if I can upgrade them to 2 X5690s Thanks!

[waaronb]

The fans, by default, are going to be reactive to system temps, which will vary depending on the CPU load usually.  Are you running anything that might spike CPU activity sometimes, resulting in the fans kicking up a notch?

You can go into the BIOS settings and change the fan mode to "increased cooling" (or whatever the option is on the G7... on the Gen8/9 boxes there's "increased cooling" and also "max cooling").  It makes the fans run a little faster all the time but at least it won't go up/down all the time based on what's running.

You should also make sure the latest firmware is installed.  I don't know if that's an issue, but some firmware release notes for the BIOS, array controller, and ILO have mentioned fixing fan speed problems, and it's a good idea to be on the latest anyway.jm

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_9182f6a8b7eb47eba68953cb63

[ArcticWolf_11]

Okay, thanks! Which bios should I use and how do I flash/install it? I am using windows 10 on the server atm.

[Torsten.]

Latest BIOS for DL360 G7 is 2015.08.16, latest ILO 3 is version 1.88.

[shuck]

Sell the server as fast as you can and buy a different brand.  HP has no interest in supporting their servers, especially older ones purchased second-hand.  They have switched to a pay to play business model to try to create a constant revenue stream and nickel and dime the IT budgets of companies.  As such, you have to have a $500+ per year service contract to even download the main BIOS for your "new" server. 

The most likely cause of your fan noise is using a non-HP hard drive, which is another "feature" they have conveniently built in to convince you to buy their overpriced, rebranded HP hard drives.  HP die hards will claim it's because third party hard drives don't properly support SMART in their firmware, but shockingly, they work just fine in every other computer out there without fake overheat issues.

There's a reason all of these HP servers are flooding the second-hand market and are cheap as hell.  Back in 2014, they announced their paid-only updates (except in Australia where it's illegal) and IT pros have been dumping them left and right ever since.

[Torsten.]

I don't like the idea of restricted downloads, but have a look at this.

The latest BIOS in windows installer version is inside

cp028088.exe

Now google this and you are pointed to

https://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/repo/spp/2016.10.0/hp/swpackages/

and you will find

http://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/repo/spp/2016.10.0/hp/swpackages/cp028088.exe

[shuck]

And none of that information was available from the HP website when I cross-referenced my server with the 2012 R2 OS that it is running.  No idea how I would have ever found that.

Needless to say, I'm still sitting on a DL380 G7 that keeps ramping its fans up for no reason.  When I take all the hard drives out (all non HP) it still slowly ramps up to 78% over the course of about 3 minutes and stays there.  Before I updated all of the firmware the other day, it would at least stay low for a random amount of time and then spin up. 

An ILo reset will calm the fans for 1-2 minutes.

[ArcticWolf_11]

Okay, thanks!

[_r00t_]

I am facing fan issues with a DL380p G8 (please read my recent posts), and I have an hp certified hdd. In particular I have 627114-001 so it's a G8 hp certified.

[_r00t_]

Wise words.

Hp servers are P.O.S. 

No wonder why they are cheap as hell as you say.

All in all, I've spent $150 on it and used for a year, when it blows up I will discard it as the garbage it is.

They are so cheap that even being a P.O.S. still you can use them.