ML115 G1 Fan Speed

[George287]

I recently acquired an HP ML115 G1 for NAS use and I have a copy of Home Server 2011 to install on it. There is one thing I'm concerned about however; the server is relatively loud, louder than I expected it to be and louder than the G5 I use as a desktop computer at work (the G5 is very loud when you first start it up, but goes much much quieter once it's finished POST, the G1 goes really loud, then barely drops in noise when it's finished POSTing). I checked the temperature of the CPU in the BIOS and it was sitting at 36 degrees; I'd rather sacrifice some temperature and get it a bit quieter, considering that it will be on 24/7 in my bedroom. Is there anything I can do to get the fans to run a bit quieter? Would updating the BIOS do anything (I'm currently running a July 2007 BIOS)? Alternatively, I wouldn't mind too much if the fans were controllable from within the OS (I've not installed it yet) through a program like speedfan or similar, would this potentially be possible as well?

[Johan Guldmyr]

Hey,

usually with the HP servers you need to install some kind of driver on the OS (health driver) - this controls the fans. Unsure how this was actually done on the ML115 G1.

I couldn't find a driver for 2008 x64.

2007.12.12 is the last BIOS.
There is a funny fix in a BIOS later than yours:
"Resolved an issue where the system powers on automatically at 12:30:30 on the 15th of every month."
I couldn't see one related to the fans though.

Personally, at a point in time I couldn't sleep unless the machines in my bed room wasn't spinning :)

Does "NVIDIA® nForce Professional Driver for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 " control the fans perhaps?

Couldn't find one that would be just the health driver, probably because it's the ML115.

Maybe you'll have better luck in Windows 2003?

Another thought, is it possible in BIOS to change the fan speed?

[George287]

Hi, I'll try the BIOS updates when I get home as well as the ILO thing I've seen used in a few places. As long as the fans are controllable by PWM from within the OS, it won't be a huge issue thankfully. I've checked the BIOS and I can view the health of the hardware (fan speed, CPU temp) but there's no options to set or regulate them unfortunately. Windows 2003 is kinda out of the question, as I've bought 2011. I always sleep with my main machine running, I find it helps me sleep to have a quiet constant noise, but that's relatively quiet compared to the ML115 :) I don't want it whisper quiet or anything, just at a nice neutral level where it doesn't intrude too much.

Cheers

George

[George287]

Tried the BIOS updates and whatnot last night, no difference. The fans also appear to be uncontrollable from any free fan monitoring software from within the OS. Perhaps I need some sort of chipset driver? I couldn't see that NVIDIA Nforce driver in the list for a 64 bit OS either :(

My next possible option would be to buy new fans. I believe the Heatsink has an 80mm fan, and the rear fan is a 92mm, if I replaced them with high quality, quiet fans with similar airflow, would the server complain? I heard that any fan spinning at below 1000rpm shuts the server down, but perhaps this is just G5s as I briefly unplugged both the fans to see how noisy the rest of the computer & the PSU was and during startup, all it did was warn me and ask me to press F1 to continue with no system or CPU fan installed.

[Johan Guldmyr]

Or, you could have one of them with a physical knob that you can use to variate the speed of it.

It's likely that the x64 is not supported on this machine. That may be why you cannot find the chipset drivers.

Just make sure that the connectors on the replacement fans are the same. There may be other limitations, I don't know how 'smart' the stock fans are.

[George287]

Yeah, I've considered buying a couple of fan controllers such as the Zalman Fan Mate 2s. I think they simply act as a passthrough and they're very cheap (ideally I'd like one that's mounted in the front so I can externally control the fans with ease, but these don't act as a passthrough, and I'd have to deal with the extra hassle with every startup). What I reckon I'm going to do is to buy a couple of decent quality replacement fans as well as the fan mates as I don't think I'll have much luck controlling the stock fans with software. Preferably the replacement fans will be fine, but if not, I'll give the HP fans through a fan mate a go. I currently don't have any other ideas :(