NOISY FAN on ML350 G5

[wayne forster]

This fan is extremely noisy and has become louder since installation just 3 weeks ago.

[KarloChacon]

hi

- try reseating cable connection for Fans also swap cables
- clear NVRAM
- update system ROM
- and reseat power supplies

bye

[GaryD_1]

2 of our customers have also this week reported their ML350 G5 servers suddenly having much noisier fans. The HP Server Management page shows all temperatures well within limits with no warnings or errors. I have installed the latest psp on one of the servers but still getting constant high fan noise after the reboot.

[Andrew Montague]

I too am having this problem with a client server. HP support have tried to fob me off with the idea that it's the heatsink despite the System Managment showing the temp as 30 Degrees.

I'm going to reset the NVRAM (not confident this is it but needs to be tried) and will post back the result.

[Trygve Henriksen]

What's the temperature and humidity in the room?

Any dust buildup on the fans?
(I have never had any problems with dust ruining a fan, even with a lot of dust in the room, but there's always a first time... )

If you have two or more servers with the same fans, is there any possibility of swapping it with one from another server and see if the noise moves?

[Andrew Montague]

Just to clarify my problem, just in case it is different from the original issue, the fans spin to full speed on boot and do not (as you would expect) spin slower after that. Instead they remain at the full spin despite the System Diags saying that they are running at 'normal' speed.

[Andrew Montague]

Resetting the NVRAM did the trick - it seems that there may have been an error that was 'stuck' and it was causing the fans to over-rev.

It's much better now, similar to a large workstation. :-)

[GaryD_1]

Cheers for that Andrew, instructions on how to reset the NVRAM :

[broken link removed on <4/4/2017> by Mod] 

[Nik Holmes]

I have the same problem on a ML350 G5 which was purchased in May 08. Fan noise suddenly increased hugely over last weekend, and it's definitely the CPU fan which is guilty.

Is resetting the NVR equivalent to updating the BIOS? An HP support person told me to update the BIOS, but that didn't cure the problem.

If I do clear the NVR, will that cause any problems when I restart the system?

I've already booked out a fan replacement under warranty - if clearing the NVR solves this problem, maybe someone should tell the Proliant support people about it?

thanks, nik

[wayne forster]

I reset the NVRAM using the suggested toggle of switch 6 and power on/off etc but this hasn't worked. Should this be done via the BOIS instead?

For now, I have shutdown, removed the power lead for 2 mins and rebooted. It will be quiet until this afternoon !