HelRe: HP ML350e Gen8 Fan Noise

[marin_uk]

Been configuring a new ML350e Gen8 Server.

Updated the iLo and BIOS to the latest version and have installed a FAN Kit so that I have four fans in the Server.

The fan noise form this Server is very loud and at present while I'm working on it I have had to put it a cupboard to try and reduce the noise in the office as it just too load to work in the same room as it.

Is there anyway of reducing this noise ?

I have seen this problem before on other Servers and the iLo and BIOS updates have usually fixed this problem, but not in this case.

Thanks.

[Bart_Heungens]

Hi,

I have the same problem on a ML350p... Any solution would be great... Firmwares are up2date ass well...

If not I will open a case at HP...

Kr,

Bart

[Andy Warner]

Same problem with ML350p Gen8.

The server is in an air conditioned room, has three fans and all BIOS/Firmware upgrades but the customer is complaining about the noise. When idle is seems to have a hum but often the fans rev up a bit making it even louder.

System has 64GB Ram, 8 x 10K SAS drives and the CPU rarely goes above 10% usage. The previous server was an ML350 Gen5 with 8GB Ram and 6 x 10K SAS drives and hardly makes any noise at all.

[lbraendle]

Hi

I have the same problem on my ML350e Gen 8. But i have no additional Fans installed. Would it be better if i install the two additional Fans?

Regards

Lukas

[Nate_]

Hello

I am having this same issue.  Fans are running at %100 all the time with not load on the server.  BIOS and iLO updates did

not fix.  Has anyone found a solution to this issue?

Nate

[GeorgeK2]

I have the same problem with my ML350e Gen8.  I am running Redhat Ent 6.2, and I I have installed all of the Linux drivers in the SPP.  I can monitor the status of the fans from both the command line and the ILO interface.  I have two fans and they are running at 50% -- sounds like a vacuum cleaner sitting next to me.

If I install Windows the fans go silent (10% speed).  If I boot into the Smart Controller Utility (which appears to be running an embedded Linux) the fans go silent (10% speed).

I don't understand why my fans constantly run at the higher speed when I have RHEL6 installed with the latest SPP drivers.  The server temps are not elevated.

I need to get this server running, preferrably on Linux, but I can't have the constant fan noise in my work environment. 

Any solutions or clues that I can pursue?

[Kevin_Paul]

The Gen8 team is looking to gather as much information about these cases as possible.  They've requested that any users experiencing this issue to log a case, using the following process:

1. Navigate to the ProLiant ML350e HP Support Center page
2. Scroll down to the "GET HELP FROM HP" section on the left-hand side of the page, and click the "Submit or manage support cases" link
3. Follow the instructions within the Support Case Manager process

Thank you!

[DominicF]

I have the same problem. RHEL 6.4 and too much fan noise. Updated BIOS etc.

[lbraendle]

Hello

I found a Solution for my Server.

I removed all additional PCI-E Cards and build in the Redundancy Kit (with additional Fans) for this Server. After that the Speed of the Fans reduces the speed to 7%.

Regards

Lukas

[JackKCT]

I have the same problem... the server has been running for a little more than a month...

And today I did a full Windows server backup and installed a Startech USB 3.0 PCIe card, the server is still running fine after this part.

After I installed the PDF convertor 8 and Office 2013... and a restart... it is still fine...

But after a while... the fan start acting up, it is running up and down which is very annoying, I am totally fine if it is running in a constant speed(with noise).

Most importantly, the cpu usage is less than 5% all the time, it is jumping between 0-4%.

I am just glad that I am not the only one who has this problem... because I usually have bad luck with me...

EDIT:

A HP rep. get back to me within 1 hour after I submit the request, but... he recommends to remove the StarTech's PCIe card... 

I will wait until Wednesday and see...

[JackKCT]

The noise is gone - completely after I removed the StarTech USB 3.0 4 port PCIe card...

I just purchased 2x Lacie usb 3 and thunderbolt 4TB external hdd... it is such a waste to use them as usb 2.0.

I don't mind to spend some $ for a better(work) USB 3.0 PCIe card, but I don't want to keep trying... and the driver might mess up the server...

[Simon Read - S3BS]

I have the same noisy fan problem with an ML350e Gen8 box [470065-733] with an additional network interface card installed. When I remove the aforementioned card the fan noise goes back to acceptable (7-10%) but with it plugged in fans are running at 50%, and often ramp up and down. It also doesn't appear to matter which PCI-E slot the card is plugged into, but when it is removed the problem goes away.

It must be a firmware problem with this model. Hope HP fixes it soon as this box needs additional network adapters as it only has a dual port on the board, unlike it's big brother the P model which has 4.

The ML350 G6 was quiet as a mouse in comparison.

[ocarman]

Just chiming in to say that I'm having the same problem with an ML350e Gen8 running Ubuntu Server 12.04.

Fan speeds remain at or above 50% even when temperatures are well within normal and the server is idling. We intended to have this server sit near some employees' work areas, but it's much louder than anything in our server room.

Looking around online, it seems that HP servers in previous generations have had similar problems with fan speed and noise. And, just as people are reporting for this model, people who were having issues with those older models found that the problem went away if they uninstalled PCIe cards. If this is truly the same issue, it would be extremely disappointing -- you would think that HP would be able to learn from past mistakes.

When I contacted HP, I got an intial response almost immediately that asked me to generate and send an AHS log file. I sent the log file along that same day, but it looks like my case hasn't been updated at all for a week. I'm starting to get pretty frustrated.

The irony is that we had bought this server specifically because the hardware was certified for Ubuntu, but this HP server has already caused us more aggrivation than our (uncertified) Dell and Lenovo servers ever have. Lesson learned, I guess.

[Oscar A. Perez]

Here is the deal. Option cards supported by HP, come with temperature sensors and other stuff that our BIOS can read and then determine the exact cooling the card requires during operation.

If you insert a third party card that isn't supported by HP, our BIOS would not have a way to know the thermal characteristics of the card so, the BIOS assumes worst case scenario and increases cooling to protect the system.

[Bart_Heungens]

And what if my server has no option cards installed at all? No cards, 1 CPU, 8GB of memry, high fans and noise...

[Oscar A. Perez]

In that case, there is an issue with that system that needs to be investigated.

[JackKCT]

Hi,

Please tell me if there is any USB 3.0 PCIe card that is supported by HP and work with server 2008 r2.

Thank you.

[Michael4000]

---

@Oscar A. Perez wrote:

Here is the deal. Option cards supported by HP, come with temperature sensors and other stuff that our BIOS can read and then determine the exact cooling the card requires during operation.

If you insert a third party card that isn't supported by HP, our BIOS would not have a way to know the thermal characteristics of the card so, the BIOS assumes worst case scenario and increases cooling to protect the system.

---

This is all well and good, until you realize that HP doesn't have many of the cards needed to run a server, such as USB 3.0 and eSATA (both should be built-in anyway in 2013).  I have been tracking down this issue on an ML350p Gen 8, and narrowed it down to the cards.  It didn't matter what slot I put them in.  The fan speed would be low for about 20 seconds, and then jump up and decay for about 5 seconds.  It was driving my customer nuts!

HP needs to add to the BIOS an override.  These two cards need almost no cooling.  I have a G6 server right next to it with an eSATA card, and there is no problem with overtemperature, and there is no cooling, temperature sensor.

Michael

[syg_t]

This is fine for those that are using cards, at least there's an explanation.  But mine is running at 30/40% speed constantly in an air conditioned room.  I've installed a 310e, and a DL160 in the last week as well as the 350e, all gen 8 servers and the others had no issue what so ever.

[JackKCT]

---

@syg_t wrote:

This is fine for those that are using cards, at least there's an explanation.  But mine is running at 30/40% speed constantly in an air conditioned room.  I've installed a 310e, and a DL160 in the last week as well as the 350e, all gen 8 servers and the others had no issue what so ever.

---

Glad that no other people in your office complain about the noise, is that in the server room?

If I knew this problem, I would rather get the DL series to save more room.

I also have the Gen6 ML, and DL  in the server room(another company), we are happy with that too. and the noise from the AC is much louder than any server.

I will just stop following this post because it has been a week and the HP rep. still hasn't come back and tell me if there is any USB 3.0 PCIe card that is certified by HP.

[Sean Corbett]

I am an HP field engineer that is working on a case with the exact problem talked about in this thread.  My case has been elevated to a higher level of support within HP.  If and when I get some answers on how to fix this issue I will post the info up here for everyone.  The server I'm currently working on is an ML350e Gen8 with a single processor and no redundant fan kit.  It also has no PCIe cards plugged in.

[yudah]

can you please try this action plan its work for me :

1. update the server by spp 2013

2. move jumper 6 to on to clear nvram

thanks

[Oekandana]

had the same issue with ML350p GEN8

all fans at high speed, even after reset switch 6

server was brand new, shipped with SPP 2013

ILO flashed to 1.22 -> no less noise.

what helped for me :

* reseated all the FAN one by one

* reseated the complete FAN cage 

* repower

-> startup speed of FANS was low now, and stays low

issue solved :-)

[Nezza_815]

Hi

I also have a ML3503 Gen8 with the exact same issue. BIOS current, SPP installed. Initially it was at the work office getting setup. The speed/sound of the fans would differ everytime a reboot was performed. Then at the HP POST screen it was showing a Fan 3 error. I swapped fan 3 with fan 4, but it was still showing a fan 3 error - not good. Gave the logs to HP support and they said the iLO was out of date so I ran the update to version 1.22 and it solved the fan issue...

But then I moved it to its new location and the loud speeding fans happened again. Re-booted several times but no difference. Troubelshoot the issue with HP again, who went through all the basic steps (BIOS current, SPP installed, iLO current) Logged into the server to check the HP management log to show fan 3 was failing and repairing every 1 minute.

I resolved this by turning off the server, disconnected the fan 3 from the board and from the fan slot, re-attached it in place, made sure the cable wasnt touching the RAM and fired up again - fans running normal, no loud sounds. Hooray!

However in this case, it maybe an issue with the connection on the system board for that fan 3. After the fix, the server was shutdown to be re-connected to the UPS and it fired up fine, so I'll just have to keep monitoring it.

[hb_tech]

after you resolved the issue, what % were the fans running at?
I have a server that's running at 40% with ambient at 16 degrees, only 2 fans.
If I install more can I expect the fan speed to drop or is it pointless?