HP ML350e Gen8 Fan Noise

[Atomizer]

I have the same issue with a ML350e gen8.

HP Support are working on a solution and they suposely have a beta bios that should solve this problem. I'm still trying to get them to send me this bios so I can test it out.

Please let me know I any of you find a solution as well as I will be posting any solution I find here.

Thanks in advance.

[Zeaba]

 Have an ML350p Gen8 with the exact same issue. BIOS current, SPP installed, windows 2011 SBS full updated - the server is extremely quite for 40 minutes and it goes crazy for 20 minutes and then gets silent again for 40 minutes and crazy for 20 minutes keep happening every hour.  

Yes all parts are HP, no additional devices are installed, and server not connect to any workstations and is located in an aircon room. 

Am sure there’s an issue with BIOS and the fan management section as it seem to be on a timer when all fans goes on full speed and is not heat related.

We need to have the server delivered to customer and am sure his not going to be happy and my asked for a refund.  Please provide a solutions ASAP.  

[kchpase]

I have a new ML350p Gen8 with similar fan noise, NO PCI cards.  The fans ran at normal speed until today.  I'm running VMware esxi 5.1.  If I can't get a resolution soon, I'm going to have to return it to the reseller and go back with Dell, which I do not want to do.

[Atomizer]

Well, I got hold of the beta bios and it did change the behavior of the fans slightly but didn't solve the problem. Then yesterday HP wrote that they have identified my problem to be due to the SCSI card reporting the wrong temperatures of the harddrives in the server. They have just released a fix for this problem, in form of a new firmware for the card. I updated it yesterday and haven't heard the server since, so fingers crossed.

The release notes states amoung other things:

• A potential intermittent lag in reporting hard drive temperatures, which could cause unnecessary fan speed oscillations, no longer occurs.

Please note that, at least when I did the upgrade, the installer will report that the firmware you are about to install is older than the one already installed. That just a flaw in the upgrade process and you can safely ignore that in my experience.

Firmware can be optained here: 

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&sp4ts.oid=5177962&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.tpst=bd9b6997fbc7fc515f4cf4626f5c8d01&javax.portlet.prp_bd9b6997fbc7fc515f4cf4626f5c8d01=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_392699655335408d82997a6669%257CswEnvOID%253D40...

[Atomizer]

Just an update: The fans have stayed around 10-20% all day today. That is considerable longer than ever before so it really seems this has fixed the problem for me. Please let me know if this solves the problem for you as well?

[RedSteed]

Our experiment:

If you pull out the external thermal cable connector (nr 32 on 350e Gen 8), the fans go quiet... It seems, that the BIOS parameters for fan speeds for a temperature are too high. If you pull out that cable, the BIOS is faked, so it thinks, that the inlet temperature is only 0C/32F, so fan speed is 12% (6%/fan). If you re afraid about processor temperature you can still ask the iLO to send email if it goes high.

[pidesign]

Tried pulling the Thermal cable connector and re-booted - showed 0C/32F but no difference to fan noise, fans 1 & 2 are still around 43%, fan 3 is 34 % and fan 4 is 6%, have now replaced the cable.

Tried new Firmware updates but they are not accepted by my model ML350e gen 8 Server.

Come on HP it has been six months now since the first post, its about time a solution was found for this problem, besides the fan noise it is an excellent Server.

[Ken Krubsack]

I had some issues with fan noise on a ML350p Gen8 (first one we'd bought).  That turned into an issue where the fans weren't properly making their connections.

What I've seen lately is 6 of our ML350p Gen8's complaining about overheating - two of them to the point that they shut themselves down.  The first one of those two we finally had to swap out the entire system, short of the hard drives.  The latest one just started yesterday and has shut itself down twice.  I just got off the phone with HP and they gave me this link to the v3.54 firmware update for the array controller.  I'm going to apply that and see if it helps.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=5193414&swItem=MTX-392699655335408d82997a6669&prodNameId=5193409&swEnvOID=4024&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=5

[This link in no longer valid. You can refer the below link:]

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/km/search#q=ML350e%20Gen8%20Fan%20Noise&t=Documents&sort=relevancy&layout=table&numberOfResults=25&f:@kmdoclanguagecode=[cv1871440]&hpe=1

[gdraft]

Hi all,

Upgrading the storage controller firmware to version 3.54 fixed this problem for me. One thing to note is that after installing the firmware, I needed to reset the iLO before it took effect. I believe pulling the power on the host for a few minutes would also have the same effect, after the firmware update.

After the update and subsequent iLO reset the fans went from 40% down to 8-10%, I can hardly hear that server now and the client is happy again. :)

Here is a link to the download that worked for me:

http://tinyurl.com/qeg5naz

Hope that helps someone.

AJ

[Sean Corbett]

A fix is finally available!!  I had a customer with this issue and I have been working with our support personal to come up with a fix.  Today they finally sent it to me.  I haven't actually tested it yet but I have received the ok to send the files to customers requesting them.

[AndreG84]

@Sean Corbett

I Have the same Problem. Can you tell me how to fix it?

Thanks

[Ken Krubsack]

Sean,

What's the fix they sent you?  I will admit to being curious.

[jerclil50]

I install servers for a certified HP Business partner / reseller.  I've installed multiple ML350 G8 servers for customers with this very problem.  Please pass along this fix ASAP.  Thank you.  The up and down noise levels are disturbing to anyone going near these servers. 

[RDamrath]

I had the same Problem with ML350 gen 8

In the ROM-Based Setup Utility I changed

Advanced Options / Thermal Configuration from Increased to Optimal Cooling.

That was the only way to silent the servers

[Cesar Vieira]

Any further info about the fix?

I came across this problem yesterday at a customer with a ML350p Gen8, which I added a redundant fan but either with or without it I get a loud noise.

If I get my hand at the back of the fans I can see that fan number 2 is with a higher speed than the others, but I switched the fan itself and the problem isnt on the fan, if I remove it for troubleshooting purposes the noise goes away for about 3 seconds, then comes again.

I've reseated all fans, unplugged and plugged power supplies, removed an additional smart array adapter, upgraded all firmwares, removed the redundant fan, but never get rid of that noise.

The customer will be moving to another office and the server will be near an user, and I wouldn't want to be on the situation that user will be if can't get rid of the fan noise...

If there's any more information regarding the fix for this problem just let people here know about it.

Thanks

[Bruce_Murphy]

I had a case like this recently, the fans would all climb to 100% within 5 minutes of rebooting on a DL380p Gen8.
Tried updating iLO to 1.22, reseating fans, clearing NVram, swapped SYSbrd, and HDD backplanes with no effect.
I was getting HDD overheat messages as well, and they were cold to the touch.
Turned out to be Non HP hard drives.
Removed them and fans went to 10 - 20 %.

[ocarman]

I've had an open case with HP Support about this issue since April.

I'm running Ubuntu  Server 12.04, and my fans never go below ~48%. In my case, the server must be located in a setting where it would be near people's desks, so just living with the noise was not an option for me.

HP Support recently gave me a "fix" to install, but the fix did nothing. Prior to that, I was given a replacement server, but the replacement server has the exact same problem. These are "Smart Buy" servers with a stock configuration and absolutely no non-HP hardware. This issue has gone on for so long that I actually had to buy another server (not an HP server, obviously -- never again) so that I wouldn't miss my project deadline.

I've repeatedly asked for information about the possibility of a return and refund, but my request has never been directly addressed. I just get told time and time again that HP is working on the issue, or that my questions about a return are being referred somewhere (though I never get a response from anyone). I think this is well past the point where that's at all acceptable.

 HP's technical exceptions matrix for Ubuntu makes no mention of this fan speed issue. That's fundamentally deceptive. This has been a known issue for months and prospective buyers have a right to be informed so that they don't end up in the situation that I'm in now. It's pretty obvious that despite claims to the contrary, HP is either unable or unwilling to provide even a baseline level of support for Ubuntu, given the frequency with which support suggested that I install Windows as a "solution" to this fan speed issue.

This has been far and away the worst warranty support experience I've ever had. I wish I had a solution that could help other people in my situation, but the best I can do is post this as a warning of sorts.

[pidesign]

Tonight I fitted a hot plug power supply (2x 503296-B21) into the Server the fan speeds are now as follows:-

Fan1 & 2 - 35%

Fan 3 - 21%

Fan 4 - 6%

This seems to have reduced the fan noise a bit, but they still seem to be spining up and down for no reason.

[Jack Hodson]

We have the same problem. 
The NCRAM has been cleared, and the controller updated to 3.54. We have a case open with HP but no resolution yet.

Jack

[jbintz]

We have been struggling with this for 8 weeks. Had HP onsite to swap out motherboards, cannibalized another server to try all fresh parts, ilo and hp firmware upgrades, etc.

Tech support actually said  4 fans running at 68% was normal.  It wasn't.  HP came back onsite and tried the same thing RDamrath reported. The problem seems to be in the base BIOS. With the fan kit it seems the bios default is:

Advanced Options / Thermal Configuration / Increased Cooling

When changed to Advanced Options / Thermal Configuration / Optimal Cooling  the fans dropped from  4 x 68% to

16, 16, 16, & 9%  following the reboot.

I have 9 of these.  Resetting the bios has  worked on the 4 configured so far.

[GeorgeK2]

I found the solution to my problem with the fan speed & noise.  Hopefully this will help others, too.  My resolution was to use the HP closed source Linux driver for the B120i RAID controller.

I originally posted about my problem back in January.  I was unable to find a solution so I let this ML350e Gen8 server sit for six months while I worked on other projects.  Last week I dived back into it.

I need this server to run Linux, not Windows.  With Windows the fans would run at low speeds, but with Linux installed they would run at higher speeds.  The certified Linux installations do not have the correct driver for the HP Smart Array B120i controller so I was disabling the controller and using the embedded AHCI controller.  It always bothered me that we spent money on this server and couldn't make use of the RAID controller.

During the six months that I ignored the server, new SPP updates have been released so I made sure everything was current.  Then I learned how to do a driver update during the Linux installation so I could regain the RAID controller.  The driver update was the trick to silence the fans!  As soon as the HP closed source driver was in place, the fan speeds went from 53% to 17%, and it's whisper quiet now.  I verified this with both RHEL6 and SELS11.  The fans went quiet before the OS installation was complete, and do not require the HP System Health daemons to be running.

Suse Enterprise Linux was the easier of the two for the driver update during installation.  It showed an option for a driver update on the first screen.  RedHat Enterprise Linux was trickier, and offered two methods: manual and automatic.  The automatic requires the label "OEMDRV" on the driver disk (a USB Key).

Drivers download: 

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=kc0115150en_us&docLocale=en_US

[Please also visit: https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/home]

RedHat driver update instructions:

https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Installation_Guide/sect-Preparing_for_a_driver_update_during_installation-x86.html

[Jack Hodson]

Our issue was solved by HP swapping out the motherboard.

I think it had settled down anyway as the day before I rebooted and decided to unplug the PSUs. Since that boot up (post NVRAM clearing and storage controlled updates to 3.54) it was OK.

Note, it was playing up after the NVRAM and update was applied but I had never pulled the power cables out.

[Cesar Vieira]

Hi all,

I was given a Beta BIOS but didn't solve my customer's problem.

After applying the BIOS it states:

P72 Bootleg (Fan Files) 12/35/2012

[Cesar Vieira]

The problem is finally solved on my customers server.

HP sent a technician onsite to replace the motherboard and the problem went away.

[kernel-io]

I have a new ML350p, with all the latest updates, my fans hover around 35% non-stop. All my thermal settings indicate that they should be running lower. I have a non-HP expansion card installed as a matter of necessity, is there a way to override this fan control?

I have read other posts about how the system firmware will run the fans at a higher speed when a non-HP expansion card is installed, but have not found a way, or any indication of a 'fix' from HP.

I am using this machine as a workstation for virtualisation and that PCI-E card is required by a virtual machine.

Machine is running Server 2012R2 and is fully patched with the latest SPP.

Any suggestions?