MicroServer Gen8 is noisy

[Jimmy Vance]

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@dof wrote:

I use both.

So which mode and drivers were you using when you saw 6% fan, and which mode and drivers were you using when you saw 39% fan?

[PAC_]

Good news!

I have just been contacted by a Level 2 Engineer who let me know that support has been able to pinpoint the source of the problem:

[...] we have pinpointed the issue to be the fan tables on the server when the controller is enabled on AHCI/Legacy mode, which are different than in RAID mode.

   The case is being elevated to engineering for their input and possible fix on the issue.

The case is progressing, I will keep you posted!

[dlogik]

Great work!

I recently purchased a gen8 microserver and it also appears to have the fan issue. I am running in AHCI mode with Ubuntu Linux.

Thanks

[gghpserver]

This is great news! I was planning on buying a gen8 microserver as my new home server, but as soon as I saw the fan noise issue I said "forget it" ... the server I have now is so loud and annoying - I'm never making that mistake again.

Hopefully this is fixed soon and I can grab one. The fan noise issue is really the only thing keeping me from purchasing!

[Jimmy Vance]

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@gghpserver wrote:

Hopefully this is fixed soon and I can grab one. The fan noise issue is really the only thing keeping me from purchasing!

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Fan noise is very subjective.... Even though the fan is spinning up to nearly 40% in AHCI mode, to me it isn't really all that loud. If my laptop fan kicks on, I can actually hear it over the MicroServer fan in my home office.

At 6% you can't tell the unit is on.

At ~40% I'd venture to say it's a bit louder than a tower desktop.

It's nothing compared to the fan noise produced by the servers in my lab. I currently have two MicroServer Gen8 systems sitting here in my cubicle. Both are in AHCI mode. With the ambient noise around me I can tell these system are on, but again, they aren't really that loud compared to the noise around me.

As several of you know, I recently reported the fan noise problem to the MicroServer product team. Now that I've been able to push PAC_'s case higher up in the support chain hopefully there will be a resolution soon. I'm assuming there will be some changes to the way the BIOS and iLO use the temperature sensor data.

[0tto]

Hi PAC_

did you do any any progress with your HP support case? I am struggling with this issue myself too, I was hoping to have perfect low-power, low-noise box in my study room but this is more like sitting in airport duty-free zone.

I was thinking about replacing the stock fan with something modders use in theirs cool PCs but I cannot find what the pin-out of the microserver motherboard is so I cannot be sure about wiring. I hate being stucked with problem like this.

[PAC_]

The last update to the case was on September 17th. Kudos to Jimmy Vance for helping me get the support case into the hands of the engineering team so quickly.

It will probably take a bit of time until we hear back from support since it requires firmware development and debugging.

[PAC_]

Latest update from September 23rd:

BIOS development on the loop

[Marcus Rejås]

Great, I'm also having one of these machines, and it is very noisy. How long does it usually take to release a fix? Days, weeks, months?

Great thread by the way. Pinpointed my problem directly.

[Marcus Rejås]

This is very annoying. I have my server in my office and it is very loud. Fan speed constantly around 36%.

Since the problem seems to be Debian specific (I use Debian too). Does anyone know a workaround a little easier than replacing the os?

  /Marcus

[linuxartist]

This is not an OS related Issue as far as I read it.

This is more an AHCI/BIOS/UEFI Implementation issue.

Meaning: disable AHCI and use the onboard Raid.

Are there any updates on the ETA of the new BIOS?

Cheers!

[PAC_]

No updates as of today, october 9th.

linuxartist is right, the issue lies within the MicroServer's BIOS.

[Astadia]

So disappointed by the noise it produced... I received mine today and I want to send it back... The noise level is really unacceptable for a home use...

[ad-d]

I know, it's almost painfully noisy. I spent a long time quietening down all my home equipment only to have this server ruin all the hard work. How they can expect small businesses that probably don't even have a server room to use this in the office is beyond me, no-one would get any work done with this as a distraction. I have high hopes for this new BIOS and would really prefer to see some sort of manual fan speed control introduced as well (with an auto-override and fan speed warning if someone were to set it to low perhaps). A sea of sensors and constant temp monitoring/automatic control is nice but not when it's impossible to reduce the noise to a sensible level. It only has a 35w TDP chip in it, there's simply no need for that that much airflow!

[Marcus Rejås]

There are many of us waiting. I look at the support site every day ...

[PAC_]

Both Mr. Vance and I have asked for an update on the case. Let's hope we receive additional information in the coming days.

This is an undecuated guess but from the looks of it the first ROM update has been released in April and the second revision in August. That may mean a 4 months release cycle which would lead us to december for the next version.

[ad-d]

Ouch!  That's quite a lot longer than I was hoping for to simply fix some fan tables.  I appreciate that everything needs to be tested etc but I really hope it's not being delayed because they're trying to add in additional features/fixes etc.  Given the huge number of unhappy affected people they should really be rushing out a quick fan speed fix BIOS then taking their time to get any additional features/fixes right on a later BIOS.  Hope you're wrong on timescales or maybe my Gen8 will end up as my 'Christmas present' to use towards the end of the year - it's so unusably loud it spends 99% of the day turned off at the moment.  So close to being the ultimate micro sized home/small business server yet you'd be more likely to put your hands over your ears and run away than put your hands in your pocket for your wallet if you were demo'd it in it's current form.  I'll keep hoping this gets fixed and checking daily, so frustrating as when this small issue is fixed it really will be a great machine.

[Marcus Rejås]

Heard anything yet?

I'm really hoping for a fix soon. Here at the office there is a couple of really noisy servers. We have only one room and there is almost embarrassing having customers here. I keep telling that the servers are not supposed to sound like that and a fix is on the way.

Regards,

Marcus

[subsix]

I had an HP support case open regarding the AHCI mode noise issue. My contact told me today that Engineering sees no issue and won't fix the issue. I have asked him to reconfirm... This is the worst experience I ever had with HP.

Is that similar to what you heard from HP Engineering? Fan control in AHCI mode is currently so terribly broken that I wouldn't recommend this machine for anything outside a server room. Far from the 21 dbA in the QuickSpecs...

I hope that others have better news on this subject...

Peter

[Tommie75]

I hope that the fan table will be changed, the server is much too loud for a SOHO. Show me a SOHO does have a noise dampening server room? My customers not !!

I also own the Microserver G8 but cannot use them in a normal way. Most of the time he is switched off due to the noise he is producing.

I am really disappointed because I had a N36L, moved to the N54L and now to the G8 and it was only getting worse with the loudness. The G8 is stated as 21dB but with AHCI it is not possible to reach this :-(

[Marcus Rejås]

That would be a shame. We use software RAID5 on ours. I don't think that is possible using a setup rendering less noise.

This would render our new microservers useless. :-(. I really hope for a fix on this.

  /Marcus

[Jimmy Vance]

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@subsix wrote:

I had an HP support case open regarding the AHCI mode noise issue. My contact told me today that Engineering sees no issue and won't fix the issue. I have asked him to reconfirm... This is the worst experience I ever had with HP.

Is that similar to what you heard from HP Engineering? Fan control in AHCI mode is currently so terribly broken that I wouldn't recommend this machine for anything outside a server room. Far from the 21 dbA in the QuickSpecs...

I hope that others have better news on this subject...

Peter

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Not sure who your contact is, but they are incorrect. The issue is being worked and hopefully a ROM update will be forthcoming.

One thing everyone needs to do is open an official support case with HP. While there are several users discussion fan noise here and in some of the home server forums, only one or two users have actually opened up a support case. When you open a case ask to have the case escalated to level 2 where they know about the issue.

[subsix]

@Jimmy Vance,

No question - I do hope that my support contact is wrong with his statement. I had my case opened via HP Germany. It was assigned to an engineer in Bulgaria (HP's central support site for Europe?). I opened that case in early August and it is open until today. It had been elevated to L2 (an engineer from India) - that's where the decline came from...

As you pointed out It would be incredibly helpful if everyone suffering from that AHCI mode noise issue would open a corresponding support case.

[Jimmy Vance]

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subsix wrote:

@Jimmy Vance,

No question - I do hope that my support contact is wrong with his statement. I had my case opened via HP Germany. It was assigned to an engineer in Bulgaria (HP's central support site for Europe?). I opened that case in early August and it is open until today. It had been elevated to L2 (an engineer from India) - that's where the decline came from...

As you pointed out It would be incredibly helpful if everyone suffering from that AHCI mode noise issue would open a corresponding support case.

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Tell the support person to contact me directly. Yes, if everyone would open their own case, the issue would start showing up on reports and gain visibility.

[PAC_]

Great idea, we whould spread the word about opening up tickets.