HPE DL20 Gen9 noise reduction

[doppler_shift]

So, found out recently that when you populate PCIe slot 2 (the full height one) Fan 3 goes crazy. Same for when you disable the Dynamic Smart Array on the onboard SATA controller, apparently because then iLO can't read the drive temps and goes insane. So I'm looking for a way to quiet down this fan or replace it completely with something more quiet. The fan in question is a Delta FFB0412UHN with submodel BM3L (I assume this is an HP specific model), rated 12V and 0.75A. My first thought was finding a lower RPM model in the same line of fans and just doing a swap, but this fan has this weird 6 pin connector I've never seen before, of which only 5 wires are used, and any other fan in the FFB line I could find had either 3 or 4 wires. Another option was to solder a resistor on the (+) red wire but I wouldn't know which resistor and if it would even work with a PWM fan. Any help is appreciated

 

[Patriot]

I would hold on the hardmods till you make sure the firmwares are both up to date on ilo and system rom.
Especially since there is a hyperthreading microcode patch in the latest rom.
Drivers & Software for HPE ProLiant DL20 Gen9 E3-1220v6 16GB-U B140i 2LFF 290W PS 2TB HDD DVD-RW Svr/Promo - HPE Support Center.

 

[doppler_shift]

I would hold on the hardmods till you make sure the firmwares are both up to date on ilo and system rom.
Especially since there is a hyperthreading microcode patch in the latest rom.
Drivers & Software for HPE ProLiant DL20 Gen9 E3-1220v6 16GB-U B140i 2LFF 290W PS 2TB HDD DVD-RW Svr/Promo - HPE Support Center.

Yep everything's been updated to the latest version; used the SPP and then manually updated the BIOS and iLO to even newer versions.

EDIT: I should clarify, the iLO behavior when the DSA is turned off is by design (Fan 3 ramping up to 80%, while it usually idles at 6% when the DSA is on), verified by an HPE support representative. The PCIe slot behavior is known and verified from other HPE servers (and my own experience at work with DL380/DL360); while I couldn't find an official verification for the DL20 I am almost 100% sure it is also by design here.

 

[Patriot]

Yep everything's been updated to the latest version; used the SPP and then manually updated the BIOS and iLO to even newer versions.

EDIT: I should clarify, the iLO behavior when the DSA is turned off is by design (Fan 3 ramping up to 80%, while it usually idles at 6% when the DSA is on), verified by an HPE support representative. The PCIe slot behavior is known and verified from other HPE servers (and my own experience at work with DL380/DL360); while I couldn't find an official verification for the DL20 I am almost 100% sure it is also by design here.

Ah... I have it disabled on my ML110 gen9 and it is whisper quiet.... but I have the drives plugged into the h240... :/ I will look for software overrides for ilo fan speed.

 

[doppler_shift]

Ah... I have it disabled on my ML110 gen9 and it is whisper quiet.... but I have the drives plugged into the h240... :/ I will look for software overrides for ilo fan speed.

Unfortunately, there is no software override for iLO fan speeds. From what I can tell you either play by iLO's rules (provide a low enough inlet temp, use the SATA controller in DSA mode, hook up at least one hard drive that has SMART attribute 194) or you do an end run and hack the fan wiring to make iLO think everything is fine, then you connect a different fan that spins much slower.

 

[JohnBoy]

Wanted to share that I tried an experiment. Have a Dl20 Gen 9 I wanted use as a media/home control server. Had two Seagate 1Tb SAS drives in it, and Fan #3 would not go below 40%. I replaced one of the two drives with a genuine HP 1Tb SAS drive, and like a miracle, the server is now quieter than my PC. So I assume the behavior is because the BIOS/ILO can talk to the HP drive firmware and there was a glitch, or HP did this on purpose.

 

[nerdalertdk]

You dont need hp drives but you need a drive where this sensor is HD-max, and runs the controller in raid mode and use the hp driver.

Re: Hd max and hpdsa driver

Update firmware to latest version - done running latest spp Enable HPE Dynamic Smart Array B140i RAID controller from RBSU - is on Use HPE certified PCI cards - yup Install an HPE storage drive - kinda hard with no ssd in the server, I do have two servers also dl20 gen9 that’s Uses hpe...

community.hpe.com

or use the custom ILO firmware there is
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/hix44v

I’m running the custom fw since there is no drivers out for oVirt 4.6