Supermicro 846 BPN-SAS846A Backplane Rear LED Questions

[Groto]

Hi,

I just purchased a Supermicro 846 chassis and swapped the backplane for the BPN-SAS-846A direct attached backplane.

Right now I just have one DELL Perc H710P adaptor installed flashed to IT mode using the guide posted on this forum.

I have tested all 24 bays (by switching the SFF-8087 cables around since the HBA only supports 8 drives) to make sure they all work.

I am getting some strange red LEDs turned on via the rear of the backplane though. You can see in the photo there are 5 red LEDs (at least it looks like 5?) shining off the metal backplane frame.

I assume the first 4 are due to having my own Noctua PWM fans plugged directly into my non-Supermicro mobo and not into the backplane itself, but the 5th LED seems to indicate some sort of alarm/overheating/drive failure when I look at the manual (attached as a screen shot)

I don't think this is correct because even when I have no drives installed in the backplane I see see this 5th LED. Should I be concerned? All the bays seem to work.

It seems like jumpers would allow me to turn off the first 4 red LEDs by disabling using fans plugged into the backplane... but if they are simply red LEDs that won't hurt anything then I will probably just leave the jumpers alone because life is too short.

Does anyone have any thoughts regarding whether I have any issues here? I am mostly concerned about the potential "alarm" overheat/failure related one assuming it is the correct one. I can't quite see the specific LEDs that are lit because the metal frame is in the way. Appreciate the help!

 

[Groto]

I managed to stick my head in there and saw that 2 of the red LEDs are D3 and D36, indicating the alarm/overheat... Because I have no fans plugged into the backplane that there are red LEDs for the fan lights as well do you think the overheat ones come on because of the assumption that the fans are not working? In that case maybe it is worth it to change the jumpers.

Thoughts?

 

[Fritz]

I've never plugged fans into the backplane and I've never seen red LED's on the backplane so it must be miss configured jumpers.

Keep in mind that some Noctua fans run so slow they trigger alarms.

 

[Groto]

I've never plugged fans into the backplane and I've never seen red LED's on the backplane so it must be miss configured jumpers.

Keep in mind that some Noctua fans run so slow they trigger alarms.

Thanks for the response. I contacted Supermicro as well and they seem to think jumpers so I will be taking a look at that.

 

[Groto]

In case it helps anybody else there are 8 jumpers for fans. I put them all in the disable position because none of the fans are plugged into the back plane. Instead I have them plugged into the motherboard . This removed all the red LEDs and also removed the overheat LEDs which I’m guessing were showing because it thought there were no fans plugged in therefore it must be overheating when it really was not. I’m all good now. Thanks

 

[Fritz]

Glad you got it resolved.

 

[Groto]

Glad you got it resolved.

Thanks for your advice!