SuperMicro board not reporting all fans

[KPP]

I have SuperMicro X8DTH-IF motherboard with 2x Intel Xeon X5670 and 192GB RAM. It's in the Norco RPC4224 case.
There are 3x 120mm Noctua Industrial fans for the HDD backplane connected to FAN1-3 connectors, one chipset fan connected to FAN4 (Noctua 60mm), CPU fans connected to FAN7-8 (Noctua NH-U9DX i4) and two identical chassis fans connected to FAN5-6 (original Norco fitted high performance and noisy ones).
Trouble is with reporting the chassis fans. Both work without issues. I can however only get reading on FAN6.
Initially I though that maybe there is something wrong with either fan, so I swapped them and still was getting reading on FAN6 only. Next, I tried to connect only a single fan to FAN5 - and I got reading! As soon as second fan was connected to FAN6, only FAN6 was reported and FAN5 disappeared.
I cannot get any reading from FAN5 in neither BIOS, IPMI nor using any program to monitor hardware (be it SuperDoctor or 3rd parties). I tried IPMIUTIL and get everything reported except FAN5 (IPMIUTIL reports FAN5: 0017 | Full | Fan | 16 | Fan5 | BelowCrit | 0.00 RPM, even though fan is spinning and working).
Has anyone ever got something like that?

 

[i386]

Did you try to reset the bmc?
Ipmi & bios up to date?

 

[KPP]

Did you try to reset the bmc?
Ipmi & bios up to date?

Hi,

Thanks for quick response.
Yes, I tried it all. Have latest BIOS and latest BMC firmware.
Reset BIOS and BMC settings to default.
Restarted BMC from the console, powered server off and on, used IPMIUTIL to modify fan thresholds.
Still the same - no readings on FAN5 when both FAN5 and FAN6 are connected. FAN5 gives reading only when nothing attached to FAN6 connector.

 

[chinesestunna]

Have you used the board before and did it ever report fans correctly? My experience was similar, got a X8DTE board for build and fan/ipmi readings were all over the place. For some reason they didn't trigger SEL entries, go figure.
Anyways checked latest version of BMC firmware from SM site was installed and as last ditch effort emailed SM support. They gave me a BMC firmware that was more than a year newer than what was on the site, installed, reset BMC and everything works smoothly since

 

[KPP]

Have you used the board before and did it ever report fans correctly? My experience was similar, got a X8DTE board for build and fan/ipmi readings were all over the place. For some reason they didn't trigger SEL entries, go figure.
Anyways checked latest version of BMC firmware from SM site was installed and as last ditch effort emailed SM support. They gave me a BMC firmware that was more than a year newer than what was on the site, installed, reset BMC and everything works smoothly since

I think, I saw all fans reported in BIOS when I put all together for the first time some year ago. I wasn't checking them on a regular basis but recently discovered this weird issue.
Meanwhile I have updated BIOS, BMC firmware, etc. so maybe something screw it and I simply didn't notice immediately...

Do you still have this new BMC firmware? Can you share it?

 

[chinesestunna]

I think, I saw all fans reported in BIOS when I put all together for the first time some year ago. I wasn't checking them on a regular basis but recently discovered this weird issue.
Meanwhile I have updated BIOS, BMC firmware, etc. so maybe something screw it and I simply didn't notice immediately...

Do you still have this new BMC firmware? Can you share it?

I do have it and can share, but our boards are different models and I don't know if it's cross compatible. Not an expert on IPMI/BMC firmware and have not heard/seen others crossflash like LSI SAS card clones.

Here's my thread, I've added new download link on the original post
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-x8dte-f-ipmi-sensor-issues.4989/#post-157095

 

[KPP]

I do have it and can share, but our boards are different models and I don't know if it's cross compatible. Not an expert on IPMI/BMC firmware and have not heard/seen others crossflash like LSI SAS card clones.

Here's my thread, I've added new download link on the original post
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-x8dte-f-ipmi-sensor-issues.4989/#post-157095

Hi,

Thanks for the file. Appreciate it.
Checking these motherboards specs I can see both (yours X8DTE-F and mine X8DTH-IF) have the same IPMI hardware: Winbond® WPCM450 BMC (as per respective links: Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | Motherboards | Xeon Boards | X8DT6 / X8DT6-F / X8DTE / X8DTE-F and Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | Motherboards | Xeon Boards | X8DTH-iF )

I'm still a bit hesitating but I think I'll just give it a go and check your firmware. Any last thoughts or suggestions before I pull the trigger? Is there a rescue procedure in case something goes wrong?

 

[chinesestunna]

There is a tool to do recovery - hopefully you have physical access to the machine in case things go south: Updating and Recovering SuperMicro IPMI – scriptech.io
Good point about same BMC chip, that does make it more likely to succeed but highly YMMV, good luck

 

[KPP]

So, I performed the BMC firmware upgrade but the file turned to be an older version 3.03. Anyway I used that as an opportunity to completely clear all settings. Update succeeded, but still no FAN 6 reported. I then upgraded back to version 3.05 I had previously, again clearing out all settings... and back to the previous state - all fans reported but FAN6.
This is strange, as when I disconnect Fan5, Fan6 starts to show readings. So Fan6 must work but for some reason is not able to reports anything if also Fan5 is connected.
Any ideas?