Supermicro Server - Loud Fans after bios/firmware updates

[a3n1ma]

Hello guys, glad to have joined your boards.

I'm currently building a server using a Supermicro case (CSE-825TQ-563LPB), and am using a motherboard from Supermicro as well (X9DR7-LN4F-O) with two E5-2630.

Putting the server together was easy, and it worked well until we had to install Windows 2012, which isn't supported by the current BIOS, so it required a firmware and BIOS update which is in beta and can only download it when contacting them directly.

Once I installed this, it was able to install just fine, but now I get an issue where the fans kick in really loud every few minutes, and I get the "informational LED" lighting up when the fans go off. They'll stay like this for a few seconds, and then go back to normal.

I've been monitoring the temperatures, and the CPUs are staying at about 40 degrees Celsius (104 F). Could it be an issue with the firmware or bios updates? Has anyone else had these issues? I even re-applied the thermal paste and re-did the wiring to increase airflow, but still having the same issues.

Any input which can lead me in the right direction is greatly appreciated.

 

[TheBay]

Hello guys, glad to have joined your boards.

I'm currently building a server using a Supermicro case (CSE-825TQ-563LPB), and am using a motherboard from Supermicro as well (X9DR7-LN4F-O) with two E5-2630.

Putting the server together was easy, and it worked well until we had to install Windows 2012, which isn't supported by the current BIOS, so it required a firmware and BIOS update which is in beta and can only download it when contacting them directly.

Once I installed this, it was able to install just fine, but now I get an issue where the fans kick in really loud every few minutes, and I get the "informational LED" lighting up when the fans go off. They'll stay like this for a few seconds, and then go back to normal.

I've been monitoring the temperatures, and the CPUs are staying at about 40 degrees Celsius (104 F). Could it be an issue with the firmware or bios updates? Has anyone else had these issues? I even re-applied the thermal paste and re-did the wiring to increase airflow, but still having the same issues.

Any input which can lead me in the right direction is greatly appreciated.

That is odd, the fan led shouldn't be lighting up. Are you overloading the board at all with high power fans? What is the fan setting in the bios?.

 

[Mike]

You're probably using fans with a 4-pin that run below the X00 rpm treshold. The board notices this and kicks in. Cut the blue wire or see if SM can do something for you about it.

 

[TheBay]

You're probably using fans with a 4-pin that run below the X00 rpm treshold. The board notices this and kicks in. Cut the blue wire or see if SM can do something for you about it.

Not with a 825TQ-563LPB, they don't come with low speed fans.

And at the OP, you are not using any fan power splitters?

 

[Mike]

Oh sorry, i was under the impression that this was a custom build. I mustve missed that he got a complete SM chassis. Perhaps the ipmi snmp traps give you some insight in what exceptions are triggered.

 

[TheBay]

I'm sure from what I remember the fans in those are screamers and quite high amperage, wondering if the board can't cope with the load, especially if using splitters.

 

[badatSAS]

One of the fan cables could be loose or intermittent, when one fan fails or it can't see a signal from one it will spike the rest of the fans to 100% to make up for it.

I'd get the ipmi view out and check the fan speeds when this happens and see if one is being seen as 0/disconnected

 

[supermacro]

This happens after you flash the IPMI firmware (usually) and everytime you update the IPMI firmware you have to set it to "Factory Default" to get rid of the "Information LED" and the crazy fan spnning. Even if you didn't update the IPMI firmware, setting it to factory default should make the fans normal and the information LED gone.

 

[java]

supermacro, is right, I had the same issue. After bios update the IPMI can't read correctly the temperature from CPU sensors. That's why it thinks that the CPU reached the Tmax and starts to spin the CPU fans at the maximum speed. Solution :

This issues can be solved booting the system into freedos, and then running "ipmicfg.exe -fd" (this utility can be downloaded from supermicro.com) executing this we reset the IPMI to factory settings.

 

[a3n1ma]

Thanks for the responses, and sorry for taking so long (been sick).

I did get a similar response from the tech support people at Supermicro, as "supermacro" suggested. While I don't have the machine in front of me at the moment, I will try this out and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[TheBay]

Haven't come across this before, thanks Supermacro will remember this!