Supermicro x Noctua

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gavs

New Member
Sep 20, 2022
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So, like many others on here, I have the issue where my Supermicro doesn't like my Noctua fans and makes them spin up and down endlessly. I've seen different solutions here, but I'm running Windows and I'm not sure how to implement the solutions that I've seen. This is all on a Supermicro X12SCA-5F so it needs to go into the IPMI. I have a CPU fan that's a regular U14S and the case fans are Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM, but they're on a fan hub and all plugged into the same sensor on the board. If someone can please walk me through the step-by-step instructions on this, I'd really appreciate it as it's driving me crazy. Bonus points if we can set the case fan RPMs based on HDD speeds. Thanks!
 

i386

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Mar 18, 2016
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If you don't know what the scripts (I assume that's what you meant with solutions) do, don't use them.

Instead try sommething different:
Noctua fans/heatsinks come usually with a lot of accessories, there should be a y-cable. One of the fan connectors has all four pins, connect one of the noctua industrial fans to that. The other end has 3 pins (missing the "rpm pin"), connect the heatsink fan to this end.
That way the mainboard will read the rpm of the industrial fan and should not trigger the alarm (mininum 750 rpm +- 20% ~> 600rpm) and stay "quiet"
 

gavs

New Member
Sep 20, 2022
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1
If you don't know what the scripts (I assume that's what you meant with solutions) do, don't use them.

Instead try sommething different:
Noctua fans/heatsinks come usually with a lot of accessories, there should be a y-cable. One of the fan connectors has all four pins, connect one of the noctua industrial fans to that. The other end has 3 pins (missing the "rpm pin"), connect the heatsink fan to this end.
That way the mainboard will read the rpm of the industrial fan and should not trigger the alarm (mininum 750 rpm +- 20% ~> 600rpm) and stay "quiet"
I'd rather do it right with the scripts. Can you help me figure out what I need to do based on this post? I am using IPMItool for Windows. Thanks! How To: Change IPMI Sensor Thresholds using ipmitool
 

Bjorn Smith

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Sep 3, 2019
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Basically what you need to do is alter the thresholds of the fans, so it matches what the noctua fans is running with.

This is what I do on one of my supermicro servers
Bash:
ipmitool -I lan -U ADMIN -P ADMIN -H 192.168.0.250 sensor thresh FANA lower 750 900 1000
Which sets the lower thresholds, you can do the same with upper thresholds.

So you need to find out what fan is ramping up/down and replace "FANA" with the actual fan.

You can see the fans and their real RPM by doing a

Bash:
ipmitool -I lan -U ADMIN -P ADMIN -H 192.168.0.250 sensor | grep FAN
Since you are running on windows, you cannot use grep, but would use FINDSTR instead.

The ip address/username/password you change to the BMC address of your server and the username/password to whatever you are using
 
Last edited:

gavs

New Member
Sep 20, 2022
5
0
1
Basically what you need to do is alter the thresholds of the fans, so it matches what the noctua fans is running with.

This is what I do on one of my supermicro servers
Bash:
ipmitool -I lan -U ADMIN -P ADMIN -H 192.168.0.250 sensor thresh FANA lower 750 900 1000
Which sets the lower thresholds, you can do the same with upper thresholds.

So you need to find out what fan is ramping up/down and replace "FANA" with the actual fan.

You can see the fans and their real RPM by doing a

Bash:
ipmitool -I lan -U ADMIN -P ADMIN -H 192.168.0.250 sensor | grep FAN
Since you are running on windows, you cannot use grep, but would use FINDSTR instead.

The ip address/username/password you change to the BMC address of your server and the username/password to whatever you are using
Thank you for your reply. I'm a little new to this so I could use a little hand-holding. Is this something you would be willing to help me a bit further with?
 

Bjorn Smith

Well-Known Member
Sep 3, 2019
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r00t.dk
Thank you for your reply. I'm a little new to this so I could use a little hand-holding. Is this something you would be willing to help me a bit further with?
Sorry, if my explanations are not enough for you, then I think you should either accept that the fans spin up/down - or try to figure out how things work.

If you want to use programs to control crucial settings for your server, you should at least know how to start a command prompt and run a few commands and apply your environment to examples provided.

If not, you need a "friend" to help you.

I was just trying to help - and do not have either the time or willpower to help in depth.
 

RageBone

Active Member
Jul 11, 2017
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My problem so far is that the Noctua fans actually stop spinning and that causes a 0RPM fan fail.
Probably caused by a too low dutycycle from the BMC.
Not that i managed to up that yet.