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Supermicro X9/X10/X11 Fan Speed Control

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tiro_uspsss

tiro_uspsss

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Feb 27, 2011
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I've purchased 3 items from aliexpress:


#1) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.22.21ef1802RWr2La

#2) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.28.21ef1802RWr2La

#3) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.34.21ef1802RWr2La


#1 is the same as that Noctua PWM FC, just a lot cheaper. It can be connected to #3 so that all fans connected to #3 can be PWM controlled.

#2 is a programmable temperature controlled PWM controller.. set the PWM value at desired temp. It also can be connected to #3 so that all fans 'react' to increase or decrease in temp.

(#3 is just a PWM fan hub)
 
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ziggygt

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Jul 23, 2019
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tiro_uspsss said:
I've purchased 3 items from aliexpress:


#1) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.22.21ef1802RWr2La

#2) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.28.21ef1802RWr2La

#3) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.34.21ef1802RWr2La


#1 is the same as that Noctua PWM FC, just a lot cheaper. It can be connected to #3 so that all fans connected to #3 can be PWM controlled.

#2 is a programmable temperature controlled PWM controller.. set the PWM value at desired temp. It also can be connected to #3 so that all fans 'react' to increase or decrease in temp.

(#3 is just a PWM fan hub)
Click to expand...
I also was frustrated by the lack of documentation and capability to control the fans with the IPMI as it seemed my X9 motherboard did not respond to the usual commands. seems every one is a little different. So i used very similar components to what you are using. I left the I/O fan on the motherboard control as a failsafe. I figured if the fan controller was not working that fan would start screaming,
You can see the similarity here, I did not use your item # 1. I took the tach signal from each fan and connected that to the MB so that I could monitor the speeds of each fan. Unless broken they should all be the same, except the left most. the I/O fan.
Here is the link to my setup.
Thermal controller | ServeTheHome Forums
 
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ianj

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Oct 25, 2023
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nickf1227 said:
Yeah, I can absolutely set the RAW fan speed on my H11SSL-I and H12SSL-I ...
Click to expand...
@nickf1227 - sorry to reopen the discussion of fan speed control on Supermicro motherboards again, but I have recently acquired a H11SSL-I and I am obviously having problems with fanspeeds. I saw your brief comment saying "I can absolutely set the RAW fan speed on my H11SSL-I" but with no explanation. I have read enough of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface Specification v2.0 rev. 1.1 published in the Intel website that I think I am starting to understand the RAW commands.

ipmitool raw 0x4 0x2f <sensor> where sensor is from 0x41 to 0x45 will return a '04' signifying the sensor is a Fan.
ipmitool raw 0x4 0x2d <sensor> (same range as above) returns values which on the face of it seem to match the current fan speeds reported via "ipmitool sensor list"

So I then moved on to trying to set a fan speed using the 0x30 command as in;

ipmitool raw 0x4 0x30 0x41 0x41 0x41 0x0 0x0 0x80 - I think this is the right number of bytes to send but it didn't really matter as all I got in return was

"Unable to send RAW command (channel=0x0 netfn=0x4 lun=0x0 cmd=0x30 rsp=0xc1): Invalid command"

This would seen to indicate my motherboard does not support IPMI v2.0.

How can I verify which IPMI version I have and can I upgrade it?
Is my understanding of the IPMI spec correct?
 
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DaveInTexas

Member
Oct 28, 2021
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ianj said:
... I have recently acquired a H11SSL-I and I am obviously having problems with fanspeeds.
Click to expand...
H11 and H12 boards that support IPMI fan control, generally follow the same IPMI command format as X11 and X12 boards, which generally follow the X10 syntax; i.e. something like:

1. Set fan mode to FULL
Code: 
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x45 0x01 0x01
2. Set Fan Zone to Speed
Code: 
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x70 0x66 0x01 0x0{zone_id} 0x{fan_duty}
where "fan_duty" is a value 0-100 represented as a hexadecimal number (i.e. 0x00 to 0x64)
 
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peter_s

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DaveInTexas said:
H11 and H12 boards that support IPMI fan control, generally follow the same IPMI command format as X11 and X12 boards, which generally follow the X10 syntax; i.e. something like:

1. Set fan mode to FULL
Code: 
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x45 0x01 0x01
2. Set Fan Zone to Speed
Code: 
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x70 0x66 0x01 0x0{zone_id} 0x{fan_duty}
where "fan_duty" is a value 0-100 represented as a hexadecimal number (i.e. 0x00 to 0x64)
Click to expand...
This is a AST2600 BMC chip, right?
 
mattlach

mattlach

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Aug 1, 2014
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So, I just transitioned my old server (Supermicro X9DRI-F with two Xeon E5-2650 v2's) to a backup workstation duty.

Is there an easy way to prevent the Supermicro fan oscillating problem, where the fans drop below the low fan speed limit, triggering full fan speed, and then switching to slow fans again, repeating this cycle over and over and over again (at least until the system warm sup a little)?

Changing the low fan speed values would be the best and most desirable solution, but even something simple as setting the minimum pwm duty cycle, while continuing to allow fan control to speed up the fans when it gets hot would do the trick.

I guess I could run this smfc (if compatible with the x9dri-f, it says "some" but I am not sure which ones) but ideally I am just looking for something that stops the scillation, allows the system to still adjust fan speeds, and is OS independent, as this is a testbench type of system that boots many different operating systems depending on what I need to test/flash/run that day.
 
mattlach

mattlach

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Aug 1, 2014
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nexox said:
Since you have IPMI on that board you can just set those thresholds, they're persistent across reboots and OS installs. The command is something like:

ipmitool sensor thresh FAN1 lower 200 250 300
Click to expand...
Oh that is awesome. I thought they were hardcoded.

I will have to google the commands and do that.

Thank you very much!
 
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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nexox said:
Since you have IPMI on that board you can just set those thresholds, they're persistent across reboots and OS installs. The command is something like:

ipmitool sensor thresh FAN1 lower 200 250 300
Click to expand...
They are persistent as long as the IPMI controller is not reset - which means they will not persist if power is removed from the system.

I usually just set up a script to run at boot time to set the fan thresholds as needed. Easy to do with corn using ‘@reboot’.
 
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nexox

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May 3, 2023
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PigLover said:
They are persistent as long as the IPMI controller is not reset - which means they will not persist if power is removed from the system.
Click to expand...
That has not been my experience, I've only ever had to set fan thresholds once, and just to be sure I powered on an X9SRI-F that has been unplugged for a few weeks, it came up with all the fan thresholds set the way I configured them a year or two ago.
 
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mattlach

mattlach

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Aug 1, 2014
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nexox said:
That has not been my experience, I've only ever had to set fan thresholds once, and just to be sure I powered on an X9SRI-F that has been unplugged for a few weeks, it came up with all the fan thresholds set the way I configured them a year or two ago.
Click to expand...
Maybe it is a matter of having a good CMOS battery? :p

(Could also be board to board variation I suppose. I have learned that Supermicro is not quite consistent with what they do)
 
mattlach

mattlach

Active Member
Aug 1, 2014
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mattlach said:
nexox said:
Since you have IPMI on that board you can just set those thresholds, they're persistent across reboots and OS installs. The command is something like:

ipmitool sensor thresh FAN1 lower 200 250 300
Click to expand...
Oh that is awesome. I thought they were hardcoded.

I will have to google the commands and do that.

Thank you very much!
Click to expand...
Your recollection of syntax is admirably. That worked perfectly as written (though I was using different fan numbers)

I have not yet rebooted, so I don't know if it is persistent on my board, but if it isn't, I will indeed just add it to cron @reboot.

Thanks again everyone!
 
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