T130 Fan Speed Algorithm

Dear Josh,

Thank you for your reply.

I am concerned about using the ipmitool in raw mode.

You have specified a number of byte codes to achieve what I want but I have some issues with this, namely:

1. If your suggestion does not work, how do undo this change ?

2. In another thread a different suggestion has been made that requires ipmitool to be executed twice as follows

...... raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

......raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x46

Now, I'm a little nervous about sending "raw" commands to the firmware without understanding what they mean ...... try as I may I cannot track down the precise meaning of the data byte pattern you (and another) give in your respective replys. Following a bit of a trawl on the internet I deduce that the first byte in the sequences above (0x30) looks to be "vendor specific netfn" possibly followed by a command "0x30" and then (I'm guessing) the next byte is a length value (0x01) followed by 0x00 and (0x02) followed by 0xff and 0x46.

Looking at your sequence I conclude my guess about the byte interpretation is incorrect.

Can you give me any further info on what these byte strings are actually doing please and where they are documented ?

Many thanks.

It is not a documented feature. It is a workaround for the default fan behavior for 3rd party cards, which is assuming the highest thermal load and increasing the fan speed. The other solution is the one that support gave you to use a validated card.

Here is the command to turn the default fan behavior back on

raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 

and here is the command to check the status.

raw 0x30 0xce 0x01 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 

Dear Josh,

Thank you for your helpful reply.

I have used the last sequence you gave to check the status and receive the following response:

01 16 05 00 00 00
16 05 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00

Is this what one would expect ?

Also, as I said, in another thread Robert Odongo suggested the following commands to achieve the desired result:

ipmitool.exe -I lanplus -U root -P calvin -H raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

ipmitool.exe -I lanplus -U root -P calvin -H raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x46

So, I now appear to have two different answers to the same problem ? This does not feel right to me.

Lastly, no one from "support" has yet confirmed that the fan RPM will not increase if one of the "supported" NICs is installed - is this the case ?

Many thanks.

The response data is:

16 05 00 00 00 05 00 01 00 00 (Disabled)
16 05 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00 (Enabled)

So it looks like it is enabled still.

This is what it is adjusting. The default automatic cooling response on PowerEdge 13G server for third-party PCIe cards provisions airflow based on common industry card requirements.

So yes, using a validated card should not cause the fans to spin up. 

In this thread his command is the same as mine en.community.dell.com/.../19992279

Dear Josh,

Thanks again for you assistance.

I have now executed the suggested raw command and the fan has settled back down to a far more reasonable speed - as far as I can tell it has returned to the speed as before I installed the Broadcom NIC ..... hooray !

BTW The other thread I was referring to (that seems to have a conflicting byte sequence) was not the one you directed me to - it was [PowerEdge General HW Forum] - Dell PowerEdge T130 Fan issue 

en.community.dell.com/.../20941557

To add to the knowledge base the successful command I executed on my OpenSUSE Leap 42.1 system was:

ipmitool -I open -U root -P calvin -H 192.168.254.202 raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00

Also, ipmitool is not installed by default and needs to be added (best way is to use the software install tool under YaST and download from the repository).

Lastly, if I ever update the firmware would I be correct in assuming I will have to repeat this exercise ?

Many thanks.

I also have a PowerEdge T130 and have an add-in PCI-e card installed and my fan noise is also unbearably loud.  I am however running windows server 2012 r2.  How can I issue the same IPMI commands to quiet the fan down?

Isn't the 3rd party response settable from the BIOS and also from the idrac?

As in:

/admin1-> racadm set  System.ThermalSettings.FanSpeedOffset Off       
/admin1-> racadm set  System.ThermalSettings.ThirdPartyPCIFanResponse 0

Regards,

Vincent

When I log into the iDRAC I do have the option to set the "Fan Speed Offset" but there is no setting in there regarding the ThirdPartyPCIFanResponse.

The Fan Speed Setting menu is found in the iDrac menu.
During BIOS boot, F2 -> IDRAC settings -> Thermal -> Fan Speed Offset.

For the PCI 3rd Party reponse, please have a look at:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20441533/download

Hi Tristan,

This isn't the proper setting.

I believe these settings are in the BIOS and/Idrac settings when you boot the server.

Let me try to guide you better (the sever is in my home and cannot be rebooted at this time).

Regards,

Vincent

Hi all,

I've tried both commands and both results are unsatisfactory. By the way my OS is Debian jessie.

A) If you just disable the 3rd party response, that is using ipmitool raw command:

0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00 ,

the RPM of the CPU/system fan's will stay at around 1200 no matter how hot is the CPU (I made the experiment up to 80 celsius approx).

B) If you run the commands

ipmitool -I open -U root -P calvin -H 192.168.1.120 raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

ipmitool -I open -U root -P calvin -H 192.168.1.120 raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x46

what I believe is that one is disabling the automatic fan adjustment and although with this setting the temperature of the CPU never goes beyond 60 celsius, the fan's are running continuously at 3600 RPM approx. making a lot of noise, and clearly unnecessary if the CPU load is low.

My question is: Anyone was able to got a satisfactory response, that is,

a) No third party response.

b) Automatic adjustment of fan RPM according to the system/CPU temperature.

Is that too much to ask?

Thanks.

Hi pvil,

My T130 is near-silent, even with a NVidia Geforce and other 3rd party cards.

Someone else described a similar problem to yours which was solved after updating all firmwares.

Could you please try updating the firmwares on your T130 and re-issue the ipmitool commands or use the settings I posted?

Regards,

Vincent

hi is it possible to get the same command for R410 ? ( i have a similar issue)

my idrac is 2.92(05)

i get invalid command for  0xce ...( i can manually trottle the fans correctly but that goes away as soon as i add any card in the slot and then i am back to jet-engine mode ... )

best regards

ps:i set to receive a reply dispite this being old post ... best fix so far.

This seems to have worked for me on my T130. Thanks Vincent.