Dell PowerEdge T130 Fan issue

Hello,

I have exactly the same issue with a Nvidia NVS 310 PNY.

Can you explan what is a IPMI command and how to execute it ?

Regards,

I have this issue (I have added a single port Broadcom NIC to a brand new T130). Since adding the NIC  the fan speed does not settle down after boot.

My problem is that I am using Linux (OpenSuse Leap42.1) - the solution above assumes a Microsoft OS.

Any ideas on how to fix this problem using an OS other than M$ ?

Thanks.

Dear Robert, thanks for taking the time to reply.

There is a gap in my knowledge. When you say the commands are the same in Linux are you suggesting that I can download the Dell OpenManage BMC utility to my running Linux OS ("install" somehow) and then carry out the modifications suggested ? Or is this download done somehow in iDRAC (this level of intelligence in the BIOS/Boot Phase is rather new to me).

I see within the iDRAC I can access a section called "thermal" but this looks as though it lets me _increase_ the fan speed rather than forcing "normal" behaviour of adapting the fan speed to real thermal feedback as opposed to simply increasing the baseline speed if an "unknown" card is installed. My card is a Broadcom supplied by Dell - a simple PCIe x1 card (5722) - I cannot believe it draws much power (try as I have I cannot find the power rating)

As far as I can determine the BIOS/iDRAC is fully up to date.

Hi Robert,

OK. I have now partially filled the gap in my knowledge and have the ipmitool installed on my linux based system (via the software installer in YaST).

After some experimenting I now am able to execute the tool and recover some printable reports using the commands "sdr", "sensor" and "fru". I've tried these as they seem to be simple read only type commands that will not alter anything.

BTW the command line on OpensSUSE Leap 42.1 that appears to work is as follows:

ipmitool -I open -U root -P calvin -H

where has so far been one of  sdr sensor fru

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 give in your earlier reply. The first byte (0x30) looks to be "vendor specific netfn" 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.

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

Thanks,

Alan

Can these raw commands be sent from PC? I tried send them from windows 10 machine and get error: Unable to establish IPMI v2

Hi,

Ensure you set the Username and password after -U and -P 

Do you have the command to reset back to default please? 

Don't forget to enable IPMI Management over LAN inside the DRAC web UI. It appears to be disabled by default.

I have used these commands (from Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop edition) on the actual device as follows:

sudo ipmitool -I open raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

sudo ipmitool -I open raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x46

While the fan speed lowers, it is still certainly quite loud. Is there anything I can do to reduce the fan speed? I'm fairly certain that at no load the fans should be running very slowly.

I get an error of "invalid parameter given or out of range for -L"

Suggestions?

And also, can this command be run without the server actually plugged into an Ethernet connection? I'm still setting it up and don't have access to a cable yet. 

Hello Robert:

I also have a Poweredge T130.

After sending the raw commands everything works as you stated.

Now I have two questions:

1) If the temperature of the system increases, the FAN's will increase the speed automatically or they will stay at the level set by the raw commands?

2) FAN1 corresponds to the system fan and FAN2 corresponds to the CPU fan, correct?

thanks.

ps: sorry for the duplicate post but I am not sure which thread you are reading.

Hi Robert,

I'm facing the same problem with my T130.

I've installed the BCM tool, but when I run it, it doesn't seem to do anything. At least I'm not given the opportunity to give in the commands you mentioned.

In program files/Dell/SysMgt/BMC I do see a executable ipmitool, but also here goes that it doesn't seem to do anything.

Can you give me a hand?

Arnold

I would like to hope that most people are having the same problem I was having, which is that the commands provided are for remotely sending only. If you are physically at the server and running it from it, you will need to modify the commands to issue the commands locally. I kept trying to run the remote commands even though I was physically on the server ... In that case, please see these local commands (these appear to be compatible across the entire PowerEdge line of servers with the same issue):

Get Cmd: Third Party PCI Card Response Status

          ipmitool –I wmi raw 0x30 0xce 1 0x16 5 0 0 0

Set Cmd: Disable Third Party PCI Card Response

          ipmitool –I wmi raw 0x30 0xce 0 0x16 5 0 0 0 5 0 1 0 0

Set Cmd: Enable Third Party PCI Card Response

          ipmitool –I wmi raw 0x30 0xce 0 0x16 5 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0

I find this a little annoying. When I called in to ProSupport with our Support contract, they specifically stated they cannot provide assistance with the ipmi tool because it is not officially supported by Dell, even if it was a Dell technician providing the advice on the support forums. The support rep even said, "we cannot verify the identities of people posting on the boards, he might be a real rep, he might not" - LOL. The above commands actually came from an official Dell Engineering white paper. Go to Google and type this into search: "Disabling a Third-Party PCIe Card Cooling Response with Dell PowerEdge Servers"

I have tried this and once I realised I had changed the password from calvin to another it runs fine with no errors. But fans are still very fast.

I initially ran it with the PC in the idrac menu as that was where it was. Then the 1st command did nothing and the second made fans spin faster!

So I rebooted and ran again once pc was in OS and running normally (all be it with fast fans!).

Is there anything else I can try.

T130 has a RADEON RX550 graphics card in it.

0x30 0xce 0x01 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 is returning:

 16 05 00 00 00 05 00 01 00 00

Which I think is what I want? Running other commands about have managed to change the 01->00 and back.

So am haveing an effect!

Hi Robert,

The ipmitool is located at my server at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\SysMgt\bmc

When I run the command I get the following:
PS C:\> ipmitool.exe -I lanplus -U root -P calvin -H 172.19.45.19 raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00
ipmitool.exe : The term 'ipmitool.exe' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable pr
ogram. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ ipmitool.exe -I lanplus -U root -P calvin -H 172.19.45.19 raw 0x30 0x ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (ipmitool.exe:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

What to do?

Regards,

Arnold