Dell T410 system fan replacement

Maybe someone will come along with some additional insight, but chance are, if you replace the fan with a generic/retail fan, that the sensors will not be able to properly monitor your fan, keeping your system in a constant state of error/warning related to the "faulty" hardware.  Even if you can live with that, there is a very good chance that, upon detecting the "faulty" fan, that the speed of the other system fans will be kicked up to compensate, greatly increasing the noise from the server.

Hi Vincent

Alternatively from both the suggestions from theflash and skylarking, you may want to try to update the PowerEdge T410's BIOS and iDRAC.

The updates might help.

As usual, please perform a data backup before performing the update.

BIOS

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

iDRAC

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

Let us know how it goes.

Sorry Vincent, i should not have assume anything.

Best approach is to first ensure all fans working and are free from debris, then check that the system is fault free and that all drivers, firmware, bios are the latest available (especially BIOS and iDrac firmware).

I would then independently cross check all temperature sensor data is reasonably accurate with some other measuring device. Only then, if the noise problem still exists, should you consider the options i mentioned in my first post.

Thanks Manfred for reminding me not to assume anything.

PS: In my case, the updates did little to resolve the fan roar, hope you have better luck...

Thank you for all the links, I'll try the fan threshold stuff (I'm under Linux too).

Vincent

Sorry about the inadequate formatting of the above post.. :(

Here's the post again and with correct formatting:

Hi everyone,

I'm still in need of a little more of help...

In my current env, the standard system fan runs at 1280rpm/1440rpm with the new BMC firmware (1.70).

I would still like to lower its noise and I got a 1500rpm Noctua PWM fan with good CFM and comparable rpm and then I'm running into the connector problem:

- The connector on the mobo is a 4-pin and has an undefined wiring.

- The connector on the fan is different and the wires are ordered 'differently' than those from the stock Delta Fan.

I got this fan, btw: www.noctua.at/main.php, Noctua NF-F12 PWM.

So the only thing stopping me from replacing is matching the wires on the fan and the connectors on the mobo.

Do you think that with PWN and by using a numeric volmeter I could figure it out or does it take rocket-science?

I wouldn't want to bust this brand new motherboard..

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Vincent

Hi Vincent,

Dell uses a proprietary connector for their PWM fan. This means you will need to either source a new Dell style connector with pins from some supplier for use with your new fan or reuse your old connector (by cut the wires a little above the connector itself) and soldering them to the appropriate wires from your new PWM fan.

This is explained by Brent on his PowerEdge 1900 project page. For further details see Replacing the fans on a PowerEdge 2800. But do note that your system may be wired differently to his 1900/2800 so you should check your wiring as the control(PWM) and sense(tacho) signals are the ones likely to cause confusion while VCC(power) and Ground are obvious (and easy to check with a multimeter).

Do remember that if your fans spin slower than the hard coded BMC thresholds, your system will see this as a fault and raise an error/warning. As such you may need to modify your BMC firmware if this is of concern to you. The above mentioned project pages should give you some idea of what is involved.

Cheers

[edited to correct formatting]

Hi skylarking,

Thank you for your answer. I have a spare motherboard connector of the appropriate type since I got a 'spare' fan with the server. So no need to cut wires, I just need to match the 4 wires on the Noctua with the connector 'slots' on the connector itself.

As you say, if the rpm ranges are different, it will result in an error  to the BMC but given the room temp, server placement and low-power components I'm using, I'm willing to take that chance.

I will try to figure out the proper wiring (any hints on color codes for the 12VCD Delta fans?) and post my results here.

Best regards from France and many thanks for the help,

Vincent

Hi Vincent,

the second link i referenced in my previous post describes the wire color & wire function for the Dell supplied Delta CPU fan which uses the Dell style connector found in the PE 2800. That same page also defines wire color for the replacement Everflow fan 'arnuschky' used amongst others Dell and non Dell fans, so read it. :emotion-1:

All the info you need regarding a fan modification for a PE 2800 can in fact be found on 'arnuschky's project page so read and understand the main how to's and related posts. But as i don't have a T410 and as yet haven't done a fan mod to my T610, you have to determine what info is relevant and applicable to your server. The PE 2800 info may or may not be the same as T410 or T610 but as yet i don't know. :emotion-6:

Hi skylarking,

Thanks for trying to help me. :)

Yes, I read the second link. :) This is what I got from your link:

Pin Funtion           Dell

1 VCC                red

2 Control/PWM blue

3 Ground black black

4 Sense/Tacho yellow

My stock fan is also a DELTA fan but my wire order on the dell connector is a little different.

It looks like this (see picture):

Pin Funtion                Delta

1 ?? blue

2 Ground black

3 ?? red

4 Sense/Tacho yellow

Looking at the PDF file for the Delta FAN indicates that

Black wire: Negative

Red Wire: Positive (+)

Blue Wire: Tachometer output (F00)

Yellow Wire: Speed Control (PWM)

So puting this information together gives:

Pin Funtion Delta

1 SENSE blue

2 Ground black

3 VCC red

4 PWM yellow

Do you think that's OK?

For the Noctua fan, I found this:

And again, putting all this together gives:

Pin Funtion     Delta        Noctua
1 SENSE        blue        green
2 Ground    black        black
3 VCC        red        yellow
4 PWM        yellow        blue

Does it sound OK?

Thanks,

Vincent (who doesn't want to short-circuit his mobo). :)

The Power Edge T410 Technical Guide Book has some detail about your system and is worth downloading but unfortunately lacks any details about the connector pinouts on the mobo, something that HP documentation does well. Dell could learn something from HP in this regard. Dumbing down of technical documentation seems to be an ever increasing problem (it's probably caused by a proprietary mindset gone mad) and is a pet hate of mine.

Anyway the T410 does have a different physical connector as compared to the square fan plug on the 2800 but you found a doc that defines what the Noctua wire colors mean which is rather helpful. Also take note from arnuschky's fan page i referenced where you would have read the following sentence;

"Next problem was that all fans spun at full speed. Impressively noisy, even for a seasoned cluster admin as me (I could hear the vibration 2 floors below). The reason were swapped PWM and Tacho pins"

Now it's highly likely that the Dell connector black wire is ground and the red wire is VCC (+12V) which you can check with the fan plugged into the system using a multimeter with fine probes to be 100% sure. This will define which plug connector wire position to use when installing the noctua black wire (ground) and yellow wire (VCC) to the Dell plug. As for the PWM and SENCE wires, it sounds from arbuschky's comment that you will will not damage your system should you get them wrong though it's highly likely the Dell blue wire is SENCE and yellow is PWM which gives you the connector positions to use with the appropriate PWM and SENCE wires from the noctua fan.

So you do seem to be correct in your pin/wire assignments above.

Also note, the pins used in the Dell connector and the Noctua connector look much the same, so you may be able to use a needle to remove them from the plastic shell itself and reposition them according to the Dell proprietary positioning (sence, ground, vcc, pwm) either in the old dell connector shell or the noctua shell (if that will plug into the mobo fan header).

It's up to you to decide if your research and testing is sufficient to make the fan change, i can't give guarantees.