T605 Back Fan (CPUs) Running Fast

Hi,

  My T605 exhibits exactly the same issue - since I sit next to the server in my office, it is quite annoying. Did you ever get any resolution??

Thanks,

Lyndon

I am also having this exact problem.  Unlike the original poster, however, I have not been able to produce a scenario where the rear fan is running at anything besides full speed.  I do have 16G of memory though.

Has anyone had any luck or found other use cases / hardware configurations that do not have this problem?

To follow up, I am wondering if anyone else experienced either normal or fast fan speeds with different memory configurations?  Is the problem specific to the 16GB (4x4GB) configuration?  The original poster mentioned that 12GB (6x2GB) did not exhibit the fan problem.  Has anyone experienced this problem with other memory configurations?  8GB? 24GB? or 32GB?  I am definitely willing to buy more memory if it would help mute this incredibly loud fan.

Just received my box, and it also is incredbly loud (even after the initial "747" jet engine noise).  I'm also running 16GB (4x4GB).  Obviously "loud" is qualitative, and I don't have any way to compare with a system running with less memory, but it really sounds like the back fan is running full blast.  Would be nice it could be tied to temperature in BIOS, or if there were some way to manually set the intensity (I'm fine with full blast, as long as it's necessary to keep temp down).

I'm experiencing a similar issue. Dell Poweredge T605

System Board Fan 2 is spinning up at 3675 RPM

System has 16GB Dell (4x 4GB) memory. The noise causes significant distraction.

I did experience an issue when fitting the memory where the plastic shroud around the CPUs wasn't seated properly. This resulted in the fans remaining at the same speed after power up. Having resolved this issue the fan does at least spin down a little after initial power on.

System Board Fan 2 doesn't fall below 3675 RPM, however if the ambient temperature increases, then the fan will speed up to compensate.

Software is Dell Open Manage 5.5.0.1 / Windows Server 2008 x64

I have exatcly the same problem with my new Dell PowerEdge T605 on Windows Server 2008 x64 !

System Board Fan 1 is constantly at 2000 RPM

System Board Fan 2 is constantly at 3800 RPM

Dell says the server is silent on its web site. So I guess there is a firmware/driver problem. Yet I have installed last revision of firmwares and softwares...

Have you solved the problem ?

Thanks.

I have the same issue. Bought that server because it was supposed to be quiet!

If I put 6 memory modules in the fan runs slow and it's really quiet. If I put 4 or 8 memory modules the fun runs fast no matter what and you cannot keep the server in the same room that you sit in. It's server 2008 64 bit. I do not think that anything depends on density of the memory modules. It's just how many are in.

If you find the solution please post it here. I belive that it migh be issue with Opteron drivers for win 2008 64 bit. I saw similar posts on HP forums.

Hello, I know it's not of any help, but I'll try to give some hints anyway. I have a 1-CPU, 4GB, PERC Raid card (2 Raid-1 drives) T605 server I bought for our office in December 2008, and it has been running quiet (really!) and cool since then. And by quiet I mean the the server sits in our office where I and other employees work, as quiet as any other desktop PC we have. 

I have the same issue after upgrading my system ram from 4 GB (4x1GB dimms) to 8 GB (2x4GB dimms) on my one-processor T605: the fan noise got really really high after the upgrade!

Having only one CPU means that by default Dell sent me the system with 4 dimms in the slots A1...A4, and following the instructions on the manual I installed the new dimms in the A1,A2 slots. From the first power on after the upgrade, my system fan after the power-on self test, slows down a little bit, but it's still very very loud (the CPU fan runs well above 3600RPM). 

After 2 days (7 hours or so...) of trying to find a solution, I think I tried almost everything that came to my mind:

• I reset the NV_RAM by the jumper on the mainboard
• Tried the following configurations: 10GB (4+4+1+1) , 10GB (1+1+4+4) , 8 GB (4+4), 2GB (1+1), 4 GB (1+1+1+1). None of them (not even the original one!) got my sistem back as it was
• I tried updating the BIOS, but I already have the latest version (3.0.2, which is 6 months or so old)
• I checked the ram with the Dell Diagnostic tool, and no errors were found
• I tried changing some BIOS parameters like "Memory Enhance" and such, but none of them helped.
• I checked and re-checked again the shrouds to ensure that were mounted properly
• As said before, I even tried installing the old memory configuration, which was working before the update

My conclusions:

• The only time the system booted quiet (but fan got noise again after 30 seconds) was when there were 1-sided Dimms in A1 and A2 slots (in the 1+1 and 1+1+4+4 configurations), which may mean that double-sided dimms have problem with the Opteron chipset (just a hint....)
• I'd really really love to overwrite the 3.0.2 system firmware, however the Dell Tools don't allow me to do so, because it says that the latest version is already installed an re-installing is not allowed
• I contacted Dell support, let's see what they say on monday...
• There are NO contacts on the shrouds that allow the system to check if they are correctly mounted or not, which means that the fans rely on some other sensors for their speed. 
• I could not find a way to check the CPU temperature directly: instead, the Dell tool I ran only showed me the Main Board temp which was around 28 degrees Celsius, and Lavalys Everest didn't find any info about CPU temperature on my system
• I am trying to switch the system off for many hours (8 hours or so) and see if booting the system with "cool" room temperature allows the power-on test to set a lower fan speed.
• If nothing works, I am going to use a different thermal paste/compound on the CPU (for example the Arctic Silver 5) to get lower temperatures and see if it helps

I have a Windows Server  2008 x64 O.S., but since the fans start blowing loud well BEFORE the server loads the operating system, I am quite sure it's not an Operating System issue. I'd really love to hear some words from Dell. 

Having raised this as an issue to Dell Support I have been provided with the reponse below. It appears that the mainboard is programmed to compensate for additional memory being added to the board (and potential additional heat being generated) by spinning up the fans. N oise with the T605 is not a fault, it is anticipated behaviour.

Despite an explanation that I can understand, I'm really not very happy about the outrageous, and wildly inaccurate claims from Dell that this Server is quiet. Quiet is not a subjective assessment - quiet is measured is decibels, and this unit does meet consumer expectations with regards to noise levels. The Dell T605 Server is not quiet, the Dell T605 is noisy - and I conclude that the Dell T605 Server is unsuitable  / not fit for purpose in an open office environment. This unit belongs in a server room, away from working collegues. Indeed having raised the issue of noise with my account manager from Dell he seemed surprised that I wanted to use a server in an office - 'A server is designed for use in a server room'....

Poor Review Dell T605 - Problems, Issue, Noise, unhappy consumers, do not recommend, stay away, a number of unhappy customers, underperforms acoustically, don't believe Dell's marketing, half truths from Dell's website.

Response from Dell follows below:

" DSET  ambient temperature sensor is reading a normal 23.0C

This indicates your issue is not environment temp related.

Fan2 is directly responsible for memory cooling.

Fan2 RPM will increase incrementally according to the amount of memory installed, see examples below:

2GB RAM Installed:
System Board FAN 1 RPM 1950 RPM
System Board FAN 2 RPM 1725 RPM
System Board Ambient Temp 23.0 C

4Gb RAM Installed:
System Board FAN 1 RPM 1875 RPM
System Board FAN 2 RPM 2550 RPM
System Board Ambient Temp 21.0 C

6Gb RAM Installed:
System Board FAN 1 RPM 1875 RPM
System Board FAN 2 RPM 2850 RPM
System Board Ambient Temp 20.0 C

I  can confirm your Fan2 RPM of 3675 is within expected range for a 16GB  memory configuration.

Engineering state that fan2 RPM increase is required for efficient cooling of memory components within the chassis." 

Thank you for posting this information. At least I know it's not broken and that Dell expects that fan to spin that fast for at least as long as a warranty lasts hopefully :-)

I cannot say I am happy either ... will need to find a room for it.

Hello Everyone;

Since the original post I had a few other memory configuration like:

12GB Memory (6 x 2 GB Modules)

    - It runs just fine.  Fan 2 usually stays around 1600 RPM, just perfect.

24GB Memory (6 x 4 GB Modules)

    - It runs just fine.  Fan 2 usually stays around 1600 RPM, just perfect.

Adding 2 more modules of 4 GBs each, becomes extremely noise to bring it to 32 GB Memory.

32GB Memory (8 x 4 GB Modules)

    - Fan 2 does not slow down and never goes any lower than 3600 RPM (regardless of the temp)

    - As previous post mentioned, its not temp related as I have a dedicated AC on this room.

    - Temp never goes any higher than 31C

    - Does not  matter how much processing or OS is running.

I am trying to work this out with Dell at this time, it is clearly poor a architecture design with the BMC, that cannot adjust the Fan RPM with the temperature.

To add to previous comment, this is a entry level server type, not an enterprise type of machine, therefore, users will deploy this HW within an open office, home office and most likely not on a data center.

With that said, its imperative that Dell make the proper adjustments on this product line to align with the business class that uses this product series.

As last, if you still have a valid support with Dell, I would recommend following up with the support team.

Many Thanks Ifneto!:emotion-21:

I have upgrade my configuration to 24GB of RAM (6x4GB) and the machine is as quiet as a mouse.

This bios complains that this is not an optimal memory configuration, so I had to enter setup (F2) and turn off the F2 on warning so that the machine boots with prompting.

The fans were initially spinning up at their full RPM, but then the BMC appeared to kick in and gradually step the speed of the fans down until I could hardly hear them. There is more noise coming from the disk drives now than the fan!

I've been monitoring the temperature and it is constant at 24C.

I'm not sure that I'd recommend this memory configuration for a critical system, but for a development box it will be fine.

Hello Everyone;

After many hours working with Dell Support and collecting data, a mutual agreement was reached between myself and the support team to escalate this issue to Dell Engineers via Product Managers and other executives level for further research and possible adjustments to BMC.

I have provided all the information possible to Dell to better understand how the users are using the T605 (open offices, by desks, home office, and not on datacenters) product line and in some cases it does not deliver what it advertises.

I am still very uncertain that the fan controller (BMC) is actually working "as design"  when using specific memory configuration (even lower than 32 or 24 GB),  therefore it makes no sense that it has no adaptive speed in relation to the temperature.

 As last, let us hope that Dell will listen to us and release a BMC that is adjusted to specific (supported) memory configuration.  

 I hope this post was useful and helped you guys.

 Thanks

:) 

Do you know what is supported memory configuration? I had some experience with trying to find that out and never really got an answer. An online manual

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

 says one thing and Dell's Tech support says the other. I tried to use 4,4,2,2 configuration as per manual (all x2 because 2 processors) and I got BIOS complaining about a bad configuration and a fan spinning with so much noise that the server was unusable (yes, I keep it under my desk at home). Removing 2 GB, so having 3 slots filled (20GB) config makes the server run quietly but of course I see a message about the bad memory config. It sounds that 24 (3X4 X2)  is bad too. So, the online manual is wrong and their internal docs are correct. They told me that they would  fix the manual but I guess they did not. It still shows incorrect values.

Thanks for the info!

If it helps, I am having the same issue with my T605 as well.  I purchased the server in May 2008 and it came installed with 6 sticks of 1GB RAM.  I finally got around to upgrading the memory on the box last week and ordered 16 GB of RAM (4 x 4GB).  I kept 4 of the 1GB RAM sticks in the remaining four slots to give me a total of 20GB of RAM.  Upon starting up, all 20GB are recognized but I then get the warning that the RAM configuration is not optimal, hit F1 to continue with the current configuration or F2 to enter Setup.  I have never seen any options in Setup that would help me manage or fix this, nor do I understand why the configuration would not be optimal as I'm following the guidelines in the user manual and the inside cover of the server.

From reading all of the posts on this thread, it seems like I would need to order another 8GB of RAM so that I have the 6 x 4GB configuration that apparently signals to the fans that it's okay to ramp down after startup...a bug if I've ever heard one considering the fans aren't responding to heat like they should.  I am not pleased at all that this seems to be the only option with the exception of waiting for Dell to come up with a patch which could or could not come at anytime.  This thread is a year old and this issue has pretty much existed for over a year so I feel like I might be holding my breath.

Please let me know what avenues I can take to make as much noise as possible with Dell about this because, like other posts have mentioned, this is NOT an enterprise grade server.  I bought it for my home office and it sits within 5 feet of my desk.  The noise that it is putting out now is horrendous and makes it impossible to work for long periods of time.  Not only that, but until this is resolved, I don't see myself leaving it on at night which is a necessity for me as I run nightly batch jobs.

I would be curious to hear anyone and everyone's opinion on this...especially someone from Dell if possible.

Thanks,
Matthew