Fan speed on ProLiant 3000 Server

The fan speed on the ProLiant 3000 is always running at the same speed (very
loud). I thought this was capable of variable speed, so it slows down when
it's cold. I have the support pack installed. Is there some configuration
in one of the management agents to set the fans to variable speed?

"Fpbear II" wrote in message
et...
The fan speed on the ProLiant 3000 is always running at the same speed
(very loud). I thought this was capable of variable speed, so it slows
down when it's cold. I have the support pack installed. Is there some
configuration in one of the management agents to set the fans to variable
speed?


No, there are no descreet fan controls in the HP software for those servers.

- LC

I'm thinking of adding resistors to the red wires of the fan leads to slow
the RPM a bit. Will the system complain if the RPM is lowered? From what
I've read this model does not have a tach signal (instead just a 1/0 signal)
so I guess it should boot without error. The case has 5 fans and it's
running very cool and I think it would be ok if the temp goes up 2-5 C.
This is not running anything mission critical, just a spare workstation now.

"Fpbear II" wrote in message
. net...
I'm thinking of adding resistors to the red wires of the fan leads to slow
the RPM a bit. Will the system complain if the RPM is lowered? From what
I've read this model does not have a tach signal (instead just a 1/0
signal) so I guess it should boot without error. The case has 5 fans and
it's running very cool and I think it would be ok if the temp goes up 2-5
C. This is not running anything mission critical, just a spare workstation
now.


bare in mind, this is a SERVER ... not designed for 'quiet' operation under
a persons desk.

I think I recall reading that other people have done that before. While
there isnt a tach lead on the fan, if you slow it down too much the system
will think that the fan has failed, and it will get a little messy. By that,
i mean an F1 prompt during reboots, and if you have the insight agents
installed, your systemlog, and windows event logs will starting being messy.

It always amuses me when people try to turn a proliant server into an
optiplex desktop.

- LC

If I didn't turn it into a desktop it would be in the trash... I even tried
to sell it on eBay but the shipping is expensive because it is so heavy. So
I put zener diodes on 3 of the 4 case fans. I left the one near the CPU
running at full speed. The result is the temp went up 2C, and all works
fine as a workstation. Better than throwing it away.

Fpbear II wrote:

If I didn't turn it into a desktop it would be in the trash... I even tried
to sell it on eBay but the shipping is expensive because it is so heavy. So
I put zener diodes on 3 of the 4 case fans. I left the one near the CPU
running at full speed. The result is the temp went up 2C, and all works
fine as a workstation. Better than throwing it away.

What voltage were those Zener Diodes?

Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com/

3.3V 1W zener system board fan
3.9V 1W zener backup system board fan
3.3V 1W zener backup CPU fan
no zener for primary front CPU fan
there was no cpu fan in the rear

the fans are 12V 0.49A


"Guy Macon" http://www.guymacon.com/ wrote in message
...



Fpbear II wrote:

If I didn't turn it into a desktop it would be in the trash... I even
tried
to sell it on eBay but the shipping is expensive because it is so heavy.
So
I put zener diodes on 3 of the 4 case fans. I left the one near the CPU
running at full speed. The result is the temp went up 2C, and all works
fine as a workstation. Better than throwing it away.

What voltage were those Zener Diodes?

Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com/

The power supply fans were also too loud for a desktop. For these I cut the
green wire from the fan to disable the thermistors and put a 12 ohm
resistors on the red wire. The fans here are 12V 0.8A. It's running smooth
and much quieter, no system errors and holds up under Prime95 stress
testing. I figure it could last a few weeks and fry the power supply, or it
might work for much longer. If it fries the power supply I'll just buy
another one on eBay for $20 and let it run at full speed. So this is an
experiment.

Caution: when opening the power supply case be careful working inside, it
still holds a high voltage charge and you could get shocked.

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 23:25:26 GMT, "Fpbear II"
wrote:

The fan speed on the ProLiant 3000 is always running at the same speed (very
loud). I thought this was capable of variable speed, so it slows down when
it's cold. I have the support pack installed. Is there some configuration
in one of the management agents to set the fans to variable speed?

On my DL380 with FreeBSD I run a nifty little program called HPASMD
(the deamon) and HPASMCLI (a command line frontend) that monitors the
actual temperature in several areas of the server and adjusts fan
speeds accordingly.

On (re-) booting the machine the noise level of the fans reduces
significantly upon starting HPASMD.

Google your way around HP support web site and download the free
software. I have no personal experience with a Proliant 3000, but
maybe HP's web site gives you a clue.


/Jacob

The DL380 is a bit more advanced than the Proliant 3000. None of the HP
software downloads will allow me to lower the fan speed through software.
However the zener diodes worked great! I cut the fan speed in half and
lowered the noise by 10x, and the temps went up only 5C. I added another
CPU fan in the rear, this one also running half speed, and now the temps are
exactly the same as when the fans were running full speed! Much quieter
too!