issue with Noctua fans and Supermicro Board

[phier]

hello
running freenas 9x ; i plugged NF-a14 pwm directly to supermicro x11ssl-f board.
Also, I plugged another 3x nf-s12b redux fans to the board.

Currently, what is happening is that NF-a14 is during the same time intervals I think each 15sec? Speed-up like a crazy / then lower speed and repeats with the same behaviour... is that a MB setup issue / or freenas issue? The drives are completely idle ... so there is no extra heat etc...

that's what i got from IPIM

i don't think it works correctly?

after refresh

maybe i need to Limit fan4 to max 1100-1200 RPM instead of 1400?


can i disconnect the fan4 during the machine is running from MB and put there low-noise-adapter which limits its speed to 1200 max.
Or maybe by software somehow lower its speed to 1200 max?

the strange thing is why these fans are not rotating constantly with lets say 800rpm instead they are going from almost zero to 1200 then speed decreases and increases ... weird.

Okay it looks like that noise is not generated by only one fan ie 1400rpm , but as the speed of all fans is constantly oscillating ... that's the reason for the noise... the question would be why it's oscillating? Why they don't rotate with a constant speed ie 600 or 800rpm etc - (can i somehow set it manually?)


thanks

 

[phier]

seems as a Supermicro and Noctua bug...

Supermicro Fans Are Repeatedly Ramping Up and Down

Fan thresholds for low RPM Noctua fans on a Supermicro server motherboards have to be adjusted so that the fans are not repeatedly ramping up and down.

blog.stefandroid.com

Supermicro motherboard loud fans | IT Blog

when i set
lower 150 225 300
the fans are going on max speed which is not optimal/requested ;/

can someone advise what should be set there?

 

[phier]

i also tried>
lower 150 225 300
same behavior ... fan is running on MAX,

that was initial fan setting
Locating sensor record...
Sensor ID : FAN1 (0x41)
Entity ID : 29.1
Sensor Type (Threshold) : Fan
Sensor Reading : 1100 (+/- 0) RPM
Status : ok
Lower Non-Recoverable : 300.000
Lower Critical : 500.000
Lower Non-Critical : 700.000
Upper Non-Critical : 25300.000
Upper Critical : 25400.000
Upper Non-Recoverable : 25500.000
Positive Hysteresis : 100.000
Negative Hysteresis : 100.000
Assertion Events :
Assertions Enabled : lcr- lnr- ucr+ unr+
Deassertions Enabled : lcr- lnr- ucr+ unr+

 

[Dice]

I'm absolutely sure there is not particular TrueNAS vs Noctua vs SuperMicro bug related to this problem.
What motherboard are you running? I missed it?

I believe you've identified the broader issue, that is the settings of fan speed intervals to adequate levels.

I believe you also need to change the UNR, UC, UNC to valid values.
if LNR of 300rpm is too low, then bump that up too.

The fancontroller will basically give you intermittently full boost of fans that it believes have stalled, or else is failing.
I've had mad issues too, but it is most definitely possible to sort out :)

 

[phier]

hi
doesnt matter what board model, its generic issue
https://noctua.at/en/im-experiencin...-my-motherboard-from-supermicro-what-can-i-do

yeah but i have no idea about unr uc unc etc.. ;/

 

[Dice]

The link confirms there is a problem per default settings, with slow rpm fans. Not noctua specific in any way.
However, loads of users have successfully ran low rpm fans on SM boards. I've ran various brands including Noctua too, if that seems important without having the "fluctuating on/off speed of fan problem".

Have a good test on these two resources, and I'm sure you'll figure it out what you'll need:

How To: Change IPMI Sensor Thresholds using ipmiutil

Many server motherboards, including the Supermicro X10 series, have their fans monitored by the BMC, which automatically attempts to recover stalling (of the motor, not in the aerodynamic sense) fans by spinning them up to maximum (PWM set to...

www.truenas.com

How To: Change IPMI Sensor Thresholds using ipmitool

Many server motherboards, including the Supermicro X10 series, have their fans monitored by the BMC, which automatically attempts to recover stalling (of the motor, not in the aerodynamic sense) fans by spinning them up to maximum (PWM set to...

www.truenas.com

You could also have a look at the resources of FAN controlling scripts, even if they sort of expect you to have fans that at least behave at full tilt.

I've had super good eperience with a Glourious script there.

good luck :)

 

[Etorix]

i also tried>
lower 150 225 300
same behavior ... fan is running on MAX,

You're looking in the right place, but not applying suitable values. BMC rounds values to multiples of 100, so 100 200 300 would be more like it.
Check the specs of each fan, apply the maximum variation and round down to a multiple of 100. So for a NF-A14 with a minimal speed of 300 rpm +/- 20%, the lower bound would be 240 rpm, rounded down to 200, and the values would be 0 100 200. (Not sure is 0 is an allowed value tough…)
Set lower values for each fan to remove the warnings. Defaults are for typical server fans, which spin much faster (and louder). Upper thresholds are irrelevant. Then search the forum for fan control scripts on Supermicro boards.

 

[phier]

hi @Etorix,
by bmc do you mean?
what values from fan?

I already tried 0 100 200 (https://blog.stefandroid.com/2021/09/24/supermicro-fans-ramping-up-down.html) ; as was suggested in the articles i provided, but fans are going 100% of its speed.

 

[phier]

maybe i dont understand,
i thought using 4pin the speed will be based on the temperature... apparently its constantly 100% after the tweaking to 0 100 200

 

[phier]

Locating sensor record 'FAN4'...
Setting sensor "FAN4" Lower Non-Recoverable threshold to 100.000
Setting sensor "FAN4" Lower Critical threshold to 200.000
Setting sensor "FAN4" Lower Non-Critical threshold to 300.000

 

[involut]

Hey,
SuperMicro and Noctua fan user here too. I have been where you are right now. Went through all the different options configuring values, thresholds and what not through ipmi. Edited raw values, manually calculated rotation speeds for my Noctua fans etc etc....
Long story short: you wont find a sustainable solution that works. At some point the settings will bug out again and fans start spinning up and down. My solution to the problem came with the case where the system was ultimately put into. It allows to manually set 3 fan speed by switch on the back of it. I connected all Noctua fans I had in there, set it to the lowest voltage/speed and left it there ever since. Perfectly quiet and well enough air volume throughput to keep things cool.
I would advise you to do the same. There are certain switches available to rebuild this by yourself. It's very straightforward. Plus, you don't dive down the rabbit hole of trying to work around buggy implementation.

 

[phier]

@involut thats strange as supermicro/noctua are saying it should be doable, so many ppl opened threads etc...

well i have such a case ... but the problem is that controller in the case have all ports for fan 3pin; and all my fans are 4pin - so i have no clue how to plug those fans to 3pins.
thanks