Loud Continuous Beep on Boot & PSU Fan Never Stops

[Mheetu]

I have 2 issues...

1) I have the SuperMicro 846E1-R900B 24-bay Server Chassis and a SuperMicro X8DTE Motherboard. When I turn it on, it seems to boot fine into FreeDOS (I don't have any drives or OS installed yet) but as soon as it comes on a VERY loud continuous beep goes off and doesn't stop until I turn the machine off. It sounds like it's coming from the backplane, but it's hard to tell for sure. I put my hands over a part of it and it seemed to damped the noise so I'm assuming that's where it's originating from.

2) After turning the system off by holding the power button in for 4 seconds, the system fans shut off, the LEDs all shut off, but the PSU fan keeps running and doesn't stop. I left it plugged in for an hour while off and it ran the entire time. This is my first server, but I can't imagine this is normal operating behavior, is it? If not, what might be causing it?

Thanks :)

 

[Dice]

2) After turning the system off by holding the power button in for 4 seconds, the system fans shut off, the LEDs all shut off, but the PSU fan keeps running and doesn't stop. I left it plugged in for an hour while off and it ran the entire time. This is my first server, but I can't imagine this is normal operating behavior, is it? If not, what might be causing it?

This is normal.
The PSU maintains power to the motherboard to enable WOL, or IPMI features (commonly via AOC cards on X8DT*).

 

[Ericloewe]

Supermicro PSUs do that? Well, I guess it saves them the trouble of a dedicated +5VSB rail - just run it off the regular +5V rail and don't turn off the PSU, just set power good to the bad value. On a server, who really cares.

 

[Dice]

When my machine is shut off but connected, a single PSU fan makes more noise than my entire 8 drive Skylake build.

 

[Mheetu]

Interesting... any idea on the loud continuous beep? I'm trying to flash my H310 and am wondering if it's somehow related to my inability to boot with the H310 connected. I get an error stating "Attached Enclosure doesn't support in controller's Direct mapping mode", but it also beeps when that card isn't connected.

 

[Dice]

"Attached Enclosure doesn't support in controller's Direct mapping mode", but it also beeps when that card isn't connected.

What does the manual say?
A speculation would suggest the backplanes require a controller to be connected to not squeal in loneliness. The H310 may not be compatible in its current firmware to the particular backplane?

Try another HBA?

 

[Mheetu]

A friend of mine with the same chassis finally got back with me, it ended up being because I only had 1 of the PSUs actually plugged into an outlet. I need to get another power cable, but pulling the 2nd PSU out silenced the alarm. :)

 

[BigDave]

The alarm in question is the power backplane's way of letting you know one of the redundant PSUs is not functioning, it has no way to tell that
the non-working unit is just not plugged in.
My 836 will sound off if either PSU is not plugged in or if one is disconnected from the backplane.
Note that the newer model redundant units do not run the fans all
the time any more, when they are just plugged in. They will start the fans
only when you push the power button and turn the server on.

 

[Stux]

When my machine is shut off but connected, a single PSU fan makes more noise than my entire 8 drive Skylake build.

Meanwhile, my 1000W PSU runs fanless up to 400W ;)

It does get a tiny bit warm

 

[Dice]

Meanwhile, my 1000W PSU runs fanless up to 400W ;)

It does get a tiny bit warm

Needless to say that X8 847 purchase is the ugliest duck in my collection x)
...might do a thread once I get around to solving some stuff. Ie, when I need another vdev of 7 drives. At that time I must evacuate.