Excessive fan speed on T630

Hi,

Please ensure your BIOS and iDRAC are up to date. If your server has any non-certified parts they may cause excessive fan speed. Then please take a look below article:

Modifying thermal settings using iDRAC web interface

To modify the thermal settings:

1. In the iDRAC Web interface, go to Overview > Hardware > Fans > Setup . The Fan Setup page is displayed.
2. Specify the following:
• Thermal Profile — Select the thermal profile:
• Default Thermal Profile Settings — Implies that the thermal algorithm uses the same system profile settings that is defined under System BIOS > System BIOS Settings.System Profile Settings page.
  By default, this is set to Default Thermal Profile Settings . You can also select a custom algorithm, which is independent of the BIOS profile. The options available are:
• Maximum Performance (Performance Optimized) :
• Reduced probability of memory or CPU throttling.
• Increased probability of turbo mode activation.
• Generally, higher fan speeds at idle and stress loads.
• Minimum Power (Performance per Watt Optimized):
• Optimized for lowest system power consumption based on optimum fan power state.
• Generally, lower fan speeds at idle and stress loads.
• NOTE: Selecting Maximum Performance or Minimum Power, overrides thermal settings associated to System Profile setting under System BIOS > System BIOS Settings.System Profile Settings page.
• Maximum Exhaust Temperature Limit — From the drop-down menu, select the maximum exhaust air temperature. The values are displayed based on the system.
  The default value is Default, 70°C (158 °F).
  This option allows the system fans speeds to change such that the exhaust temperature does not exceed the selected exhaust temperature limit. This cannot always be guaranteed under all system operating conditions due to dependency on system load and system cooling capability.
• Fan Speed Offset — Selecting this option allows additional cooling to the server. In case hardware is added (example, new PCIe cards), it may require additional cooling. A fan speed offset causes fan speeds to increase (by the offset % value) over baseline fan speeds calculated by the Thermal Control algorithm. Possible values are:
• Low Fan Speed — Drives fan speeds to a moderate fan speed.
• Medium Fan Speed — Drives fan speeds close to medium.
• High Fan Speed — Drives fan speeds close to full speed.
• Max Fan Speed — Drives fan speeds to full speed.
• Off — Fan speed offset is set to off. This is the default value. When set to off, the percentage does not display. The default fan speed is applied with no offset. Conversely, the maximum setting will result in all fans running at maximum speed.
  The fan speed offset is dynamic and based on the system. The fan speed increase for each offset is displayed next to each option.
  The fan speed offset increases all fan speeds by the same percentage. Fan speeds may increase beyond the offset speeds based on individual component cooling needs. The overall system power consumption is expected to increase.
  Fan speed offset allows you to increase the system fan speed with four incremental steps. These steps are equally divided between the typical baseline speed and the maximum speed of the server system fans. Some hardware configurations results in higher baseline fan speeds, which results in offsets other than the maximum offset to achieve maximum speed.
  The most common usage scenario is non-standard PCIe adapter cooling. However, the feature can be used to increase system cooling for other purposes.
• Minimum Fan Speed in PWM (% of Max) — Select this option to fine tune the fan speed. Using this option, you can set a higher baseline system fan speed or increase the system fan speed if other custom fan speed options are not resulting in the required higher fan speeds.
• Default — Sets minimum fan speed to default value as determined by the system cooling algorithm.
• Custom — Enter the percentage value.
  The allowable range for minimum fan speed PWM is dynamic based on the system configuration. The first value is the idle speed and the second value is the configuration max (which may or may not be 100% based on system configuration).
  System fans can run higher than this speed as per thermal requirements of the system but not lower than the defined minimum speed. For example, setting Minimum Fan Speed at 35% limits the fan speed to never go lower than 35% PWM.
• NOTE: 0% PWM does not indicate fan is off. It is the lowest fan speed that the fan can achieve.
  The settings are persistent, which means that once they are set and applied, they do not automatically change to the default setting during system reboot, power cycling, iDRAC, or BIOS updates. A few Dell servers may or may not support some or all of these custom user cooling options. If the options are not supported, they are not displayed or you cannot provide a custom value.
3. Click Apply to apply the settings.
   The following message is displayed:
   It is recommended to reboot the system when a thermal profile change has been made. This is to ensure all power and thermal settings are activated.
   Click Reboot Later or Reboot Now.
• NOTE: You must reboot the system for the settings to take effect.
   
   
  Hope that helps!

I am running iDRAC 1.86.86.86 and BIOS 2.19.0 which I believe are the latest versions. Apart from the SSDs in the SAS enclosure all hardware currently installed was installed by Dell. The Dell SAS controller reports that the SSDs are running well below the maximum temperatures.

I had been running in "minimum power" mode, I've set it to default. It was already in "low fan speed" mode and with the minimum speed set to 10% (the lowest possible).

There is no maximum exhaust temperature limit! Do I need a new version of iDRAC for this?

Yes your BIOS seems up to date but your iDRAC is too way old. There is iDRAC 2.86.86.86 https://dell.to/40De7zu You can see older version. iDRAC and BIOS should be updated together. And they are responsible for fan management. Don't upgrade to the latest version all at once because it is too old. I suggest you update incrementally. Normally it should have been updated together with BIOS.  Btw even SSDs might be cause the issue but I believe most probably it is related with iDRAC.

Sorry I did a typo, it's iDRAC 2.86.86.86.

The change to "default" from "minimum power" didn't change fan speeds as there are still three fans at 3000rpm and the rest all above 2600rpm.

iDRAC says that the current system board power is 119W with the "historical trends" section reporting the peak power for the last week as 144W which coincides with booting it up. The current PSU readings are 0.6A for one and 0.2A for the other at 232V. That makes 186W drawn from the wall. It knows that the amount of power it's drawing is comparable to two laptops so it should know that it doesn't need high fan speeds.

Let's idRAC resetand perform power drain and monitor it again. 

I did a iDRAC reset and a power drain and it didn't change anything. Still 3 fans at 3000rpm and the other 3 between 2600 and 3000 rpm.

Hello,

how did you perform the iDRAC reset?

Thanks

I reset it through the web interface as documented on the page Erman linked.

Any more suggestions on this? I've tried everything you suggested and nothing changes.

As an aside the fans had been running at high speed since the system was brand new. But for most of it's life it was in a server room and the noise wasn't a bother. Now I'm running it nearer to humans and want to solve the problem.

Hello iDRAC firmware has nothing to do with it, 
 
My take is the same issues with the environment could cause damage to the components. 
 
or you could simply dust and need do re-connection of all cables.

Respectfully,