PowerEdge R770 – Fans at 100% caused by specific Dell NVMe SSDs (root cause identified)

I’m sharing this to help others avoid a long troubleshooting cycle.

It took 27 days to identify the root cause of this issue.

System

• Model: Dell PowerEdge R770 (new)
• Storage: Dell-branded NVMe SSDs
• Firmware: BIOS, iDRAC, LC fully up to date
• OS: Windows Server 2025 (issue present even before OS install)

Issue

• All system fans run at 100% permanently
• Temperatures normal
• No thermal or hardware errors in iDRAC
• System otherwise stable

Parts replaced by Dell (did NOT resolve)

• System board
• Fans
• CPUs
• Memory
• PSU
• Firmware reflash / resets

Root Cause (confirmed)

The issue is caused by specific Dell-branded NVMe SSDs:

• Dell EMC NVMe PCIe Gen4 1.6 TB SED
• DP/N: 0G7N00
• Vendor: Kioxia
• Firmware: KCM6FVUL1T60_B

These SSDs trigger failsafe fan mode on the R770, likely due to NVMe telemetry or thermal reporting incompatibility.

Resolution

• Removed Dell/Kioxia NVMe SSDs
• Installed Samsung enterprise NVMe SSDs
• Fans immediately returned to normal operation
• No BIOS or iDRAC changes required

Recommendation

If you experience constant high fan speeds on an R770 with no thermal faults:

➡️ Verify the NVMe SSD model and firmware first.

Dell may need to review NVMe firmware compatibility or thermal policy handling for this platform.