Compaq Proliant Challenge!!

BarCodeBlack · Post by **BarCodeBlack** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:11 am

OK, the situation is:

For a year or so now, I've been the proud owner of a compaq Proliant 5500R rackmount server but unfortunately it's been lying around doing very little but gather dust because I had nowhere to place it.

Just recently I've acquired a server rack and some space upstairs to locate it, and I now have the problem of trying to quieten it down. This machine is a hummer, and I mean a hum-dinger of a hummer!!

After opening this baby up and playing around, I've tracked the major noise sources (not regarding SCSI drive buzz) to 3 120mm fans. They serve as:

1.) One 120mm fan blows air across the 4 PII processors.
2.) One 120mm fan blows air across the expansion slots (SCSI controllers and such).
3.) One 120mm fan is housed within the PSU (I don't think I can do much with this).

The fan specs are:

Make : Nidec Beta V (3 blade)
Size : 120 x 120 x 38
Voltage : 12v
Ampage : 8A

The connector on these fans are quite unique as I've never come across them before, which leads me to the idea that I may have difficulties finding quieter replacements. The fan utilises 4 cables (red, yellow and 2 black). An idea would be to disconnect the plastic connector and latch when I find replacements, but I can't be sure what the additional black wire is used for. Most other fans I've seen are 2 or 3 wire fans

Considering the light load on this machine at present, I can succesfully disconnect the fan blowing across the expansion slots, but as soon as I disconnect the fan for CPUs the machine shutsdown. This does have the advantage that the machine operates much quieter when shutdown.

I'm aware of 120mm fan alternatives from the likes of Panaflo, Evercool or Vantec, but my worries would be that I replace these fans, and the machine refuses to power up because of some fan monitoring.

If I can manage to quieten this thing down, I'll be willing to fold with it for the SPCR team!

Paul

msmrodan · Post by **msmrodan** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 5:01 am

It sounds like an rpm monitor in the bios automatically shuts down the server when it senses a fan fail, not overheating since shutdown would have occured only after a few mins of operation.

try connecting a fanmate to the fan or rewire it for 7v operation and see what happens

have fun

Busmaster · Post by **Busmaster** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:14 am

Hi!

Don't remember how menagement in this server work, but COMPAQ have some server that hold fan speed at maximum, while no ASM driver loaded, but anyway there we can't talk about silence. Does this PL spins down fans at POST, if it does not, you can get it a litlle bit quieter by installing support software.

Artis.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:13 am

Why do I get the feeling that our 4 wires are the standard molex connector wires and the two blacks are just the ground? And if the motherboard just checks to see if current is being drawn and shuts down on no current, that'd explain everything.

Anyway we can check voltages on those wires?

A 120x120x38 @ 12V would put out a lot of air. Be careful when replacing it with anything.

Looking at the Nidec site, I'm a little confused. The highest current draw on their fans is 3.3A not anything near 8V. There is however a 0.8A version (130 cfm, 53.5 dBA, 4050 rpm) with 3 blades. Also there is a cryptic smallprint at the end that says "power termination, control and signal options are designated by two-digit suffixes added to the model names". What are the model numbers on those fans. I'm guessing them to be B34262. (I had a nice laugh at the "sound absorbing thermoplastic frame" bit.

For those interested in how weird Nidec can go, they also seem to have a 220 cfm 120mm fan with 64 dBA rating

)

Just based on specs (Mine hasn't arrived yet, so no personal experience) I'd recommend the Noiseblocker SX2 Blacknoise 120x120x25, 26 dBA @ 12V, apprx 70 CFM as a replacement. Three of them together would mean 32 dBA, nowhere quiet by SPCR standards but guessing your fans to be in 53.5 dBA per unit (60 dBA total), that's nearly 30 dBA lower. However, those fans are rated for 130 cfm. With 3 of them you should be having a hurricane inside the server. How will 3x 70 cfm affect your temperatures I wonder?

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 10:12 am

Just in case you hadn't realised, this is being discussed over Here as well.

Pete

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 5:51 am

BarCodeBlack Did you get anywhere in the end?

Pete