How do I boot a Dell precision t7400 without the front panel board?

[nrschertz02]

Okay, so my Dell precision t7400 motherboard(I bought the motherboard, CPUs and ram alone without the case) halts the system with various alerts, most of them from fan failures, which the reason is because I don't have any of the Dell fans, and am using my own fan controller. Regardless, I believe the lack of a front panel board is the reason. I turn the PC on by jumping two pins on the proprietary front panel connector, by the way. Anyways, is there a way to bypass this without buying the front panel and accommodating cable (s)?

 

[william p]

The Dell BIOS checks for fan function, and the error is usually persistent and needs to be turned off in the BIOS/ Maintenance/SYSLOG page. There is also an Ambient temperature sensor either on the MB, or the front I/O panel that needs to be there. Dell doesn't publish the pinouts for these things. The best bet is to get the front I/O board and cable. Do you have the Dell T7400 PSU with the extra 20 pin cable (which is not an ATX 20 pin)? My advice is to get the whole T7400 system. The Dell "server grade" fans are probably better than anything else you can buy. It was designed to run 2x 150W LGA771 1600FSB CPUs, 128GB RAM, and a couple of Video cards. here's an old ad for one.
http://www.ebay.de/itm/DELL-Precision-T7400-Workstation-2x-QX9775-3-2-GHz-16-GB-RAM-Quadro-FX-1800-/160803074733
Why don't you see what it can do before you start "improving" this high end workstation.
FN654 is the good heatsink for these.

 

[nrschertz02]

The Dell BIOS checks for fan function, and the error is usually persistent and needs to be turned off in the BIOS/ Maintenance/SYSLOG page. There is also an Ambient temperature sensor either on the MB, or the front I/O panel that needs to be there. Dell doesn't publish the pinouts for these things. The best bet is to get the front I/O board and cable. Do you have the Dell T7400 PSU with the extra 20 pin cable (which is not an ATX 20 pin)? My advice is to get the whole T7400 system. The Dell "server grade" fans are probably better than anything else you can buy. It was designed to run 2x 150W LGA771 1600FSB CPUs, 128GB RAM, and a couple of Video cards. here's an old ad for one.
http://www.ebay.de/itm/DELL-Precision-T7400-Workstation-2x-QX9775-3-2-GHz-16-GB-RAM-Quadro-FX-1800-/160803074733
Why don't you see what it can do before you start "improving" this high end workstation.
FN654 is the good heatsink for these.

Thank you for the response! I do have the power supply, and I currently do not have the money to purchase a whole t7400, that's why I bought the mobo, processors, ran, and psu. I also did but two LGA 771 heatsink with fans, so I don't believe cooling is a big issue for now. Like you said, I believe buying the I/O board will be the best bet. Now I'll have to find someone that sells them.

 

[william p]

Try Ascendtech, Stuart Connections, Red Planet Trading, and Server Supply. It helps to shop by Dell part #, so google your part and if you see the part number start shopping by that.
BTW I own a T7400 MB myself. I'm going to buy a whole T7400 to put it in soon. I have the upgrade heatsinks and a pair of X5470 Xeons for it. I might have the money to go for a pair of QX9775 soon. I intend to overclock this beast!

 

[nrschertz02]

Try Ascendtech, Stuart Connections, Red Planet Trading, and Server Supply. It helps to shop by Dell part #, so google your part and if you see the part number start shopping by that.
BTW I own a T7400 MB myself. I'm going to buy a whole T7400 to put it in soon. I have the upgrade heatsinks and a pair of X5470 Xeons for it. I might have the money to go for a pair of QX9775 soon. I intend to overclock this beast!

Thanks for the help man. It's also nice to know there's other people who have the same ideas as I do.
I'll be sure to look on those sites.