How to disable HP Proliant DL160 G6 fans?

[heil_stalin]

I would like to disable 4 of the 6 fans in my HP Proliant, due to them being too loud. If I'm able to cut wires to make things work, then I am willing to do that.

Edit: I have aftermarket heatsinks with fans on the heatsink themselves.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Those fans are there for a reason. Eliminating 2/3 of the unit's cooling is unwise.

 

[skit75]

I thought those were all hot swap? Maybe they were still hardwired in the DL160. Newer PE server fans are hot swap.

I also would not recommend removing them. Those older servers do run rather hot and need all the cooling they can get.

 

[Pinhedd]

I would like to disable 4 of the 6 fans in my HP Proliant, due to them being too loud. If I'm able to cut wires to make things work, then I am willing to do that.

You do not want to do this.

Rackmount servers typically do not have fans dedicated to cool each component. Instead, they rely on air convection from intake and outlet fans. Air must pass over the heat sink of each component and since it has to be moved about three feet to do so the fans must be fairly powerful.

A couple of my older HP ProLiant DL 360s and DL 580s have software controllable fans which do spin down under low temperature conditions. However, the firmware won't do it on its own, the operating system does it instead and HP's driver support is shoddy.

 

[heil_stalin]

I thought those were all hot swap? Maybe they were still hardwired in the DL160. Newer PE server fans are hot swap.

I also would not recommend removing them. Those older servers do run rather hot and need all the cooling they can get.

I forgot to mention I have 2 aftermarket heatsinks. The server has 2 x5650's in it..

 

[heil_stalin]

I would like to disable 4 of the 6 fans in my HP Proliant, due to them being too loud. If I'm able to cut wires to make things work, then I am willing to do that.

You do not want to do this.

Rackmount servers typically do not have fans dedicated to cool each component. Instead, they rely on air convection from intake and outlet fans. Air must pass over the heat sink of each component and since it has to be moved about three feet to do so the fans must be fairly powerful.

A couple of my older HP ProLiant DL 360s and DL 580s have software controllable fans which do spin down under low temperature conditions. However, the firmware won't do it on its own, the operating system does it instead and HP's driver support is shoddy.

I didnt edit my question in time.. I have 2 'Dynatron G199' aftermarket coolers. Thats why I want to disable the fans. But still, I need an answer.

 

[USAFRet]

Look at the fan.
Follow the wires to where they go.
Unplug them.
If they are hardwired to the motherboard, clip them.

Don't blame me when/if things go wrong.

 

[skit75]

This would be the equivalent asking how to drive your car without your radiator but arguing that you still have your A/C working so everything should be fine... =)

 

[heil_stalin]

Everyone was so helpful. Wow, answer was so clear. Please, actually give me an answer that will be helpful to me instead of telling me information I already know.

I said I installed aftermarket heatsinks, gee. There are no 'normal' fan connectors on that motherboard. I wonder what trouble I went through to get those to work, and it takes a little bit more than just a little computer knowledge to make those work.

You cant disconnect the fans, or else its detected as a hardware failure. Fans run at %100... If you try restarting the server, it wont boot while fans are disconnected.

I wish you people would have assumed I was a little smarter.

But, I have no knowledge with server fans other than "you disconnect, they run at full speed. you reboot while no fan(s) are connected, and it wont boot"

 

[ex_bubblehead]

....You cant disconnect the fans, or else its detected as a hardware failure. Fans run at %100... If you try restarting the server, it wont boot while fans are disconnected....

And there's your answer. You don't disable any of the fans. Problem solved.

 

[USAFRet]

Then possibly you need to wire the new fans into the original fan sensors and power wires. The CPU/motherboard will see 'fans' and act accordingly.

What is currently supposed to be powering these aftermarket fans?

 

[skit75]

You're a new user to the forum, how are we to gauge your knowledge? Anyway, a hard time in jest, of course.

It isn't that we have an answer and refuse to give it, more like there is not a simple answer to give that won't end up doing damage to the server. The aftermarket heat sinks you have are nice but the air inside the server case needs to be refreshed constantly. I've been in server rooms where hearing protection was required!

The best answer I could give would be to install remote management software on the server and put it in a different room. If it is an air-gap network server, you may have to deal with the sound. You should not remove those fans from that server, even with aftermarket CPU coolers.

Welcome to Tom's

 

[tonyasdf]

I would like to disable 4 of the 6 fans in my HP Proliant, due to them being too loud. If I'm able to cut wires to make things work, then I am willing to do that.

Edit: I have aftermarket heatsinks with fans on the heatsink themselves.

If you want to disable all FAN and use your CPU FAN instead of that, then:

Each FAN Module has 2 fans and 6 wires,
they are GND 12V PWM1 PWM2 RPM1 RPM2.
you need to find out the RPM1+2, connect them to your 4pin CPU FAN's RPM pin.
Then the mainboard will be able to detected the RPM from the CPU FAN which you using now.
If your CPU FAN can turns as fast as the org. FAN, then that is all fine.


If you want to just disable 2 of the 6 FANs, then :
you can take RPM1+2 single from the other Fans, connect to the mainboard, then it will pass the selftest.

 

[heil_stalin]

I would like to disable 4 of the 6 fans in my HP Proliant, due to them being too loud. If I'm able to cut wires to make things work, then I am willing to do that.

Edit: I have aftermarket heatsinks with fans on the heatsink themselves.

If you want to disable all FAN and use your CPU FAN instead of that, then:

Each FAN Module has 2 fans and 6 wires,
they are GND 12V PWM1 PWM2 RPM1 RPM2.
you need to find out the RPM1+2, connect them to your 4pin CPU FAN's RPM pin.
Then the mainboard will be able to detected the RPM from the CPU FAN which you using now.
If your CPU FAN can turns as fast as the org. FAN, then that is all fine.


If you want to just disable 2 of the 6 FANs, then :
you can take RPM1+2 single from the other Fans, connect to the mainboard, then it will pass the selftest.

Thank you for giving me a clear solution, and not telling me how to run my ~$1500 hardware.