Lenovo Thinkserver RD350 LOUD and can't access TSM?

[AlexanderCS]

Hi guys,

I'm having a problem with an RD350. It used to randomly start spinning to max fans (sounded like a jet) so sometimes client employees would come in in the morning to it and have to restart the server.

Well, I saw there was a TSM flash that specifically took care of that, so I updated. Maybe that took care of it (no large spinups since) BUT now the fans are running loud at IDLE. Not AS loud, but definitely an annoying level of loud. I flashed the BIOS as well, and the problem persists.

Okay, I thought, I'll try going into this TSM panel I've never used to get the exact fan speed and then Google-fu from there, see if anyone else is having it. I thought with TSM you just configure the IP in the BIOS. So, set it to Static, set it to something like 192.168.1.X, booted back up the server. Went to that address. Timeout. Pinged it. Destination cannot be reached.

Did I do something wrong setting up the TSM? Having a hell of a time finding documentation on it, the manual for it I found simply mentioned "put in IP... browse to that IP, put in login credentials" so I'm stumped. Also, when I do DHCP to see what kind of IP would be ASSIGNED, it just says "Acquiring address" which is apparently a known issue... the solution to which is to wait 5 or so minutes on that screen, reboot, go back into BIOS and view and it will be there. Except in my case I do all that and it STILL says "Acquiring".

I've also tried "Reset TSM" because apparently the louder fans could be related to that, as well as unplugging the server altogether and pressing power for about 10s, plug back in. Nothing is helping.

I feel like I'm taking two steps back, since now the fans are constantly an annoyance and I can't even pull up the tool to see what RPM they're currently running at. ANY help appreciated, this is a priority client (the kind that came to my family's funeral).

@YeOldeStonecat I know you work with Lenovo quite a bit, any ideas? Maybe I'm just not coming at this properly.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

While we do a ton of Lenovo..it's laptops and desktops. For servers we stick to HP 'n Dell. Nothing against Lenovo servers...they're great, just..we prefer to keep focused more on 2 brands versus 3 for servers.

Rack mount servers will be louder. Designed with narrow pizza box chassis, to slide into a cabinet, they need to move serious air. Some models can be quiet, others are known to be louder. Esp as you get to 2 and more so 1U chassis.

Typically when booting up from a cold start...the fan will scream. Once the OS loads up..and especially the proprietary motherboard/system drivers for that server load up...the fans should settle down and from that point on spin based on temp sensor. If it's hot..they scream. If it's cool, they throttle down.

Hardware access to the system board of the server..that's often a dedicated RJ45 port labeled so..so is that uplinked to the switch?
Are all the latest drivers installed for this server?
What is the temp there? Indeed it might be a bit warm. I remember a client I had, they had a cool office with a "loft/lounge" up high below skylights. They moved the server up there. Up high. Heat rises. Then they complained the server was loud up there. Yup...cuz it was warm up there!

 

[TAPtech]

Make sure you're trying to access the management site from another computer and not the server itself. I have one system that has teamed NIC's and for some reason it messes up the local access- have to get to it from another machine. Also, use https://192.168.219.5 or whatever the server IP is. Maybe http redirect is not working.

I like using Lenovo servers, hopefully they continue to improve the out of band management, it is nothing compared to Dell and HP's.

 

[AlexanderCS]

I'll give trying it from elsewhere a shot, thanks!

StoneCat, this is a server that has had low ambient sound before... worked perfectly except sometimes during an update or what have you it would restart, scream on startup as you say, but then just NEVER settle down and the fans would be something like 24000 RPM constantly, until you restarted it. Apparently this is a known issue, which a TSM update fixes.

AFTER, immediately after the TSM update, now the BASELINE noise which used to be quiet enough so as not to be an annoyance, is... I would say at maybe half? 12000 RPM? Which is not jet engine but still damn annoying to the office. Of course I can't confirm what the EXACT RPM is since I'm having trouble logging into that WebUI which I thought would be simple.

BIOS update didn't fix the baseline noise that the TPM Update created. And I don't want to roll back since the updates add security fixes as well.

 

[AlexanderCS]

I ended up pulling the button cell to reset the BIOS. While I was in there I also reseated each fan. That seems to have done the trick!