The issue with the Dell R730xd fans running at high speed when a PCI card or hard drives are added appears to be a known problem. Based on the search results, there are a few potential solutions:

1. Use a script to manually control the fan speeds via the iDRAC interface. The search results include a script that can be added as a cronjob to run every 5 minutes and adjust the fan speeds as needed.
2. Check if there is a firmware update available for the Broadcom/QLogic NetXtreme 57711 PCI card that may resolve the fan issue.
3. Ensure the iDRAC virtual console is configured to use the HTML5 plug-in, as this may help with remote management and fan control.
4. When using SATADOMs, try to find ones that have the correct power connector wiring, as the standard connectors may not work properly and cause the fans to run at high speeds.
5. If the issue is specifically related to the hard drives, you can try manually setting the fan profiles in the BIOS or iDRAC to a more conservative setting, even if this means the system may run a bit warmer.
6. The key seems to be finding a way to manually control the fan speeds, either through a script or by adjusting the BIOS/iDRAC settings, as the automatic fan control appears to be overly aggressive when certain hardware components are added to the system. With the right configuration, the high fan speeds should be avoidable.

https://dell.to/3Uc5dHk

https://dell.to/3Ud5M3R

https://dell.to/3TUcdXT

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https://dell.to/3U92v5k

Hey Martin,

Thanks for the response and the suggestions. Unfortunately I've come across those posts already and attempted the fixes.

Ideally I'd like to have the Poweredge itself manage the fans rather then using a third party script.

I was under the impression from reading other forum posts that using Dell certified drives would prevent the issue. Do you know if that's the case?

Or can you share any info on drives that are known to be compatible with the r730xd? And would not cause the fan speed to increase unnecessarily.

Thanks,

Cathal

Thanks Martin, appreciate the detailed response. Although I'm surprised there's not a definitive list of supported drives provided by Dell.

I'll keep an eye out for those drives you suggested.

Sounds like the third party script is the only confirmed working solution for now.

This one works - also in your case where your device is "official but not official enough apparently".

root@fs02:~ # ipmitool  raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00

Explanation here:

https://serverfault.com/questions/715387/how-do-i-stop-dell-r730xd-fans-from-going-full-speed-when-broadcom-qlogic-netxtr

A footnote for this: the 3.5" XD models have very tight ingoing airflow which is why they need to apply such measures for safety. I have bought one R720XD that apparently ran at some warm environment at full load. You could see it because the blue plastic parts inside (PCIe slot carrier handles etc) had bleached/whitened - from the heat it ran at. I gave the server a good makeover and it's doing better now :-)

The R720XD also had restrictions on the memory modules you could use, while the R720 didn't have the same restriction. They are really constrained with airflow. I also had two ScaleFlux SSDs in there via PCIe slot adapters and thermal management was not something that I would ignore in that chassis.