HighPoint RocketStor 6418s. Fans won’t spin?

[TheCarlough]

Hi All. Unraid newb. I thought I was ready to start transferring date to my new array - BUT...

 

I picked up the RocketStor 6418s, a RocketRaid 2722 Controller, and two mini-SAS cables for a song.

 

Flashed the controller into its “IT Mode”. Quickly learned it has a Marvell controller and, while it worked, was causing too many correctable errors. During testing I noticed the HDD temps were getting in the 51-54C range.

 

I picked up an LSI 9207-8e. Errors gone. Temps the same.

 

I realized the two fans in the enclosure do not turn on. They are connected, and the work (they perform an initial spin up when powering on the enclosure), but no matter what I try, the fans just don’t spin and I’ve yet to find any sort of function to indicate at what temp they should start.

 

Ive tried with the original card. I even flashed it back to raid mode. Nothing seems to get the enclosures fans to kick in.

 

Sorry, I know this is a very specific question. I feel like a bit of an idiot right now as I’ve spent the last few weeks putting all of this together from scratch, and I didn’t even notice the temperatures until I bought everything.

 

thanks for any suggestions!

 

 

[Vr2Io]

10 hours ago, TheCarlough said:

(they perform an initial spin up when powering on the enclosure)

Most enclosure not intelligent, I will try disconnect all disk and SAS cable, power on it and use hair dryer blow some hot air inside and check does fan kick-in first.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Vr2Io

[TheCarlough]

9 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

Most enclosure not intelligent, I will try disconnect all disk and SAS cable, power on it and use hair dryer blow some hot air inside and check does fan kick-in first.

Ahh - good idea!

 

I did a bit more digging and found another user who experienced the same “problem”. I guess the stock fans, while three pin, are PWM. He even tried contacting the manufacturer for info on what temp the fans should turn on, and did not receive a response. No wonder their raid software (was testing in windows) only says, “Normal” for temperatures.

 

I picked up some Noctua 3-pin fans. There is a spare molex connector in the enclosure. I plan to replace the existing fans and connect these via molex. The fans will be on all the time, but I think it will work far better than what’s in there now and can manage the speed with the “flex cables.”

 

hope isn’t lost - yet!

[Vr2Io]

1 hour ago, TheCarlough said:

three pin, are PWM

Only 4 pin will be PWM

 

1 hour ago, TheCarlough said:

connect these via molex. The fans will be on all the time

I will do same thing too.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Vr2Io

[zanzu]

I have connected the 6418AS to my UnRaid 6.9.2 server with a 4522 Raid Controller and am having the same issue.  The fans will not turn on and UnRaid is alerting the drives are hot. Did you resolve your issue and how?  I'm running the disks as JBOD but do we need to install the raid card management software to enable the fans? 

Edited May 5, 2021 by zanzu

[zanzu]

Just an update -  I left the unit running and the fans will come on. However, it keeps the temperature around 50 - 51 degrees Celsius. 

[jimbobur]

Hi, I have the same RocketStor 6418s enclosure with RocketRaid 2722 Controller and, aside from the initial power-on brief spin, the two big fans never seem to come on. There is a smaller fan at the bottom that intermittently revvs up and stops and occasionally runs continuously for a brief time. The S.M.A.R.T temperature readings for the disks gradually climb through the 50-60°C over several hours of the enclosure being on and idle. According to a colleague the enclosure warning beep was sounding the day after I turned it on. According to HDSentienel one of the disks max temp during its lifetime was as high as 61°C, with the other disks not far behind that.

 

Has anyone found a fix to this that doesn't involve pulling the enclosure apart? I don't know anything about making after-market mods to fans/disk enclosures; ideally there'd just be some switch in the WebGUI or a firmware patch to fix the fan behaviour since they're definitely capable of running, they just never seem to turn on.

[Sum Duud]

Good day, has anyone had any look simply replacing the fans, or does it seem to be the Temperature sensor that fails, and the only way to cool the disks is then to have the fans powered on through the spare molex connector as was suggested in an online Amazon review of the RocketStor 6418S  (quote below)

 

Stefano

5.0 out of 5 stars overall a good device (but not perfect)

Reviewed in the United States on 18 March 2021

Verified Purchase

overall this is a good device. Fans run very slowly and the case will slowly cook your HDs. With 5400rpm prepare for a 30C circa. With 7200rpm and a raid, temperature of HDs (in linux: smartctl -x /dev/sdX), will reach 50-55C which is too high. You want to be around 45C max. I opened the whole box and removed the standard fans (3 pins with PWM) and put 2 80x25mm fans 2.4W each (original are 1.2W), so i doubled the vacuum power. I connected the fans to the hanging extra molex available (nice !!).

EDIT 3/24/2021
I bought a second one and two new fans... Overall a good product.

EDIT 4/3/2021
I bought a third one and two new fans... Overall a good product.

EDIT 9/27/2021
I bought a forth one and two new fans. 

[zanzu]

Has anyone figured out how to control the fan speed?  I populated the bottom half of the enclosure with new drives and started receiving temperature warning beeps;  The drives are around 55+C.  

 

When I opened the enclosure, I notice Highpoint had connected both fans to one of the molex.  Interesting...   So since I already had the enclosure open, I replaced the fans and connected one fan to each of the molex connectors.

 

Nothing changed..  The fans initially spin-up when the unit is powered on but still only 1 fan comes on.  I'm incline to split the power molex to one of the drive bays and have the fans on all the time.

 

But wanted to confirm with this group if anyone had success controlling the fans or know the conditions when they both will come on?