Any experience with an alarm sounding on this motherboard for no apparent reason? It is a constant beep and I am not sure how to shut it off besides restarting the system.

 

I checked the sensors and the temp is never over 100deg and the fans are spinning. I am seeing messages in the log that fans have slowed or stopped, but they are always spinning at the time of the alarm. Any ideas how to troubleshoot this?

 

Here is an example of my log since I restarted and as you can see, there are fan entries, but no screeching alarm blaring out.

 

1 2014/01/10 15:32:30 CPU FAN Fan Lower Non-Critical - Going Low - Deasserted

2 2014/01/17 20:03:07 CPU FAN Fan Lower Non-Critical - Going Low - Asserted

3 2014/01/17 20:03:07 CPU FAN Fan Lower Critical - Going Low - Asserted

4 2014/01/17 20:03:07 CPU FAN Fan Lower Non-Recoverable - Going Low - Asserted

5 2014/01/17 20:03:07 SYS FAN Fan Lower Non-Critical - Going Low - Asserted

6 2014/01/17 20:03:07 SYS FAN Fan Lower Critical - Going Low - Asserted

7 2014/01/17 20:06:01 CPU FAN Fan Lower Non-Recoverable - Going Low - Deasserted

8 2014/01/17 20:06:01 CPU FAN Fan Lower Critical - Going Low - Deasserted

9 2014/01/17 20:06:01 CPU FAN Fan Lower Non-Critical - Going Low - Deasserted

...the board is fan-less...are you using the fan-headers at all?

 

What BIOS and IPMI-FW version are you running?

These problems of "fake" FAN alerts are typical for some IPMI-FW versions or when you did an upgrade without reverting to defaults.

 

I was using 3 pin fans that came with my case and replaced them with 4 pin PWM fans thinking maybe one of the old ones was stalling or something.

 

IPMI is 2.66 and I did upgrade it, but if I remember right, it started happening before the upgrade.

 

BIOS is 1.2 and I never upgraded it, mostly because I didn't bother figuring out how to do it. Is it worth upgrading (1.2a is available) and can I do it through IPMI?

 

Thanks for your help. I know pcs, but this is the first time I've used IPMI and server hardware. I'd be happy to follow any directions you can give me, and it sounds like I should start by setting defaults. I'm thinking you mean in the BIOS?

How many fans are connected?

The board will not drive that many and when there is more than one on a header, there may be side effects.

If the problem persists, I'd remove the fans and power them directly from the PSU...just in case to verify the cause.

You can delete the old entries from the logs and see what will happen with no fans on thz headers.

 

Well, no when referring to defaults, this was meant for IPMI.

AFAIR with latest IPMI FWs it is recommended to select NOT to retain IPMI settings during FW update.

If you are to revert to default, after doing so, make sure you really shut-down the box/mobo and turn the PSU OFF for minute or so.

Only 2 fans, but they are 120mm and 140mm, each on its own header. The log entries don't seem to match up with the beep, and to be honest, I'm not even sure that's why it's beeping. That was the only thing I could think of since I couldn't find anything in the log besides fan warnings, and the log entries didn't match up with the alarm timing.

 

I'll take a look at resetting IPMI tonight when I am at the system and see what happens. If that doesn't help, I'll power the fans from the PSU. This only happens every few weeks, so it'll be a while before you hear a reply. If you don't mind following or keeping an eye out for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Ah...larger fans, which are not spinning that fast by default...what are the RPM values reported and what are the thresholds in IPMI system health?

Might be simply below threshold..so you need to set FAN control a little bit higher in BIOS then.

Also AFAIR there were IPMI versions out there with the lower threshold set too high for larger fans running on low RPMs.

Again, if you did not revert to default IPMI settings after upgrading, this "bug" is not gone even with the newer FW active.

 

regarding BIOS, just check what version is required for your IPMI FW version.

Normally, if on the latest IPMI, the latest BIOS is the safest bet.

You cannot upgrade BIOS like with IPMI, but you can use the remote console.

You can mount a remote ISO via kvm-over-ip / remote console from IPMI and boot from that..or use a real USB stick in your box and IPMI for console only.

 

 

I flashed my BIOS and set defaults for IPMI.

 

Name  Status                  Reading          Low NR    Low CT    Low NC

CPU FAN Normal                 1140 R.P.M 400           585           770

SYS FAN Lower Non-critical 585 R.P.M         400           585           770

 

Running sensors shows 611 and 724, quite a bit different than IPMI reports. I set up the BIOS again and realized I had set the fans to the lowest level for energy savings/noise so I'll bump that up to the next setting and see what happens.

 

Thanks for all your help. I'll report any findings and hopefully this will help others.

I had the same problem, and the only thing I could do was to remove the jumper which enables the buzzer... Ford Perfect you mean that if I update the firmware (IPMI) without reverting to the default values bugs are not fixed?

After updating the BIOS and resetting the IPMI settings, I haven't had the alarm (it was intermittent so I don't think that really means anything yet). I did notice one of my fans spun up very high so I checked the fans through IPMI and while one fan was maxed out, the other had stopped. No beep, though. Can they be "reset" to get back to normal without restarting the server?

I had the same problem, and the only thing I could do was to remove the jumper which enables the buzzer... Ford Perfect you mean that if I update the firmware (IPMI) without reverting to the default values bugs are not fixed?

 

...sorry for responding late.

Yes, resetting IPMI to defaults after updating the FW is a common requirement stated

in the readme/doc/changelog of the IPMI-FW for quite the some time now.

 

I've seen these kind of problems with several different models from SM, all running the same BMC.

They are gone since I upgraded BIOS and FW *and* refused to retain settings during update.

...FWIW...here's a link, explaining how to adjust thresholds for RPMs in SM IPMI, using ipmitool: https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/FIOgroup/IpmiWinThresholdTune