Today I installed a second CPU in our HP ProLiant DL380e Gen8, and after booting the fans all went to 99.96%. This causes the server to make an enormous amount of noise.
Could it damage the server? What could I do to fix this? I already removed all the fans and put them back in, rebooted the entire server,...
I'm running HP_ESXi-5.1.0, CPU is twice Intel Xeon E5-2420 0 @ 1.90 GHz.
This is the current memory configuration:
(before - after). Temperatures:
Things to check in the absence of better information:
Update the firmware on the server. The current revision is available via the embedded Intelligent Provisioning BIOS, the HP Service Pack for ProLiant or as a download from here.
Please evaluate and list any potential add-in cards installed in the server. HP ProLiant servers can demonstrate different thermal and cooling characteristics depending of what PCIe cards are installed. Your server should have several BIOS options for fan and cooling levels.
Ideally, you installed using the HP-specific ESXi distribution. If not, you will want to install the Offline Bundle .vib files from HP to provide full platform support for your hardware.
See which version and build number of ESXi you have installed and compare it to what's currently available via VMware's patch site. I'm seeing an increasing number of people who don't update their ESXi installations at all. If you're using an old build (current is 1612806), that could be a contributing factor to your fan woes.
Edit:
Your version of ESXi 5.1 is build 799733 and predates the hardware you're using. Update your ESXi, install the HP drivers if not there and make sure your system BIOS is current.
After upgrading all the software, the fans kept blowing 99%. However I suddenly noted a warning during boot time that fan 1 was missing - I switched fan 6 to slot 1 and the issue is now resolved.
