How to stop all fans from running at 100% when a third-party GPU is installed in a 13th-generation Dell PowerEdge server

I have a used Dell PowerEdge R730xd server in my basement running TrueNAS. The R70XD is a storage server that was originally launched in 2014. I use it mostly for storage and running a few virtual machines. Recently, I decided to add a refurbished Nvidia A5000 GPU so I could play around with LLMs and other AI tech in a VM with the GPU passed through. As soon as the OS booted all of the fans sped up to 100% even though the system was just idling. A very helpful YouTube video by MadTc Tech explains how to fix this. I’m documenting the steps here on my blog so they are handy for me without needing to watch a 6 minute video, and for safekeeping if that video every disappears.

Ensure IPMI is Enabled in iDRAC

The solution presented by MadTc Tech uses the (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC))Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) and Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) to reconfigure the fan profiles.

First, access iDRAC via a web browser at the IP address assigned to the iDRAC network interface of the server. This IP address is displayed at he BIOS startup screen.

The default iDRAC credentials are username root, with the password calvin.

Once logged into the iDRAC, navigate to Network page, under Overview> iDRAC Settings in the navigation pane. Scroll Down to IPMI Settings and ensure that the Enable IPMI for LAN checkbox is checked, and Channel Privilege Level is set to Administrator.

Install the Dell OpenManage BMC Utility

Download the Dell OpenManage BMC Utility, which can be found here.

Install it by launching the exe, selecting a temporary path, and clicking Unzip. Navigate to that path in Explorer, and run BMC.MSI

Run the IPMI command

Open PowerShell and run:

cd 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\SysMgt\bmc'

Then run .\ipmitool.exe with different command line arguments, depending on what you want to do. In these examples, replace $IPADDRESS with the IP address of the iDRAC interface, $USERNAME with the iRAC username, and $PASSWORD with the iDRAC password.

Set Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response Logic To Disabled

Run this command to stop to system fans from running at 100% when a third-party graphics card is installed.

.\ipmitool -I lanplus -H $IPADDRESS -U $USERNAME -P $PASSWORD raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00

Set Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response Logic To Enabled

Ren this command to restore the default behavior (I don’t know why you would).

.\ipmitool -I lanplus -H $IPADDRESS -U $USERNAME -P $PASSWORD raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 

Get Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response Logic Status

Use this command to get the setting status.

.\ipmitool -I lanplus -H $IPADDRESS -U $USERNAME -P $PASSWORD raw 0x30 0xce 0x01 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00

The response data is:

16 05 00 00 00 05 00 01 00 00 (Disabled)
16 05 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00 (Enabled)

Other References

• Dell documentation
• Silence Your Dell PowerEdge Server - SPX LABS