HP Proliant SE1101 server: disable or quieten down fans

[computerfox]

Hello everyone,

I have a pretty unconventional question. I have an HP Proliant SE1101 server for home. These servers are mostly for industrial usage, meaning that they have very loud fans. I bought this a while ago and just wanted to try one more time to quiet these fans down. I read somewhere that I can disable one of the cores, which I did, but I think this is just for the virtual cores because it still says that I have 2/2 physical cores running. Is there any way to disable the fans or quiet them down? I understand that the server will get really hot, but I feel bad about purchasing it and I can't use it.

-FOX

[sicarie]

The fans are usually controlled by the firmware on the power backplane. I'd recommend trying to find the fw update utility for the backplane and seeing if you can use it.

Also, some HP systems have required parts for airflow, and if they don't have those parts (or blanking nodes for those parts), the fans are forced into high gear by the system, so I'd recommend attempting to fill any open spaces in the front or back as possible.

[zmbd]

Instead of trying to disable the fans you should consider either moving the units to a location where the noise doesn't bother you such as a basement (if available) or some other location - network cabeling is fairly cheap. The next option is to google search for quieter fans. I know of several PC part suppliers that offer fans for these units that are fairly low noise. In-fact the IT guy at work has a server sitting right behind him that you can barely hear the fan on... he replaced it with a quieter model case fan (not the same server model but the principle is the same) so I know it can be done.