HP ProLiant DL385 G6 - "Fan Solution Not Sufficient" error

Question

I have a HP DL385 G6 that is acting up. Weeks ago it stopped booting with an error of Fan Solution Not Sufficient. The front panel indicating that fans 3 and 4 were down though both these fans are still in operation (and switching the fans does nothing).

Now weeks later it boots up saying fan 4 is not working, but 5 appears to be the minimum fan requirement and boots up. Then 2 hours hours go by and it's back to saying fans 3 and 4 are down (though they're not) and gives Fan Solution Not Sufficient. then shuts down.

The box details: DL385 G6, dual 6 core Opterons, 20 gigs of ram and 7 2.5" 15k SAS drives on a 410 raid controller.

I read in one post that there is a jump to change the required number of fans but it didn't say which one. I hope that if I can boot up I can resolve it with a firmware/bios update - otherwise if there is a way to repair the mother board side of the fan connections that is my next bet.

Solution

You need a system board replacement. If this is a modern HP ProLiant DL385 G6 server, fan sensor issues always point to the system board. If you've tried the obvious troubleshooting step of seeing if the fan failure follows the fan slot, your next step is to reach out to HP.

You may also want to try a full firmware update for your selected OS to make sure that you're not affected by a BIOS bug. But short of that, contact support.

If you have time and are feeling experimental, you can follow the steps detailed in one of my other posts:

If you have physical access to the server, you can try this sequence:

• Remove the power supply units and swap them.

Test to see if the system will boot...

If that doesn't work:

• Remove all power supplies from the chassis
• Locate the System Maintenance Switch on the motherboard - It's a set of 10 DIP switches.
• Turn switch #6 switch on.
• Insert all power supply units.
• Power on the server and allow it to idle for 3 minutes.
• Power the server off.
• Remove all power supplies.
• Return DIP switch #6 to off (original) position.
• Reinsert the power supplies.
• Power the server on.

Test to see if the system will boot...

If that doesn't work:

• Remove all power supplies from the chassis
• Turn DIP switches #1, 5 and 6 switch on.
• Insert all power supply units.
• Power on the server and allow it to idle for 3 minutes.
• Power the server off.
• Remove all power supplies.
• Return DIP switches #1, 5 and 6 to off (original) position.
• Reinsert the power supplies.
• Power the server on.

Test to see if the system will boot...

Comments

[ewwhite]

We need more detail here. Please provide the generation of your DL385. Is it a G1, G2, G5, etc? Also, the number of CPUs makes a difference here.

[buckaroo1177125]

I've gone through a few more rounds with this. Given a few hours off and not plugged into power, then power up again, it again will say the fans are working. Given about 3 minutes will see a fan as 'not working', while still working. The 2nd fan will follow suit eventually but won't shutdown, just won't boot if restarted. Through this I got the bios updated and is currently running in that state but not what I'd call operational.