I am looking to get myself an rx2660 in the very near future. I was wondering if anyone here has found any information on how to do the "OFS" conversion to make it quieter?
I found a video of it running and it is much louder than (from what I can tell) the same generation DL380 G7. It will be going in my rack anyway so I'm not too concerned about the noise but would love to get it quieter.
I found this site saying there is a bug in the BMC firmware that causes the fans to ramp up at 100%
http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c02545769
and I have found the corresponding BMC update that might keep it quiet, but if there is a way to get it quieter, that would be awesome.
I have read on the hoffman labs site that it is a build time option, but I'm sure at least a firmware update or config can be done and I'm hoping someone has some information, maybe someone with a current rx2660 with the OFS config could somehow grab their firmware or check to see if there are any differences over the regular firmware
Posts: 32 Location: Fort Worth, TX, USA Joined: 15.12.05
Posted on June 09 2016 06:41
I have an RX2660 also in my rack and while it's noisy, I found I can cut the high-pitched whine down to a manageable level hanging a stiff piece of paper (such as a file folder) over the front vent. Don't block it, but let it hang several inches out. it deflects the sound wave down and away from most hearing. Watching the internal temps it doesn't affect things too badly. I have a single processor 1.42GHz system with 8GB of memory and 8x72GB drives.
If you ever hear about a home OFS conversion, let me know. I saw a OFS RX2660 on Ebay arecently but they wanted $3500 for it. I have never seen an OFS conversion available separately like there was for the RX2600/ZX6000.
Yeah I've been doing a lot of research on this before I get one. I know the one you are talking about exactly and I can only wish I could get it, but it is obviously out of price range.
When I got my license renewed recently I asked the person who sent me the license if they knew anything about this and the only official thing he could direct me to is the HP Renew program which sells its own refurbished servers, unfortunately my emails have gone unanswered.
I do realize that it is a build to order option for this model, but I knew it would have been a longshot Not too many people use these machines and the chances of someone actually finding out what the "special" firmware passwords and tweaks to change it to this mode are slim to none
My DS10L just had a failure and I'm looking to replace it with another one, something similar or an Itanium, and I really want a 2660
Edited by ntba on June 09 2016 08:17
AFAIK there is no rx2660 OFS conversion kit and OFS is a build time option indeed.
The RM (rack mount) rx2660 and the rx2660 OFS have different hardware. The RM has 12 single fans while the OFS has 6 dual fans. Because of this the OFS has a different Fan/Display Board (fan connectors are in a different position). The part number of the RM Fan/Display Board is AB419-60004. The part number of the OFS Fan/Display Board is AB419-60011.
For the rx2660 OFS the BMC firmware version must be at least 5.06. On top of that another piece of firmware called "HFC FW" must be installed. This piece can be found in some rx2660 firmware packages, but not all.
I do not know if the FW is able to detect the HW configuration of the rx2660 in order to treat it as RM or OFS. On an rx2800 i2 or i4 one has to change the "Product ID" in SYSSET to select the RM version or the OFS version (only HPE can provide you with the necessary password to do so). I do not know if this applies to the rx2660 as well.
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