Booting a HP ML310e Server with a broken fan that refuses to boot
I recently got a HP ML310e Server machine that refused to boot with a “Fan 2 error, not sufficient”.
However the temperatures were normal and the fan was spinning at max level.
Now in such a case, the system refuses to even enter BIOS and shuts down immediately during POST. Unfortunately, on this machien the iLO was also disabled and there was no way to enable the iLO without booting the system to a point where the iLO can be configured.
Resetting via Dip switch 6 als odidn’t help in this case, as system always shut down before BIOS boot prompt.
So I read about the fan pinout which can be seen here:
1 VCC, 2 N/C, 3 Speed Control, 4 Rotation detect, 5 GND loop, 6 GND
The cable layout also confirmed this wiring:
4.1.6 Fan Connector Pinout and Wiring Colors
Table 1 Connector Pinout
Pin Function Wire Color
1 GND Black
2 12 V Yellow
3 Sense Green
4 Control BlueSome posts stated, that shorting pins 4-6 would trick the server into booting which would make sense. But what to do about the non-standard connector? I didn’t want to cut the existing fan, just get the system to boot and I didn’t have a matching connector?
I decided to just use a metal paper clip, as it fits perfectly into the connector to short the pins:
I used a toothpick to stabilize the paper clip to have enough pressure on the pins and tadaaa: The server booted successfully and I was able to enable the iLO console!
System programmer