Any way to use third party fans for HP proliant tower servers?(ML 330 and ML350 G6)

lazercut

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Jul 29, 2016
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So I'm trying to build a FreeNAS build using discarded servers. I got two G6's a ML330 and a bigger ML350, both are functioning, but they are too loud for everyday use.

I'll be moving into a student collective soon, and I was hoping I could replace the fans on them with maglev fans so they'd be so silent I could handle living in the same room as one of them.

I managed to shut the 350 up pretty good by downloading the new BIOS and using the "Reduced acoustics" option together with G5 fans, and now it's on par with my gaming PC.

The issue is that the servers refuse to boot with third party fans, so I can't replace them with those maglev fans that I want to use.

So is there any way, to either hack the BIOS so it can allow third party fans, maybe remove the won't boot safeguard or do some clever wiring so I can fool the system into thinking original fans are used when they're not?
 

lazercut

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Jul 29, 2016
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1,510


Thanks for the answer. Unfortunately that won't work. The issue isn't powering the 3rd party fans, it's making the MB boot without having the original's plugged in. If I try to take them out and somehow power the 3rd party fans I will just get an insufficient cooling error.

Here's the plug to the fans btw

ML330 G6
http://www.mediafire.com/view/8y39wp6cc30zdjm/IMG_20160729_164535.jpg

ML350 G6
http://www.mediafire.com/view/xfbx2912162ic9y/IMG_20160729_164547.jpg

(I didn't get the add picture function to work in the preview, so I just added the links, sorry for the inconvenience)
 

AppleGwava

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Jul 11, 2016
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Dell proprietary
This proprietary Dell connector is an expansion of a simple three-pin female IC connector by adding two tabs to the middle of the connector on one side and a lock-tab on the other side. The size and spacing of the pin sockets is identical to a standard three-pin female IC connector and three-pin Molex connector. Some models have the wiring of the white wire (speed sensor) in the middle, whereas the standard 3-pin Molex connector requires the white wire as pin #3, thus compatibility issues may exist.

Do the 3rd party fans work if pluged in ?If it does then this might be the case of sneaky wiring by dell.In that case you will have to do soldering
 

lazercut

Commendable
Jul 29, 2016
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1,510


Awesome, sounds like you know how I might fix this. Doing a bit of soldering is fine for me.Third party fans worked with the ML350, but I'm not sure if they work with the ML330. I tried with a 4-pin CPU fan by placing it in the middle as to match where there were wires and not(if you see on the ML330, there are only wires for the four sockets in the middle), but that didn't work. I haven't tried with any other fans on that one yet. It's not as important as to which server I manage I get to work, just as long as I get one of them to work.

The fans I'm thinking of getting is the corsair maglev fans. From the corsair home page I read that they use a 4-pin layout.

 

AppleGwava

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Jul 11, 2016
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I think the best way is to solder the respective wire to the original dell plug,you lose interchangeability that way,but that shouldnt be a problem with the long life or the fan

 

lazercut

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Jul 29, 2016
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1,510
I think the best way is to solder the respective wire to the original dell plug,you lose interchangeability that way,but that shouldnt be a problem with the long life or the fan

Won't the MB recognize the wrong RPM or something else that's meant to ensure correct fan operation? I feel as if doing that will cause a "Fan error" message