Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Fan Control in pfSense?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    20 Posts 9 Posters 24.1k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • jimpJ
      jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
      last edited by

      Nope, if that's the case then the fans can't be controlled by the OS.

      There may be some other package/utility out there though.

      Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

      Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

      Do not Chat/PM for help!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • M
        McFuzz
        last edited by

        I bet there is but alas, my FreeBSD knowledge is not as good as it is with Linux or Windows :\

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Whats the superI/O chip on that board? I bet the fan is controlled by that.

          Steve

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • M
            McFuzz
            last edited by

            The board has a Intel® E7525 chipset; I am no sure if that would help figure out what Super I/O chip it has… any hints on how to check via CLI?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              You look for it with SuperIOtool.
              You can pkg_add it:

              pkg_add -r superiotool
              

              You may have to use the full path since the 8.1 package repo no longer exists.

              Or just look at the board, it's probably Winbond or ITE.

              Steve

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • M
                McFuzz
                last edited by

                Update!

                My local fry's had these awesome rheostat based fan controllers so I bought two and wired them to the outside of the case! Woohoo!

                The bad news are, though, that I did not count the PSU fan - that guy gets loud on his own and is… hummy to say the least. At least now it does not sound like a thousand angry wasps... just 10.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • P
                  pf123user
                  last edited by

                  You are never going to be able to quiet down a (non-passive) rack server. I went through something similar with a few workstation PCs that I use and found a few things that helped - instead of running 8x 1GB sticks of RAM I realized I can easily get away with 4GB so I installed 1x 4GB sticks of RAM. This generated less heat and also very much slowed down the memory cooling fans (making them quieter).

                  I also changed out my CPUs - I went on eBay and found a lot of Xeon x5063 CPUs (vs the x5060's I was running) which draw less power (the x5063 is a low-voltage CPU). I also realized that some of my boxes didn't need to be running two CPUs so I was able to cut down to only single CPU.

                  Additionally I turned on PowerD and turned off anything extra not in use (including pulling the video card). This greatly reduced my power consumption, lowered the heat and reduced fan usage. Its still not perfect but this is with a Dell stock BIOS and no other modifications.

                  You may want to look at alternative fans that have a different blade pitch - they may require more power to operate but be quieter. You are going to have a tradeoff but should be a simple plug & play swap with the super-O chassis/motherboard combo.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • R
                    reyoolmot
                    last edited by

                    Hi,

                    Did anyone ever get a resolution for controlling fan speed?

                    Thanks.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Are you using the same board? Super Micro X6DAL-G.

                      @http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon800/E7525/X6DAL-G.cfm:

                      Total of six 4-pin fan headers
                         6x fans with status monitoring
                         Status monitor with firmware/software on/off control
                         Low noise fan speed control
                         Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) fan connector

                      It is definitely possible with this board it just needs some coding to do it.

                      Steve

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • J
                        jsbsmd
                        last edited by

                        I have the same issue, but with a proliant dl380 running the latest build.

                        Is there anyway to install the freebsd proliant tools?  http://people.freebsd.org/~jcagle/  :'(  or can the developers create a package?

                        The issue is that when the system board senses a high temp alert, it kicks the fan into high speed and without software it remains in high speed until you reboot the box.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • First post
                          Last post
                        Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.