High Fan Speed Issue on Lenovo ThinkSystem Servers

LennertvdBerg

@olivierlambert can you help us with providing the module for the xen kernel, which @Gheppy is talking about?

rmaclachlan

@LennertvdBerg The above message is indicating there is no driver written for IPMI BMC KCS for the LM_Sensors application, not that a kernel module is missing in XCPNG.

You can read more about this on the lm_sensors github issue https://github.com/lm-sensors/lm-sensors/issues/69

If you wish to view sensor data in XPCNG you can do so through IPMI still using ipmitool

ipmitool sensor

This will list the sensors in the server.

DIMM 1           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x0080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 1 Temp      | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 2           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 2 Temp      | 23.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 3           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x0080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 3 Temp      | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 4           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 4 Temp      | 25.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 5           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 5 Temp      | 26.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 6           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 6 Temp      | 26.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 7           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 7 Temp      | 26.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 8           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 8 Temp      | 26.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 9           | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 9 Temp      | 25.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 10          | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x0080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 10 Temp     | na         | degrees C  | na    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000
DIMM 11          | 0x0        | discrete   | 0x4080| na        | na        | na        | na        | na        | na
DIMM 11 Temp     | 24.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 85.000    | 87.000    | 91.000

The issue is when upgrading the UEFI we start seeing the sensor data read NA for the RAM modules which spins up the fans on the server, I don't know how to determine what on the OS is causing that but it sounds like something is trying to read that information and is locking up the sensor.

deric created this issue in lm-sensors/lm-sensors

closed Driver for IPMI BMC KCS #69

LennertvdBerg

@rmaclachlan Thanks. I'm also unsure how we can determine what in the OS is causing this issue. Are there other installations or modifications we could try to help isolate the problem, such as another Linux distribution with the same kernel, to see if it's a kernel-related issue? @gduperrey or @olivierlambert any suggestions how we can help the team with identifying this?

olivierlambert

I have no idea, sorry. Hopefully someone could tell us what we need to add in XCP-ng to fix it.

ThierryEscande

@LennertvdBerg To verify that the IPMI drivers are not messing up with the firmware, you could try to blacklist the IPMI modules.
Create the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ipmi.conf containing the following and reboot

blacklist ipmi_si
blacklist ipmi_devintf
blacklist ipmi_msghandler

Actually add a line for whatever modules the command lsmod | grep ipmi gives you

LennertvdBerg

@ThierryEscande . When I do lsmod | grep ipmiI get the following results

ipmi_si                65536  0 
ipmi_devintf           20480  0 
ipmi_msghandler        61440  2 ipmi_devintf,ipmi_si

So, I created the file with vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ipmi.conf and added the following:

blacklist ipmi_si
blacklist ipmi_devintf
blacklist ipmi_msghandler

I saved the file and rebooted the system using shutdown -r now. However, I still don't see the memory temperatures in Xclarity, and the server's fans are still running at over 13,000 RPM. The system is running XCP-NG 8.3 beta 2 with kernel 4.19.0+1.

ThierryEscande

We have a new kernel-alt release available for testing purpose. This is only for XCP-ng 8.2.1 for now. The package for XCP-ng 8.3 should land soon.

THIS IS A TEMPORARY REPO FOR TESTING PURPOSE ONLY

To install this kernel-alt package:

Edit the xcp-ng.repo file

# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/xcp-ng.repo

Add the following lines at the end of the file:

[xcp-ng-tescande]
name=XCP-ng 8.2 tescande User Repository
baseurl=https://koji.xcp-ng.org/repos/user/8/8.2/tescande1/x86_64/
enabled=0
gpgcheck=0
priority=1

Install the kernel-alt package

# yum --enablerepo=xcp-ng-tescande install kernel-alt

Reboot and select XCP-ng kernel-alt 4.19.309 at the grub screen.

RIX_IT

@ThierryEscande
I've upgraded to the kernel-alt 4.19.309 while still using the old UEFI (kae110k 1.41). Currently the IPMI modules are not blacklisted in the modprobe config.

The fan speeds remain stuck at 9k RPMs, consistent with both the stable and previous alt kernel versions.

I also attempted to upgrade again to the newest UEFI (kae118m 4.11) but didn't notice any discernible difference in fan behavior - here it's still around 13k RPMs.
The ipmitool output also didn't change from the one @rmaclachlan provided.

If there are any other suggestions for testing or specific logs you'd like me to provide, please let me know.

ThierryEscande

@RIX_IT Thanks for your feedback.

Can you please share the output of dmesg and xl dmesg ?

ThierryEscande

Even if this will probably be same as with XCP-ng 8.2, the kernel-alt package is available for 8.3.

Same steps as in my previous post, except for the repo URL in xcp-ng.repo:

[xcp-ng-tescande]
name=XCP-ng 8.3 tescande User Repository
baseurl=https://koji.xcp-ng.org/repos/user/8/8.3/tescande2/x86_64/
enabled=0
gpgcheck=0
priority=1

ThierryEscande

And for those on XCP-ng 8.3, it might be worth giving a try to Xen 4.17. You'll find all the necessary information on how to upgrade in the thread Xen 4.17 on XCP-ng 8.3.

LennertvdBerg

@ThierryEscande I'm experiencing difficulties with installing the kernel-alt package on my system. Currently, I am using XCP-ng version 8.3.0-beta2. It appears that there might be a problem with updategrub.py. Any guidance on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.

I've update xcp-ng.repo and this is my output of yum --enablerepo=xcp-ng-tescande install kernel-alt:

[20:12 xcp-ng-test1 ~]# yum --enablerepo=xcp-ng-tescande install kernel-alt
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
Excluding mirror: updates.xcp-ng.org
 * xcp-ng-base: mirrors.xcp-ng.org
Excluding mirror: updates.xcp-ng.org
 * xcp-ng-updates: mirrors.xcp-ng.org
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kernel-alt.x86_64 0:4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

===========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
 Package                                                       Arch                                                      Version                                                                                  Repository                                                          Size
===========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 kernel-alt                                                    x86_64                                                    4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3                                                       xcp-ng-tescande                                                     30 M

Transaction Summary
===========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total download size: 30 M
Installed size: 154 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
kernel-alt-4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3.x86_64.rpm                                                                                                                                                                                                            |  30 MB  00:00:01     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
  Installing : kernel-alt-4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3.x86_64                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1/1 
/var/tmp/rpm-tmp.l9rbzO: line 9: /opt/xensource/bin/updategrub.py: No such file or directory
warning: %post(kernel-alt-4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3.x86_64) scriptlet failed, exit status 127
Non-fatal POSTIN scriptlet failure in rpm package kernel-alt-4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3.x86_64
  Verifying  : kernel-alt-4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3.x86_64                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1/1 

Installed:
  kernel-alt.x86_64 0:4.19.309-1.0.lenovotest.2.xcpng8.3

LennertvdBerg

@ThierryEscande I've updated to Xen 4.17 and it seems the upgrade went fine:

host                   : xcp-ng-test1
release                : 4.19.0+1
version                : #1 SMP Wed Jan 24 17:19:11 CET 2024
machine                : x86_64
nr_cpus                : 64
max_cpu_id             : 63
nr_nodes               : 1
cores_per_socket       : 32
threads_per_core       : 2
cpu_mhz                : 3245.126
hw_caps                : 178bf3ff:7efa320b:2e500800:244037ff:0000000f:f1bf97a9:00405fce:00000780
virt_caps              : pv hvm hvm_directio pv_directio hap gnttab-v1 gnttab-v2
total_memory           : 130850
free_memory            : 121721
sharing_freed_memory   : 0
sharing_used_memory    : 0
outstanding_claims     : 0
free_cpus              : 0
xen_major              : 4
xen_minor              : 17
xen_extra              : .3-3
xen_version            : 4.17.3-3
xen_caps               : xen-3.0-x86_64 hvm-3.0-x86_32 hvm-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_64 
xen_scheduler          : credit
xen_pagesize           : 4096
platform_params        : virt_start=0xffff800000000000
xen_changeset          : $Format:%H$, pq ???
xen_commandline        : dom0_mem=7568M,max:7568M watchdog ucode=scan dom0_max_vcpus=1-16 crashkernel=256M,below=4G console=vga vga=mode-0x0311
cc_compiler            : gcc (GCC) 11.2.1 20210728 (Red Hat 11.2.1-1)
cc_compile_by          : mockbuild
cc_compile_domain      : [unknown]
cc_compile_date        : Wed Feb 28 10:12:19 CET 2024
build_id               : 9a011a28e29a21a7643376b36aec959253587d42
xend_config_format     : 4

However, the issues with the fan speeds and missing memory temperature readings still persist.

RIX_IT

@ThierryEscande
Of course. See the attached files:

dmseg.txt
xl_dmseg.txt

What I also did notice was that networking isn't working at all with the 4.19.309 kernel. Settings were the same as before and I couldn't even ping the gateway. I tried an emergency reset and reconfiguring, but still no luck. Upon booting with the stable kernel, it worked again as expected. But that's an issue for another day, I guess.

Riven

I have recently purchased four SR635v3 servers with AMD EPYC 9354P cpu.

I managed to get some info from Lenovo about how to manually change the fan speeds.

How to get the existing fan speeds. If this fails, check IPMI settings in the BMC.

[09:10 xcp01 ~]# ipmitool sdr list | grep -i fan
Fan Mismatch     | 0x00              | ok
Fan 1 Front Tach | 19072 RPM         | ok
Fan 2 Front Tach | 19072 RPM         | ok
Fan 3 Front Tach | 18944 RPM         | ok
Fan 4 Front Tach | 19072 RPM         | ok
Fan 5 Front Tach | 18944 RPM         | ok
Fan 6 Front Tach | 19072 RPM         | ok
Fan 7 Front Tach | 0 RPM             | ok
Fan 1 Rear Tach  | 15768 RPM         | ok
Fan 2 Rear Tach  | 15768 RPM         | ok
Fan 3 Rear Tach  | 15876 RPM         | ok
Fan 4 Rear Tach  | 15876 RPM         | ok
Fan 5 Rear Tach  | 15768 RPM         | ok
Fan 6 Rear Tach  | 15768 RPM         | ok
Fan 7 Rear Tach  | 0 RPM             | ok
Sys Fan Pwr      | 48 Watts          | ok

To change the fans to a fixed percentage - note the decimal "35" this is the percentage of maximum fan speed to set to.

ipmitool raw 0x3a 0x07 0xff 35 0x01

After a short while for the fans to spin down.

Fan Mismatch     | 0x00              | ok
Fan 1 Front Tach | 12288 RPM         | ok
Fan 2 Front Tach | 12160 RPM         | ok
Fan 3 Front Tach | 12160 RPM         | ok
Fan 4 Front Tach | 12288 RPM         | ok
Fan 5 Front Tach | 12160 RPM         | ok
Fan 6 Front Tach | 12288 RPM         | ok
Fan 7 Front Tach | 0 RPM             | ok
Fan 1 Rear Tach  | 10152 RPM         | ok
Fan 2 Rear Tach  | 10152 RPM         | ok
Fan 3 Rear Tach  | 10260 RPM         | ok
Fan 4 Rear Tach  | 10152 RPM         | ok
Fan 5 Rear Tach  | 10260 RPM         | ok
Fan 6 Rear Tach  | 10152 RPM         | ok
Fan 7 Rear Tach  | 0 RPM             | ok
Sys Fan Pwr      | 15 Watts          | ok

To revert to auto-fan control you either need to restart the BMC/XCC controller which isn't system impacting.

Please keep in mind this was stressed to me that its NOT SUPPORTED/RECOMMENDED - and could cause thermal damage to internal components!!

We only have the M.2 mirror kit with two small disks, no other raid cards or internal disks.
If you have RAID and internal disks you might want to fix your fans to a higher speed.

Someone with scripting knowledge could also monitor a few temps and adjust the IPMI fan control accordingly.
This could even be managed externally via IPMI over LAN for multiple servers.

Riven

Forgot to mention - I pointed Lenovo at this thread, but got the usual "OS isn't supported, find an alternative"

olivierlambert

Well, it would be more productive if they could only tell which component and version is needed to correctly handle their own fans…

LennertvdBerg

@olivierlambert would there be a way after GRUB to walk step by step through the boot and see where it goes wrong?

rmaclachlan

I had some time to test today so I upgraded the FW on a server, disabled IPMI as suggested above in the kernel and the fans remained spun up.

I disabled ACPI in grub (acpi=off) and the fans didn't spin up but then dom0 failed to fully load so that isn't great lol

Is it just a matter of the ACPI kernel driver being outdated? I'm not sure how to check that

ThierryEscande

@rmaclachlan If it's an ACPI issue and since Lenovo doesn't seem to be very cooperative, one could try to downgrade the firmware to a working version (i.e. one that runs fans at normal speed) and dump the ACPI table. Then upgrade to the latest firmware, dump the ACPI tables again, and then compare them.

I don't know ACPI much but I can have a look if you can share them.

The ACPI tools should be already installed on any XCP-ng host.

Dump the ACPI tables in binary format
Do so in an empty folder as this produces numerous files

# acpidump -b

Decompile the dsdt.dat file

# iasl -e ssdt*.dat -d dsdt.dat

Do the same operations for both firmwares and share the dsdt.dsl files.
The files are pretty big so don't hesitate to compress them before sharing.