The core question here: I inherited this server and was told the CPU fan is faulty, but even without the CPU fan connected the machine shows errors. So I am thinking this is related to the fan controller. So, is it possible to bypass the fan check, or get it working again in an other way? I'm open for any suggestions.
More details below:
I picked up an old HP Proliant ML310 G5 Server from a good friend of mine. He received it a few years back from someone else who did not know much about servers and stuff. That person claims that server is working fine except from the CPU fan, the server didn't boot because it stated that CPU fan is faulty. My friend threw out the old CPU fan because the ball bearing was making a lot of noise, and he kept the case fan since it was working properly and was not making a lot of noise but there where still errors appearing related to the CPU fan and sometimes the case fan. My friend also changed a lot of the wiring of the fans and switched the connectors etc. Because he couldn't get it working, so he passed it over to me.
When I got it, I completely cleaned the server and after that I tried to get the wiring of the fans as close as possible to stock setup again. But there are still errors appearing, sometimes from the CPU fan, sometimes from the case fan, sometimes both and sometimes no errors. If there are no errors related to the the fans it just boots normally.
I've read on this blog (small side note with this blog link, it is for a ml350 g6 server and the pinout is not the same. Below I posted images of how it should be and some other pictures of the connections of the fans. If you want to connect a not OEM fan to a 5 pin hp connector you need to connect the leftover pin to ground and it should work fine.
I did this for the CPU fan and tried the same for the case fan but later on, I disconnected that last pin connecting to ground since when looking at pictures, the case fan looks like it is stock, and the last pin is not connected.
I'm pretty sure that the case fan is not faulty, it spins up, doesn't make a lot of noise, changes it speeds when powering the server up and it looks like it still is an OEM part. The CPU fan is not OEM but is also working properly, it is not making much noise, spins, and changes speed when powering up the server.
Now I'm afraid that the fans are not really the problem, but that the fan controller of the motherboard is faulty. If I think about it, a faulty fan controller would make more sense than faulty fans, because the errors are random.
Connection of the CPU fan (same pinout as the "alternative pinout table" of this site. I soldered dupont connectors to the cables of the CPU fan, but the colors are correct. The two black wires are connected to each other. Of course the CPU power connecter normally is connected.
Photo found on the Internet of what an OEM fan looks like. My pinout is the same.
Other side of an OEM case fan found on the Internet.
