MCM-9000 Overheats on DELL R640 Server

Owned by Ramya Raman
Last updated: Jul 19, 2023
2 min read

Hardware Target

This document specifies handling the overheating for the DELL PowerEdge R640 server.

Prerequisites

Download BIOS firmware from the DELL site and save it locally.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/il/en/ilbsdt1/product-support/product/poweredge-r640/drivers

Working temperature

The recommended maximum working temperature on the CPU is below 60 C, and on mellanox is below 70C.

Entering the iDRAC GUI

Connect a cable to the iDRAC port on the back of the server.

Power on or reboot the system. When a splash screen appears (the screen with the logo) press the F2 key to enter BIOS setup.

Select “iDRAC Settings” and then “Network”.

Follow screenshot for configuration. Enter your own IP address.

Click “Back” and scroll down to enter “User Configuration”.

Set a user name and password.

Click “Back” and “Finish” twice to exit configuration and restart the server.

 

On a workstation in the network, open a browser and type the IP you entered for the IPv4 settings.

Type the user name and password as set in the previous step.

 

Update the BIOS

Go to “Maintenance” → “System Update” and browse for the BIOS file you downloaded.

Check the box and click “Install and Reboot”.

This will take some time.

Setting Fan Speed

If updating the BIOS wasn’t enough, you should try increasing fan speed.

Go to “Configuration” → “System Settings” → “Hardware Settings” and set as seen in the following screenshot.

Reset to Default

If Updating the BIOS and Settings Fan speed failed, try to reset the BIOS to default. To do so, enter the BIOS settings and click “Default”. After reset, reconfigure the BIOS according to the Manual.