Hp z640 problem with nvme

[Z440Roger]

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@SDH wrote:

I've heard that some non-HP M.2 PCIe interface cards work with HP workstations and some don't... I have no experience with that. Here are those pics and I have also attached two HP FAQs for the ZTD G1 and G2 single-M.2 SSD PCIe cards for you:

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Side note:

Not a Z640, but i use the Asus HYPER M.2 X16 Gen 4 Card in my Z4 G4 workstation with no issues. Inserted in slot 5 with bifurcation enabled at x4x4x4x4 so i can use each nvme as a separate disk. Yes, the Z4 G4 is PCIe Gen 3 but i assume that my next WS will be Gen 4.

[ZFox]

Thanks for the reply!

If you had a Z640, I'd ask you to swap it to Slot 2 and GPU to slot 5 and ask what is the reaction from the PC

@SDH, I'm fully aware of the PCIe lane length and the bifurcation to split it to x4x4x4x4. Thanks for the time you took to explain it.

I remember that the ZTD cards NVMe's had some special firmware also, that help the Z#40 series or Z#20 series workstations to boot into the NVMe. I vaguely remember something about including UEFI drivers in the NVMe.

My current plan is to try and see if some BIOS setting combo would fix the loud fan noise problem

[DGroves]

M.2 cards run the gamut from well made to pieces of crap

personally i only buy name brand m.2 cards or cards that clearly show they have onboard power regulation like the ones below

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313982097768?hash=item491aca9968:g:-S4AAOSwu4FicUgE

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192631531828?epid=10022820845&hash=item2cd9bbe934:g:GgkAAOSw3mNbeYHp

I've seen really cheap cards that simply route the SSD signals directly to the pci-e buss without any regards to  noise filtering or proper signal trace layout cards like these may cause weird and hard to pin down issues

[ZFox]

OK, so can we come back to the original question the author of this topic had?

When they plugged in the official HP branded Z Turbo G2 NVMe adapter into Slot 5 of Z640, the two rear fans ramp to maximum RPM.

I have the exact same symptoms, two rear fans go maximum speed. When I remove the NVMe, the fans go back to normal.

What causes this? Original NVMe adapters or not. Intended PCIe slot or not. The same problem

[DGroves]

and my reply stands, cheap poorly designed pci m.2 cards may be the cause, perhaps instead of ignoring this you may want to try another m.2 card

[ZFox]

So you say that the HP cards are poorly designed? Noted!

I use ASUS HYPER M.2 X16 CARD V2. Can you tell if it's a poorly designed card? You seem to be the expert.

[DGroves]

no i can't trace the cards traces via a picture nor can i determine if the card design is compatible with the z640

what i can do however is visit the ASUS product page for this item and note that it's designed for motherboards that support intel "vroc" and threadripper raid boards

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Accessories/HYPER-M-2-X16-CARD-V2/

I'll take a guess that if you ask ASUS support they will tell you that it will not work in the z640

here's a syba dual/quad ssd card that does not use bifurcation,

https://www.amazon.com/Syba-Interface-Bandwidth-Bifurcation-Controller/dp/B08L8J3MBT

https://www.amazon.com/CREST-SI-PEX40129-Ports-Bifurcation-Controller/dp/B07HYZY7P2 

[ZFox]

It's not the issue that the Asus card does not work. The card works 100% correct and well. I have 4 NVMe drives and they all achieve full bus speeds. I can test them on my Z640 right now. The card ran in Z640 for two years without any problems and the rear fans at normal speed.

I have designed bifurcation cards and I know about the design. There is no magic to them. The motherboard just needs a industry standard setting of splitting the PCIe lanes differently and the bifurcation card just needs one special chip to multiply the PCI clock signal to different PCI slots. Whatever rest is on the riser card is up for the designer, like power conversion and stability.

The Amazon riser cards, DGroves linked, have special and very expensive PCIe splitter. They are not really "bifurcation" cards chips but have PLX PCIe multiplexing chips. Originally intended to allow a machine to use more PCIe lanes than the CPU has available. So these Amazon listings have words like "bifurcation" just for marketing to catch more unaware buyers.

These expensive  "bifurcation" cards are designed for older systems that don't support the bifurcation function but users like to add those still.  Also, interestingly all NVMe's still work even when installed to 1x, 4x or 8x slot.

For controversy, here is the HP Z Turbo Drive Quad card working on ASUS board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBYUL5jOQKw

So I ask again. Why does the HP Z640 make the rear fans run full speed when a NVMe card is present?

I had the same problem years ago and managed to fix it with bios settings, but the problem is back now after installing new GPU and I can't seem to fix it again. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Z640-workstation-r...

[SDH]

"So I ask again. Why does the HP Z640 make the rear fans run full speed when a NVMe card is present?"

So I answer again: Works for me at home as I have described, and works for us throughout all of our corporate Z640s virtually all of which have NVMe HP Z Turbo Drive G2 cards installed. At work all the M.2 sticks in those ZTD G2 cards are official HP ones (with HP firmware). At home all my HP M.2 AHCI- and NVMe-controller sticks work in that ZX40... also all with HP firmware. I'm also using recycled recent Lenovo NVMe PM981a M.2 sticks in my ZTD G2 (and G1) cards at home, and have updated their firmware with the recently released Lenovo NVMe firmware universal updater (probe from which can be done from a desktop but FW update has to be done in a laptop because it checks for a good battery being present before it will proceed). No fast fans here. I think the problem is on your side... firmware or hardware.

You're a smart guy. Why don't you put a video card into your Z640's slot 2 (the HP-intended PCIe x16 slot for single video cards) and a HP Z Turbo Drive G2 in HP's recommended slot 4 (or less recommended slot 5), or a ZTD Quad Pro in your slot 5?

Then, work from there to figure out your issue(s)...

[ZFox]

Thanks for your time, but as I wrote earlier, I can't fit the GPU in slot 2 anymore. I know time is precious, but please do read the whole thread and you can save time making suggestions that are already ruled out.

Besides, I tried the NVMe in other slots and the problem is the same.

Also the author of this topic has their HP Z Turbo in the Slot 4 and GPU in Slot 2 and still has max rear fan speed.