Shuttle SH67H3 won't boot without a fan

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 11:42

Hello,
I just purchased an SH67H3 but got somewhat disappointed with the noise the SMART fan was generating. So I went and bought a GELID Silent 9 PWM which turned out to be very silent compared to the one included. However, the system won't power on when I replace/connect the new Gelid fan. Why?

I don't have any fans to try out except for a similar smart fan that came with my SG31G2 system. Both these fans work just fine. The SH67H3 boots as it should. But whenever I unplug the smart fan leaving no fan connected the system won't boot. Connecting the Gelid won't help either. I tried connecting the Gelid fan to the 3-pin FAN1 connection that is next to FAN2 which is used for the smart fan but this didn't help either.

The only was I can test the Gelid fan is to replace the fan *after* the system has booted using the original fan.
Thanks

EDIT: I also edited the H/W monitor setting in the BIOS and set it to "ultra slow" instead of "smart" hoping this would help but it didn't..

SimonMaltby · 5 Feb 2012 at 11:51

Thats rather odd as I have my SH67H3 (same board just different front to the case) running with a GELID 92mm Fan. I have the fan plugged into the motherboard and it goes through the GEILD speed controller. My bios settings are at default.

Do you have the latest Bios?
Try setting the fan speed in the bios to something other than SMART.

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:03

Thank you for the reply.
I have already tried editing the speed setting to "slow" when using the original fan that comes with the system. I then replaced the fan with the Gelid one but the system wouldn't boot.

I haven't played around in the settings so they should all be at default. I'll do a reset just in case!

One thing that I can think of is the the BIOS version that I just flashed. I got it from the URL below and it is a modified version of 114 that contains an updated slic table. I don't see how this should affect the fan though. And why the system would *always* boot when the default fan is connected. I'm sure I've tried it at least 20 times now.

bios link:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/printthread.php?t=5863&pp=10&page=2930

EDIT: I should mention that I have installed W7 on an SSD drive and the system is working perfectly. (Except the fan issue)

EDIT2: I tried resetting the BIOS but it didn't help. With the Gelid connected, the fan will rotate 5-6 times when I press the power button and then the system will halt. Actually, it won't really come to a start. I press the power button and the power light comes on, then the fan rotates 5-6 times and it shuts down. If I replace the fan with the original it starts just as usual.

SimonMaltby · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:12

Well the only thing that seems different is the Bios then tbh... Whats the advantage of the updated SLIC Table? I would flash it back to the Shuttle Supplied Bios, do a bios reset and load default settings. If that still fails then i'm at a loss.

Do you have any other fan you can try. My GEILD is not the PWM version its just a 3 pin... maybe the PWM version is doing something different. Will the machine start with no fan at all or with another 3 pin one?

Bane · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:15

Have you checked the colour sequence of the leads?

Just in case the the three leads on Shuttle fan aren't in same order as GELID, as you have an extra not connected on GELID due to 3-pin fan header.

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:20

Thank you again.

No the machine won't start at all when there is no fan connected so I'm guessing the whole issue may be a prevention for overheating. Unfortunately I don't have a 3-pin fan that I can test. I'll see if I can borrow one and test.

I used the slic modified version as I find loaders somewhat messy. (The whole point is to validate windows without having to purchase it)

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:23

Thanks Bane,

Yes I've already checked the leads and all 4 are connected just like the original fans. The colors are different but the order is still the same.

SimonMaltby · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:37

Well I just tried mine with no Fan connected to either motherboard connector and it starts fine. I think it must be something odd in the Bios.

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:40

Thank you Simon!!!
I'll try and reflash the BIOS with the original version from Shuttles website and see if that helps.

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 13:01

Ok, I reflashed the BIOS with version 1.14 from Shuttles website and reset the BIOS settings to its default. It didn't help though. This is really weird. The system still won't boot without the original fan connected. The the Gelid one doesn't work either. I don't know what to do anymore..

EDIT: I tried booting my old SG31G2 without a fan and it booted just fine. The Gelid one worked fine too. Maybe my SH67H3 is a lemon..?

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 13:58

Since I don't have a 3-pin fan lying around I took 3 needles and pushed them into all connectors (except the control one) and then held these needles onto their corresponding pins on connector FAN2 (which is used by default). The result: the original fan started spinning at 100%. The Gelid fan still didn't work.

I'm starting to suspect that:
- Shuttle implemented some fan-check to prevent the system from getting damaged.
- The Gelid PWM fan only uses 0.18A current compared to the original fan that uses 0.50 and because of the low power the system doesn't recognize the fan.

Just speculations though..

danielkun · 5 Feb 2012 at 18:50

I bought 2 fans today but neither worked. There must be something magical about those original fans..

Ace Fan Frost Pro 92mm 12 dB
http://www.aceofsweden.com/ace/accessories/fan/frost92.html

and

Fractal Design "Silent Series"
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=4&prod=17

danielkun · 6 Feb 2012 at 19:41

Simon, I'm just curious.. What BIOS version do you use?

SimonMaltby · 6 Feb 2012 at 20:07

danielkun said:
Simon, I'm just curious.. What BIOS version do you use?

The latest, the details as reported in CPUz are
Shuttle FH67 1.0
Chipset: Sandy Bridge rev 09
Southbridge: H67 Rev B3

Bios is 1.15 24/Nov/2011

danielkun · 6 Feb 2012 at 20:56

Thank you!
I have the exact same chipset and southbridge. I also updated the BIOS to match yours but the situation is the same. I'll ask Shuttle support and see what they think.

danielkun · 9 Feb 2012 at 18:11

I got the following reply from Shuttle in case anyone was wondering.

Actually our system have protection design, if you do not use our original fan, that will maybe cause boot up issue, because other FAN used voltage is too low.
In Shuttle’s standard FAN used voltage is ADDA ( 0.5A) or Bi-sonic (0.32A). So If you would like to change other FANs, please follow our definition, or you will get no power just like this time.

This is exactly what I was suspecting.
I suppose all I need to do is to add some kind of power consuming thing to the CPU fan pins. Maybe I could add a LED diode or something that consumes a little power. The fans that I got were all 0.18A.

Any ideas anyone?

danielkun · 15 Feb 2012 at 20:22

Now I know what the problem is/was

There's nothing magical about connecting 2 fans to the fan connectors. All I had to do was to add *some* device that consumed more than 0.2A. I was unlucky to find this out by adding 2 fans to the FAN_CONNECTORS which made me think this was what was needed. In fact, all I had to do was to connect a 12v device such as a harddrive or a dvdrom to get that extra power consumption.

When I got this barebone I hesitated to connect the DVD-drive and additional harddrives as I wanted to get the PC running first. I also didn't connect a graphic-board as the fan connectors would get hard to reach. All I did connect was an SSD that probably consumed very little power.

It took me pretty long to figure this out but I'm glad I did

Thank you for your help Simon!

(If anyone's wondering, the response from Shuttle is incorrect)

bennyx_o · 15 Feb 2012 at 20:38

Where did you buy the Gelid PWM fan? Been looking for one but can't find anywhere that ships to Ireland that sells them, can you trust me the link?

danielkun · 16 Feb 2012 at 14:29

bennyx_o said:
Where did you buy the Gelid PWM fan? Been looking for one but can't find anywhere that ships to Ireland that sells them, can you trust me the link?

I got it in Japan during a holiday. Sorry.
I ended up using a 1200rpm 12db fan though. (it's extremely quiet!) speedfan never reports any temperatures above 50 degrees C so i guess I'm ok.

http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/90367-fractal_design_chassiflakt_silent_series_92mm_12db

I also got an "Ace Fan Frost Pro" but it was much more audible than the Frost one. Wouldn't recommend it.

http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/107694-ace_fan_frost_pro_92mm_12_db

bennyx_o · 16 Feb 2012 at 19:54

Ah, alright. Was looking at that fractal a while ago, it's working fine in the Shuttle now, yea? Are you running on the Onboard GFX?