Inoperative cooling fans

Learning kit for Raspberry Pi
1

Just finished assembly of Pironman 5, and I can not get the cooling fans to run. Fans do not light up or anything. I have checked and re-checked the connections, and they are on the right pins and in the right order. I have a Rasberry Pi5 with 8GB and have installed a 2TB ssd in the M.2 hat, which shows up under devices, but it seems I can not access it, but that is another question for a later date.

Thanks for any assistance.
Ed

2

It is recommended to provide us with a video of the problem so that we can help you analyze and solve the problem.
CPU tower cooler not working?
Please see our tutorial instructions:

PWM fans run dynamically, adjusting their speed according to the temperature of the Raspberry Pi 5:
Below 50°C: the fan remains off (0% speed).
At 50°C: the fan runs at low speed (30% speed).
At 60°C: the fan increases to medium speed (50% speed).
At 67.5°C: the fan accelerates to high speed (70% speed).
75°C and above: the fan runs at full speed (100% speed).
RGB fan not working?

  1. Please check whether the GPIO6 pin of the IO motherboard is connected to a shorting piece
  2. Is the cable of the RGB fan correctly connected to the positive and negative pins of the IO motherboard?
  3. Try to remove the RGB fan and connect it directly to the 5V and GND pins of PI5 to see if it works properly.

Are other functions working properly? Are the OLED screen and the RGB LED on the IO board working?
If not, have you installed the pironman5 software according to our tutorial?
If the software is not installed, the function cannot be used.

3

I now have the software installed and the OLED screen is operative. Both fans light, one fan runs constantly. The other has yet to run, the CPU fan runs on startup for a few seconds and then turns off. I am assuming that is a check and result from the POST.

Also, I have a 2TB WD 850X in the M.2 slot. When I try to access it from file manager, it asks for a pin number to gain access. That drive is in addition to the micro SD card that is used for the OS. Just a guess, but can I only have one drive in the system, not two? I wanted to use the M.2 just as a storage drive but keep the OS on the sd card. Is that possible?

4

  1. RGB Fan Not Spinning?
    Your RGB fan may have been installed in the wrong direction. Reverse installation can easily damage the fan.
    What’s happening: The fan is actually running, but because it’s installed backward, the blades are touching the metal casing, causing friction that prevents proper rotation.
    Solution: Please check the correct installation direction in the attached image.

  2. CPU Fan Speed Control (Based on Raspberry Pi 5 Temperature)
    The fan operates dynamically according to temperature:

Below 50°C: Fan stays off (0% speed).

At 50°C: Fan runs at low speed (30%).

At 60°C: Increases to medium speed (50%).

At 67.5°C: Shifts to high speed (70%).

At 75°C or above: Runs at full speed (100%).

  1. Using SSD as a Storage Drive
    Yes, you can boot from an SD card while using the SSD as a storage drive.
    If you want to format the SSD for storage, simply:

Format the SSD.

Use it as a secondary storage device.

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5

The SSD I am using has been formatted in my PC, but does it have to be formatted in the Pironman as well? Using the terminal, what syntax should be used to format it?

Thanks to the picture you supplied, The fans were, in fact, reversed. Now, when I start the system, just the cooling tower fan runs for about 10 seconds and then stops. The two icecube fans do not light up or run. Is that normal for there to be no lights? I have rechecked the wires to be sure they are on right and they are, top to bottom, red, black, red, black.

Thank you for the help. I am totally new to building these, so it’s all new and not like doing a PC. :slightly_smiling_face:
Ed Brown

6

It seems that the SSD is not being recognized. I used the raspberry imager to download and install the OS from the raspberry site onto the SSD. I added a parameter statement to the config.txt file to enable the pcie1 lane.I changed the boot order to boot from the nvme, and I get a blank screen, then a troubleshooter starts and if I leave the sd card in, it will boot from it. So I was going to try using the card copy feature under accessories in the Pi logo menu. It says I have no devices available. Now I don’t know what to do. I’m hopeing that you can give me some way forward. You have been a major help so far.

Ed

7

1. Pironman5 Software & RGB Fan Check

Have you installed our Pironman5 software?
If yes, please:

  • Open the PC dashboard and go to the Settings page.
  • Change the RGB fan mode to “Always On” and check if the fan works properly.
    :link: Reference: Pironman5 Dashboard Guide

For further troubleshooting, please share a video of the issue with us.

2. SSD Usage Clarification

You mentioned using the SSD for storage, right?

  • If so, you’ll need to boot the system from the SD card (the SSD will act as secondary storage).
  • To boot directly from the SSD, you must:
    1. Install the OS on the SSD, then
    2. Configure the system to boot from the SSD.
      :link: Tutorial: Copy OS from SD to SSD & Configure Boot
8

Please define the ‘PC dashboard’ for me. Do i need to do this on my desktop computer? If so, how? If it is in the terminal program of the Pi, again how do I get there? I am a complete novice at this, so I am not sure what you mean to do. I tried to access the link you left for the dashboard guide, but I just get an error message.

9

Please check out our tutorial link:

After starting the Pironman 5, we recommend connecting it directly via an Ethernet cable. Then, you can open a browser on your computer and enter:
homeassistant.local:8123
to access Home Assistant.

Note: For a successful connection, your accessing device (PC, phone, tablet, etc.) must be on the same local network as the Pironman 5.

If you encounter any errors, please share a screenshot of the issue with us for further assistance.