MS225 fans

[kYutobi]

Anyone else experience the switches that the fans try to start then fail after 2 seconds? 

[PacketHauler]

Yes. We've deployed about 60 of these in the last 6 months. This is a known issue with this particular model. They pushed a firmware update (version 9.30) to increase the minimum fan speed. Let the software update complete, and see if that fixes your issue? If not, have been good about issuing replacements.

[kYutobi]

Thank you Packet.

[hock]

I can also confirm that the 9.30 firmware release resolved the fan issues.  They are extremely loud now, but I'll take that over accelerated device failure any day...

[BrianH]

We are having similar issues. Some of our 225-48LP's sound like a jet engine with or without POE load on them. Some sound like a normal switch. All are on the 9.30 code. Support has no idea at this point. I have a case open and right now they are at a loss. I really think there is a sub issue with these switches besides the thermal problem. I can't imagine their engineering team allowing the fans to be rev'ed on high constantly as a solution to this. 

[PacketHauler]

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@BrianH wrote:

We are having similar issues. Some of our 225-48LP's sound like a jet engine with or without POE load on them. Some sound like a normal switch. All are on the 9.30 code. Support has no idea at this point. I have a case open and right now they are at a loss. I really think there is a sub issue with these switches besides the thermal problem. I can't imagine their engineering team allowing the fans to be rev'ed on high constantly as a solution to this. 

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Unfortunately I can't speak to the inconsistent fan speeds on the 48LP model. All my deployments have been the 225-48FP. Those for sure have thermal issues. I had 3 more throw temperature alarms this week, and have them slated to be replaced. When I've seen these fail, the fan shuts down completely. Even after putting on 9.30 code, the fan refuses to spin causing the hardware failure. To me it looks like they put in bad fan controllers to adjust the speed, and the way to 'fix' that issue without replacing the whole switch was to increase the minimum speed of the fan regardless of the load on the switch.

[BrianH]

yeah we have all that as well. Currently we have 33 switches with the thermal problem that need to be replaced and we are going through that now. Some have failed already. We have some devices that do the up/down speeds that we need to replace as well. This is a third condition that just popped up after the 9.30 code release of the increase fan speed for all switches. Some 225's are higher than normal but ok, some are "jet airplane" loud. 

[PacketHauler]

Yikes. I've deployed about 55 of these in the last 6 months. So far I think I've replaced maybe 20 of them. All of them are running 9.30 code now, and just waiting for more failures now. I've had a few tickets come in from sites asking if the higher speed is normal. All I can tell them is that's the new normal.

[MerakiDave · Accepted solution]

Hey folks, the MS9.30 code is the fix.  If any MS225 switch has already thrown a high temp alert, Meraki will RMA it.  If it has not yet thrown an alert, and you have upgraded firmware to 9.30, you are good and that eliminates the failure scenario from occurring, so no worries about future failure.  The fans do spin faster and the switch is louder as you mentioned.  It's not simply about spinning the fans faster for better heat dissipation, it's a more complex fan control system, and increasing the minimum fan speed prevents a chain of events leading up to the failure and subsequent overheat.  This issue only impacted the 48-port PoE models.  Full update is here: https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Support/MS225_Fan_Update 

[aws_architect]

Even after temperature alert 🚨 2 times in the logs , support don’t want to RMA it as stated :

“” If any MS225 switch has already thrown a high temp alert, Meraki will RMA it. “”

We have 3 jets , close to classroom for months and support is useless , they send me to sales !!!!


Their Message


Thank you for reaching out.

When it comes to the replacement of these switches that have been deemed to be a part of the proactive replacement program they will indeed have an RMA issued through that program. If we navigate under Help > Hardware Replacements, we can see that there are 3 affected devices that are currently a part of the replacement program, with the switch in question being one of them.

My apologies if it feels that this case is being bounced back and forth, however, as we previously discussed, support will not be able to issue a replacement for this device as it has not yet failed. In terms of the fan noise, it is expected that this particular switch will operate at a higher fan speed as we applied the configuration on the backend to increase the fan speed some time ago to prevent any issue with the functionality of this switch from arising.

Therefore, in terms of supports capabilities to RMA this device, we will not be able to proceed at this time, as the device is functional. From here, we would suggest that this is discussed with our account rep, Dorina, as they may have the ability to provide further assistance; but we will need to ensure that we work through the proper channels to move this case forward.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any further questions!

Thank you,

[aws_architect]

@MerakiDave a little help would be appreciated on this one .

thank you 

[aws_architect]

@MerakiDavei had temperature alertes on 2 out of 3 , support doesn’t not want to RMA, and the patch that they applied made the switches event noisier . 

Would you help to RMA ?

[MikeFromHAVEN]

After the upgrade to v9.30, I have some switches running the fans at 50%+ speed and others that aren't running the fans hardly at all that I can tell. The ones not revving up their fans are warm to the touch.

I called Meraki and they said the fans test out fine.

All the new switches I add to the network have fans that spool up real loud.

Are my switches in danger?

[MRCUR]

@MikeFromHAVEN I would recommend replacing any switch that isn't running the fan at very close to full speed. If you have any that are cycling between slow/fast, I've seen that become a failure within a week or so. 

[MikeFromHAVEN]

I was told by meraki that they are functioning normally even though the fans aren't blowing.

The switches are definitely warm compared to the 3 other ms225 switches above them that are running the fans at a decent speed

Should I force the issue with meraki?

[PacketHauler]

If you cannot feel any air moving at all, and your on MS 9.30, you need to get them RMAed pretty quick. The fan will never spin up again at that point, and the hardware needs to be replaced. I've never had an issue forcing them to do an RMA when that happens. I've had about 5 fail on me that way before.

[MRCUR]

@MikeFromHAVEN If the fan is not operating then the switch absolutely needs replaced. I'd recommend calling Support and requesting an RMA ASAP. 

[MikeFromHAVEN]

This is what I was sent in email.

I have called since this email and had them check again. They say its working fine, even though there is very little air movement.

Subject: RE: Fan speed Issues [ ]

Greetings,

Thank you for your reply. Looking deeper into your issue we have determined that your switches are working fine and do not need replacement. The Dashboard has an automated way of determining if your switches need replacement and it seems that this is not the case here.

Please refer to the following documentation for details:

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Support/MS225_Fan_Update

To confirm this , i connected to each of the 3 switches individually and took readings from the fan tachometer and the fans seem to work fine on all three devices that you mentioned during the call.  We also do not see any temperature alerts on the event log of the organization for those devices.

Can you please double check and confirm that there are not any outstanding issues?

Regards,

name omitted

Cisco Meraki Technical Support

[MRCUR]

@MikeFromHAVEN I would force the issue then. I'm not sure why they're saying a fan that isn't operating is okay. By the time the switch throws a temp alert, it's too late. I had multiple already dead at that point. 

[MerakiDave]

I would agree to continue working with Support and ask them to clarify and provide their tachometer findings.  With the fix in MS9.30 firmware, the minimum fan speed has been increased, I think it may be 40%.  So you should absolutely hear the fan spinning and feel decent airflow.  If that is not the case, something's not lining up between what you have and what readings they're getting and should be investigated further.  If they're not spinning up at all, or spinning up then stopping then spinning up again every several seconds, both of those situations should be an RMA.  In both of those situations the switches can become hot to the touch even with minimal PoE load and means the failure scenario has already begun to manifest, so work with Support to RMA those.  Remember, this only impacted 48-port PoE models so it's possible some customers might have 48-port non-PoE models and 24-port models running 9.30 in the same stack or same network and those fans may be running slower and quieter.  Hope that helps!

[redsector]

Meraki said to me that after the updates the problem would be solved, but it wasn't.

I had to take a video (with sound) of the problem, uploading in the "Cases". After this Meraki made an RMA.

[PacketHauler]

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@redsector wrote:

Meraki said to me that after the updates the problem would be solved, but it wasn't.

I had to take a video (with sound) of the problem, uploading in the "Cases". After this Meraki made an RMA.

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I've never had to go that far to prove that something was wrong with the fans. I had 2 switches that stayed in a failed state after the firmware update even, the fans never ended up spinning ever again after they failed. I think this is why they want everyone to install the update ASAP. Conversely, I had 2 switches that ended up fixing themselves after the update. They were throwing critical temperature alerts before hand, but after the firmware update the alerts cleared. I've been watching the event logs for those 2 sites ever since and haven't seen the alerts re-appear.

[aws_architect]

Did you manage to get the RMA ?