DGX Spark (GB10) – Fans do not spin in headless boot mode, temperature rises to ~70°C

Accelerated Computing DGX Spark / GB10 User Forum DGX Spark / GB10
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1

Hello NVIDIA DGX Team,

I am observing abnormal fan behavior on a DGX Spark (GB10) system.

System temperature gradually rises to ~60–70°C (no workload) and fans do NOT spin when booting in headless mode (no HDMI monitor connected).

If an HDMI monitor is connected and the system is rebooted. fans operate normally.

System Information

  • Model: DGX Spark (GB10)

  • DGX OS: 7.4.0

  • Driver: 580.126.09

  • CUDA: 13.0

  • Kernel: 6.17.0-1008-nvidia

  • BIOS: 5.36_0ACUM018

  • Architecture: aarch64

Output Log

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Reproduction Steps

  1. Power off the system.

  2. Ensure no HDMI monitor is connected.

  3. Boot the system (headless).

  4. Leave system idle (no workload).

Observed Behavior

  • Fans do NOT spin.

  • No airflow detected at intake or exhaust.

  • System temperature gradually rises to ~60–70°C.

  • Chassis becomes noticeably hot.

  • nvidia-smi shows GPU in P8 (~3W idle).

Example:

GPU 0: P8, 3W, ~55C

Even when system temperature approaches ~70°C, fans remain inactive.

If HDMI Monitor Is Connected

If an HDMI monitor is connected and the system is rebooted:

  • Fans operate normally.

  • Airflow is present.

  • System temperature stabilizes around 35–40°C.

  • nvidia-smi shows normal behavior.

  • gnome-remote-desktop-daemon (user session) appears in process list.

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Key Observation

The issue appears specifically tied to headless boot.

Fan control seems dependent on display initialization state.
In headless mode, fan PWM control does not activate even as chassis temperature rises significantly.

Expected behavior would be:

Fan activation based on thermal sensors, independent of HDMI/display initialization.

Questions

  1. Is DGX Spark fan control tied to display engine initialization?

  2. Is this expected behavior in headless mode?

  3. Is there a firmware/BMC thermal profile issue in headless boot?

  4. Is there a recommended configuration for proper headless operation?

Please let me know if additional logs are required.

2

This is not expected behavior and I cannot reproduce this. Can you check if your graphical manager is still active while in “headless” mode. It is expected to be active
systemctl status display-manager
You can also use nvtop to monitor what resources your unit may be using.

3

FWIW – I run my dual setup in headless mode 24/7. It’s never connect to a monitor and I never see this behavior.

4

I can reproduce a closely related issue on one of two identical ASUS Ascent GX10 systems.

Both units run the same kernel (6.17.0-1029-nvidia), NVIDIA driver (580.173.02), DGX OTA (7.5.0), BIOS, EC, UEFI-device and PD firmware. The affected unit previously cycled at GPU 55–58°C / ACPI 58.5–61.7°C while P8, 0% utilization and about 3.8–4.0 W. Its fan is audibly slower than the control unit.

The control GX10 is important: it remains fully headless at the GDM greeter, has never had a local desktop login during the test, and stays at GPU 34–35°C. Therefore headless mode alone is not sufficient.

On the affected unit, HDMI plus a local X11 login reduced it to GPU 36–40°C. With the GNOME blank-screen timeout changed from 300 seconds to Never, it cooled to GPU 36–37°C without keyboard or mouse activity. I then physically unplugged only HDMI while leaving the same session active and IdleHint=no. Over five minutes it rose monotonically to GPU 45°C / max ACPI 47.9°C while remaining P8 at 3.48–3.71 W.

This looks strongly display-hotplug dependent, but only on one of two otherwise identical units. @aniculescu, is there an official way to obtain ASUS fan RPM/PWM through field diagnostics, and should this be escalated as an EC/fan hardware fault or RMA?