It's true, the controller won't even attempt to initialize the boards if a problem is detected with the fans. Try reseating the fan connections.
Lucky for you there was just a discussion about replacement fans.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2805682.0 Thanks for the info it's going to be useful. But hey if a fan dies after only one week of usage, shouldn't be Bitmain who's responsible for that?