t42 fan/heat problem

[rits]

my old t42's stock fan died with a fan error; it was replaced with i believe a long fan by a certified ibm technician. problem should have been solved, but now oddly enough, the fan doesn't seem to want to do its job...

i had intermittent fan errors earlier on that have seemed to have disappeared. the fan spins (though what speed, i'm not sure) when manipulated through nhc or the tp fan control tool (i.e. i can turn it off with the tpfan tool, and any value between 1-7 turn the fan on), but both read the speed as 0 rpm/"off". on load, gpu and cpu temp is around 85-95*C (though gpu tends to be higher by a few degrees).

does anyone have any idea of what's going on? i'm at my wit's end trying to figure out what needs to be done (i've already tried nhc etc., unless i configured it incorrectly, judging by the 0rpm reading, and blowing out dust with a compressed gas duster)... i assume that the fan's hardware is not directly responsible, as the tech replaced it recently