Help...My T43 fan is making a loud whirring sound

[Skysurfer]

It's almost a low level cranking sound. The machine is waaaay out of warranty. I've backed everything up. What should I do???

Lawrence

[ajkula66]

Open it up and see whether cleaning the fan resolves anything...if not, order a new one and use the machine minimally if at all...

Good luck.

[Skysurfer]

Open it up and see whether cleaning the fan resolves anything...if not, order a new one and use the machine minimally if at all...

Good luck.

Okay, opened up the keyboard and used a blower to clean it out. Is there a way to remove the fan to clean it out? How do I order a new one? Call Thinkpad?

Thanks for the help!

Lawrence

[Norway Pad]

I ran into the same issue a couple of weeks ago, and replaced my T43 fan today. The whole heatsink with the heat pipes need to come out if you are going to remove the fan. The fan is however a consumable part, so I didn't bother trying to repair it. Doing this job, just to risk having the noise come back and needing to change the fan in some months anyway.

I bought a fan/heatsink unit from another user here, but they can still be bought through Lenovo. $75, I think it was. It's late and bedtime here now, but I can provide a link tomorrow with correct partnumber, etc. if you like. If you go and look for one, remember you need the "long fan".

[Skysurfer]

I ran into the same issue a couple of weeks ago, and replaced my T43 fan today. The whole heatsink with the heat pipes need to come out if you are going to remove the fan. The fan is however a consumable part, so I didn't bother trying to repair it. Doing this job, just to risk having the noise come back and needing to change the fan in some months anyway.

I bought a fan/heatsink unit from another user here, but they can still be bought through Lenovo. $75, I think it was. It's late and bedtime here now, but I can provide a link tomorrow with correct partnumber, etc. if you like. If you go and look for one, remember you need the "long fan".

You rock!

Why these things always happen during a mission critical project I'll never know. Really REALLY appreciate your help. Is this repair/replacement job the type of thing a non-techie can do? I've replaced the keyboard and installed RAM. As long as there's directions.



Lawrence

[fasterbybike]

Download the Hardware Maintenance Manual to see what needs doing.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 58791.html

Allow about an hour for the job and ensure you put the screws you remove back into the holes they came out of

Good luck.

[sarbin]

go here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... chineind=0
and pick the appropriate hmm for your 43's model #. pretty much every step you'll need to take is in the manual. as long as you're comfortable working with electronics, you'll be fine. you should get some thermal grease to reapply during reassembly. most folks here like arctic silver 5, which can be bought at most radio shacks.

post back with any more ?s.

[NerdPope]

I have actually taken a very ridiculous but useful route to this before. Got a T42p once from an educational warehouse, cracked LCD, dented top magnesium bezel (caused the dead LCD). Basically stripped of everything removable but the CPU.

The fan was horrendously loud, like bad bearings. Since the system only cost me $5 I decided to do something drastic. I took out the fan & heat-sink assembly and drilled out the aluminum pins holding the the copper plate to the aluminum fan cage. The fan easily slid out. I used WD-40, machine oil, and even cooking oil to lubricate the shaft and bearings. Delicately applied with a q-tip. All of which failed after a few minutes of running. Eventually I settled on some Castrol GTX 10w-30 engine oil. I figured the other oils were too thin.

Long story short, fan is still quiet to this day for over 2 years. Rebuilt the system and gave it to someone as a gift.

Oh, I used 3 little dabs of krazy glue to assemble it after I was satisfied with the 10w30 results.

[Norway Pad]

Depending on what machine number you have (Printed on the label under the machine)

For models 1871, 1872, 1875, 1876: Fan assembly 26R8197

For models 2668, 2669, 2686, 2687: Fan assembly Long M24 (lead-free) 26R9074

The parts list is found here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... R-58420#18 The fan assembly is item #18 on the list.

The job is pretty straightforward if you feel like opening up your laptop and working inside it in the first place. The long fan assembly can be a little hard to remove from the Graphics chip (GPU) and this chip a weak spot, so its important to not use excessive force here. In addition, I removed the dots of thermal compound that comes with the fan and put on Arctic Silver. This is not 100% necessary to do. AS can be bought at Radio Shack.

Good luck with ordering and changing the fan!

[Skysurfer]

As always, this site was invaluable. Thanks to all and I will post an update.

This T43 just has to last a few more months. But it's been such a road warrior over the years, it may yet find another looooong life under a new owner.

Lawrence

[Skysurfer]

Depending on what machine number you have (Printed on the label under the machine)

For models 1871, 1872, 1875, 1876: Fan assembly 26R8197

For models 2668, 2669, 2686, 2687: Fan assembly Long M24 (lead-free) 26R9074

The parts list is found here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... R-58420#18 The fan assembly is item #18 on the list.

The job is pretty straightforward if you feel like opening up your laptop and working inside it in the first place. The long fan assembly can be a little hard to remove from the Graphics chip (GPU) and this chip a weak spot, so its important to not use excessive force here. In addition, I removed the dots of thermal compound that comes with the fan and put on Arctic Silver. This is not 100% necessary to do. AS can be bought at Radio Shack.

Good luck with ordering and changing the fan!

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. The operation was a success!

However, why IBM/Lenovo has so many screws to access the innards is beyond me. I used every screwdriver in my computer kit, got through a dozen or so screws...and the very last one holding the fan down was jammed.



Couldn't believe it. All that time, money and patience to do the job right only to be sabotaged by the last screw.

But my Swiss Army Knife saved the day. The T43 lives!



Lawrence

[Norway Pad]

Good job, congratulations! That's what this forum is about.

Regarding the last screw (Don't know if this is what happened, but suspect so, since it was your last screw): The 3 screws holding the fan down are relatively tight. In applications like that, it's best to loosen all screws gradually, instead of loosening them all completely, leaving one last screw fully tightened in the end. Doing so puts all the stress on that last screw, and can cause it to jam/be very tight. In a large machine application where the bolts are *really* tight, the last bolt will snap.

[PilotDave]

Thanks everyone for the very helpful posts.

I have a new fan, some Arctic Silver 5 and the hardware maintenance manual ready to go for surgery on my T42.

Could you please tell me how much Arctic Silver 5 thermal compond to apply? With a Q-tip or small paint brush? Directly to the top of the CPU, or to the fan unit where the black thermal pad is now? As a solid square, or as dot-sized drops? Some small black dots were packaged seperately from the fan unit. They must be the thermal dots somone else mentioned. Should I discard those or apply those somewhere also?

Are there any shortcuts possible to the disassembly? I thought that removing just the keyboard and old fan would be sufficient, but the HMM directs that the hard drive be removed also.

The new ThinkPads look great. I just ordered a T410s for my wife. This T42 has to last me a little longer before I donate it to my young nephews.

Thanks for the help. Enjoy springtime wherever you are!

[Norway Pad]

1. We don't quite agree on how the thermal compound is supposed to be applied. Myself and many others put dots on and smear it out making a thin layer. The other method is to put a single dot in the middle, and just apply the heatsink to the CPU and squeeze and twist a little before you fasten it. The reasoning for the later method is that the first method CAN trap air bubbles. Just a very thin layer is needed.

2. I am not sure what you mean when talking about black dots packaged separately. The only black things I noticed that came with the fan were plastic covers which I think are meant to cover screw holes on the 14" models(?) My fan had thermal compound for the CPU applied as gray small dots in a grid pattern directly on the heatsink. I removed them and applied Arctic Silver. The black pad is for the GPU (Graphics chip) and you should not apply any compound here. Mine was black with a pink surface, btw. (I have the long fan, maybe this is different if you have a short fan that only covers the CPU. Others will need to advice on that.)

3. The keyboard and the keyboard bezel need to come off. I don't think the HDD actually need to come out to allow you to perform this operation, but I always take both the HDD and battery out anyway as a security measure. If I should short circuit anything or get an electrostatic discharge onto the mobo it will at least not affect the HDD.

Good luck!

[EchoFox]

Yeah my T43p's started to do this about a week ago (after nearly 10 months of sterling service).

Mine sounds like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYvgU1g7Zpo

How about you?

This thread is dedicated to fixing the fan on T4x model TP's making SOME KIND OF NOISE, http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=69539 but I'm not sure if it's the noise I'm getting.

I would also like to know if this noise is a precursor to the notorious 'fan error' message. Actually, does that even happen on T43p's?

[ajkula66]

"Fan Error" does happen on T43/p machines, however I've never been able to predict when the fan is going to fail by just listening to it. YMMV.

[PilotDave]

Thank you very much, everyone, for the helpful info! I successfully replaced the fan because of your combined help.

I used a plastic putty knife to encourage the copper heat sink to separate from the top of the CPU chip and graphics chip. Fortunately, it did not require a lot of force.

I did wipe away the white dots of thermal compound that were pre-applied to the copper heatsink when it was shipped. According to your suggestions, I applied a thin film of the Arctic Fox 5 to the top of the CPU where there is a small rectangular heat sink area, approximately one-quarter the size of the chip.

I was concerned that the keyboard bezel would snap, but it did lift off after some prodding with fingernails encouraged the side seams to separate.

These machines are really designed and built well to be so durable and easy to maintain! I had a 2000-era Dell laptop previously. It was plauged by a motherboard that flexed and disrupted the pin connector for the keyboard. We had tried every fix on that one under warranty except replace the motherboard. When it got to that point, I retired it and am sold on the ThinkPads now.

I just ordered a T410s for my wife. Hopefully the slim new line is built as sturdily on the inside!