T41 shuts down

[caponey]

Hello,
T41 thinkpad, after two years of good service will suddenly shut down. The fan is working, but is blowing extreme hot air from the vents after 20-25 minutes. It even smells kind of hot, but not a burning smell. Once it cools down, I can reboot it and will work until it will do it again 20 minutes later. Can only use it for 20 minutes or so before it goes black. Battery light and the leaning circled z signs are the only things lit when it goes off. Once I was playing an audio cd, it went black and music was still playing before shuting off?
I had changed the hard drive, but that wasn't it as it did it again with the new drive.

I don't want to invest hundreds of dollars of repairs if it is a major problem, because then I would just opt on buying a new one. Can the fan, even though it is working, need to be replaced?

Any expert opinion appreciated!

Best regards,
Mario

[Harryc]

I'd guess that you have a heat problem and that the fan needs to be removed, cleaned, and reseated using a high quality thermal paste, like Arctic Silver.