How to remove T43 fan assembly

[azinyk]

I have a T43 laptop with a noisy, clattering fan, which I want to replace.

I suspect that the fan may be unbalanced or that the bearings are worn out, although it started making noise right after I picked up the laptop by the lower right-hand corner, so flexing may have had something to do with it.

I tried vacuuming the fan, but it didn't help. The next step, I think, is to replace the fan & heat sink assembly. As it happens, I have a working fan on another T43 with a broken power connector.

I've swapped components on the T43 before, so removing the keyboard and palm rest were no problem. I also picked up some thermal paste. The problem came with pulling out the fan assembly.

According to the maintenance manual, the three screws holding down the brass heat sink are torqued to 0.245 N-m (a really small amount), the same as the screws holding down the keyboard. But in reality, I couldn't budge them at all.

According to this page, there is a spring-loaded device involved, which makes sense because the heat sink should be cranked down against the processor really hard, but the manual doesn't mention it and pushing down on the cylindrical things around the screws (they wiggle a little bit) didn't make the screws any looser.

My smallest Phillips-head screwdriver (labeled #0) is still a little too big, so I will try to find a smaller one, but I don't want to strip the screw-heads.

Does anyone have experience with this or any advice? Do I need a special tool?

[Tasurinchi]

According to the maintenance manual, the three screws holding down the brass heat sink are torqued to 0.245 N-m (a really small amount), the same as the screws holding down the keyboard. But in reality, I couldn't budge them at all.

That's weird... I did not have any problems with my screws, I was using a normal Phillips screwdriver (#1 if I remember correctly). Is this a second hand machine? Maybe someone changed the original screws before?

[poshgeordie]

Welcome to the forums.

Don't remove the motherboard and fan assembly from the base since it's very easy to flex the mobo and break the solder connections under the graphics and Southbridge chips.

There are two types of crosshead screwheads - Phillips and Crosshead. I've done a quick forum search and the #1 Phillips screwdriver seems to be the one.

Once you've got the right screwdriver, if you still cannot shift them use pliers to grip the handle (I use a pair of mole grips for a firm grip).
Press hard on the top of the screw driver and very very slowly turn the mole grips anticlockwise, and 9 times out of 10 the screws will come out.

If all else fails you'll have to drill the heads off.

The point of the spring loaded screwholders on the fan assembly is that the screws shouldn't be tightened right down since it's the springs that apply the correct pressure on the chips, not the screw tightness.

There is then the issue of removing the heatsink from the graphics chip since it's usually stuck down. Read this Thread for how to do it - don't try to just pull it off since you could damage the graphics chip solder joints.

[azinyk]

Once you've got the right screwdriver, if you still cannot shift them use pliers to grip the handle (I use a pair of mole grips for a firm grip).
Press hard on the top of the screw driver and very very slowly turn the mole grips anticlockwise, and 9 times out of 10 the screws will come out.

I took your advice and tried vice grips (mole grips) and also got a friend to help out pushing down on the springs, and it worked great. Thanks!