Fan Noise on T60 6369-6RU

[emtee3511]

My son says his T60 (6369-6RU) has just started to make some loud fan noise. He will be coming home from Fort Polk this month before leaving in May for two years in Korea, so I will have a chance to check out his T60 before he leaves.

I know I am not able to change out his fan, but I am wondering if maybe opening the machine up and cleaning with air may help. I also have a similar T60 (8741-4BU) and a Z61m (9452-E7U), and I am wondering if it will be better for me to switch my son over to one of these machines rather than send him to Korea with a machine with a 'dying' fan. I don't want him to end up with a 'dead' machine while he is in Korea due to something we could have 'fixed' here at home.

My spare T60 has ATI Graphics, while my son's T60 has Intel -- wondering if I can just switch out the hard drives, and then download drivers for the correct graphics (don't really have a clue if I can do this or not.) My son then could have a T60 without current fan issues.

I am also wondering if my Z61m is technically a "newer" model than the T60 and would be a bit of an upgrade if I transfer my son's software and programs from his T60 to my spare Z61m. My son's T60 has an Intel T7200 2ghz, while my Z61m has a Celeron M 420 1.6ghz. The T60 has Intel 945 Graphics, while the Z61m has Intel 950. Are these two machines basically in the "same ballpark" as far as processors and graphics -- or is one machine a "step up" from the other?

Thanks for any insight anyone may share with me. I'm afraid I'm in the category of having just enough knowledge/information to make myself dangerous to my son's machine






8741-4BU w/ATI Graphics

[exTPfan]

Generally, you can swap the hard drives between different T60s and T61s and everything will work. However it will work better with the correct video drivers installed, and you may need to install drivers for the wireless card to get it to work.

[emtee3511]

Thank you for the info exTPfan. That's what I was hoping to hear

[ajkula66]

Z61m would not be an upgrade from a T60, especially not with a Celeron CPU.

Given the extremely low failure rate of Intel-based T60 units, I'd just jave the fan swapped before your son leaves for Korea, providing you'd have enough time to do it...or have someone do it for you. That way, he'd be taking a machine that he's familiar with, and the one that is most failure-resistant of the three that you've mentioned.

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

[TuuS]

I've retrofitted the T61p fan into the T60 on a few occasions, but with Intel graphics this is overkill and not worth the effort. My advice is just replace the fan. You can buy new fans very cheap, you'll need some good thermal paste, I'd recommend Arctic Silver #5, as well as some foil tape (or a lot of patience to reuse the tape), and you can remove and clean the heatsink and install a new fan. The total cost is about...

Fan: $10-12
Arctic Silver: $6-8
Foil tape: $3-4
6pack: *optional* to celebrate your success

If you need help with the last step, I'll be glad to stop by and lend a hand

ps. now that you've got the arctic silver and foil tape, you might consider doing this to all your thinkpads. If they're all from this era, they could probably use a new fan by now. Additionally, I love the Z61m model, if you want to upgrade your CPU, I may have one for you, it definitely should have more then a celeron in it.

[rssb]

What is a better / best Fan FRU for T60 with dedicated graphics and T61 with Nvidia 140. The whole assembly including the heatsink, not just the black fan.

Any suggestions TuuS.

[Johan]

What is a better / best Fan FRU for T60 with dedicated graphics and T61 with Nvidia 140. The whole assembly including the heatsink, not just the black fan.

Maybe the thread Fan for T60 2007-CTO V3B may be of interest. T60/p's with a discrete (= dedicated) GPU need the according fan, as per the thread just mentioned suggested (and in accordance with System service parts - ThinkPad T60, T60p (for 4:3 LCD models) being the fan with FRU = 41W6407. Be sure to get a new, original Lenovo-part, and not some "re-manufactured" or "refurbished" thing.

By the way, you may also use fans from T500 in T60/p's... these are claimed to be lower-noise (compared to the T60/p fans). Also, if you want to quiet down your T6x/p a bit, you may use one of the suggestions in the thread New methods to reduce the fan noise in a T60 or in a T60p.

Johan

[emtee3511]

Thank you everyone for the helpful replies -- My head tells me that replacing the fan is the thing to do, but I don't feel comfortable in trying to make the change myself. Guess that is lucky for my son, because I'm sending him off to Korea with a Lenovo refurbished T410 with an i5. After I get a chance to see(hear) his T660 when he gets here in a few weeks, I will decide whether to hold onto it until I'm ready to use it as a guinea pig to learn how to replace a fan, or to just put in up in the marketplace for cheap for someone else to work on.

All the input has been great -- Gotta Love this Forum!!

[Thinkpad Lover]

Can anyone confirm the FRU P/N which emtee3511 needs for her son's T60?

ThinkPad T60 (6369-6RU)
T7200(2GHz), 1GB RAM, 80GB 5400rpm HD, 15.4in 1280x800 LCD, Intel 950, CDRW/DVD, Intel 802.11abg wireless, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 6c Li-Ion batt, WinXP Pro

I know the 15.4" widescreen T60's take a different fan from the others. I have a T60 6369-6RU (15.4" widescreen) which had a real noisy fan with P/N 41W6404/ 41W6408. I replaced it with a 41W6402/41W6406 fan from a group of fans I had purchased. Fits and works great, that's all I know.

@ emtee3511 : You've helped and encouraged too many people on the Forum to let a noisy little fan pester you Let's whip its little bottom LOL. Sounds like you a have a couple of weeks before your son arrives from Fort Polk. I would be glad to help. If you wish, you can contact me when he arrives and ship the laptop (costs just about $6 and should take 2 days from NJ to NY via USPS Priority Mail- try Regional Rate Box B2 14 1/2" x 3" x 16 1/4", side-loading). Just ship it to me and I will take care of any other expense. Glad to help someone serving our country. I will change out the fan for you, apply fresh Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, make sure it's running smooth as a whistle, and ship it back out in 1 or 2 days via USPS Priority Mail. So you should have it within 3 to 4 days. Don't know if he will get it in time to take to Korea, but it will be fixed. You can decide how best to juggle laptops between you and your beloved son

Have a great day,
Daniel.

[emtee3511]

Thank you Daniel for your kind words and generous offer. I have sent you a PM