Still get a "Fan error" after replacing fan

[thinkpac]

One day last week I came home to my T60 making a loud grinding noise. I shut it down, then tried to boot it up again, and got a "Fan error" message and it shut down.

So I got a new MCF-210PAM05 fan, which is the correct type of fan for the T60 and installed it. When I turn on the computer, I can feel the air blowing out of the vent, so the fan seems to work, but I still get the "Fan error" message and the computer shuts down.

Any idea why this is happening? Do I need to just get another replacement fan and see if it works?

[Brad]

Sorry you are having trouble.

Usually you can continue with the boot process after a fan error message by pressing ESC.

As to why the error continues after you replaced the fan it could be a motherboard issue or a compatibility issue with your replacement fan.

Brad

[thinkpac]

What if I'm wrong and the fan isn't actually working, or if it stops working after I press ESC - could that cause any damage to the CPU?

[Brad]

I don't know. I do know that CPU's are probably a lot less expensive than fans for your ThinkPad at the moment and that most likely will not change.

Brad

[axur-delmeria]

What if I'm wrong and the fan isn't actually working, or if it stops working after I press ESC - could that cause any damage to the CPU?

The fan is working as it's spinning and you can feel it blowing air.

Here's what I see as possible causes:

1. replacement fan's RPM circuit is malfunctioning or the wire is broken
2. the laptop's RPM sense circuit is malfunctioning
3. Both are working, but the laptop is actually detecting an irregularity in the fan's spin (problem with the fan's drive circuit)

If the laptop allows you to bypass the "Fan Error" with Esc, you can monitor the laptop's fan speed and CPU temperature, and set up an alarm that sounds when a set temperature is exceeded. IIRC IBM-ECW has such a feature. You can do this while waiting for another fan to arrive.

[thinkpac]

I just tried pressing Esc on the Fan Error, and then it continued but quickly printed out "Fan Error" again. I pressed Esc again and it went into the Windows bootup. But then I didn't feel any air coming out of the vent anymore and I chickened out and did a hard power off for fear of damaging the CPU without the fan running.

[jaspen-meyer]

The cpu has a thermometer inside itself. The cpu will shut itself off when it reaches it's T Junction temperature, which is around 100 C.

I run all of my thinkpads with the fan turned off. Having said that, the T60 with ATI graphics runs very hot (75-80C for temp4) with the fan off.

[thinkpac]

The cpu has a thermometer inside itself. The cpu will shut itself off when it reaches it's T Junction temperature, which is around 100 C.

I run all of my thinkpads with the fan turned off. Having said that, the T60 with ATI graphics runs very hot (75-80C for temp4) with the fan off.

Oh you do? Does your CPU ever shut itself off?

My T60 has the ATI graphics. I'd like to run a chkdsk (since I did the hard power off) and then copy several GB worth of files to a USB drive before I can get another fan to try.

EDIT: Thanks for mentioning that! I booted up without the fan and I can run Windows with the CPU around 45 C and the GPU around 65 C.