Thinkpads Forum

So I think my T61 may have a faulty fan. For the past month or so, it's been making an incredibly loud buzzing noise, which is so loud that I would rather turn it off than use it. I found a program, TPFanControl, which alleviated a lot of the problem. Most of the time, without the fan on, the temperature will stay around 50*C. But sometimes, it will heat up and the fan will kick in, causing the aforementioned loud buzzing.

I searched around a little and found out that this a problem a number of people have had with their T61. Apparently a number of the Toshiba CPU fans are faulty. Unfortunately my laptop is out of warranty, so it would cost me $450 to send it in and get it fixed. I'd rather not have to pay over half the cost of my laptop for a fan replacement.

I went on the Lenovo site to find the part number for the replacement, and there are two: Toshiba (42W2462) and Furukawa (44C0557). Both apparently fit my T61 model. I've found both of these fans online for around $30. Does it matter which one I use? Are the Furukawa fans any better than the Toshiba? I'm worried that If I buy the Toshiba, I will get the same problem, but very few vendors have the Furukawa fan so I'm also uncertain as to its quality.

And does anyone have a link to a guide or manual related to T61 disassembly? Thanks a bunch!

Replacing the fan is fairly simple. Check here for the hardware maintenance manual that is applicable for your model. It explains (with drawings) the process in detail.
When replacing the fan, make sure you have some thermal paste (artic silver) at hand to put between the CPU and the new heat sink.

Thanks! I found the guide, it's extremely helpful.

Can someone help me figure out which part I need? Here is what the parts lookup says:


And when I add those part numbers to my cart on IBM's order site it says this:


The Furukawa part only says "fan sinks" while the Toshiba says "Heat sinks - Fan sinks" and it costs $20 more. This is why I'm sorta confused about which part(s) I need. Do I need both of these? Or just the Toshiba?

Also - sometimes taking it out and cleaning it helps. Lint in bearings can sometimes cause this problem.