T60p fan problem

[JimL]

XP Pro, current updates, Dual CPU, 3 Gb memory.

Some time back I was concerned that my T60p hard drive was going bad when I heard what I call a (rhythmic) thrumming. The drive is still going fine, SMART reports show zilch.

More recently the thrumming started again and got quite bad on the evening the second day. I shut down for the night.

Next morning when I powered up it noisily got part way into POST and stopped with "FAN ERROR" in white letters on an otherwise empty black screen. After three attempts at booting and getting the same results I gave up and wondered if I could buy a new fan.

Later I pulled the fan out thinking about replacing it and it looked pristine. I blew on it and the blade spun easily. I felt no roughness when turning the hub with my finger tip.

Non-plussed, I put everything back together, connected and booted and have been running in dead silence ever since. The CPU temp runs around 40 at idle - 70 at about 3/4 CPU use. I feel a sense of Damocles now.

The only remaining thing I can think of is lube. This a refurb I've had a couple years. Does the lube "give up" on these things?

[RealBlackStuff]

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=87448