Thinkpads Forum

Hi. A few days ago I appeared for the first time Fan error. After careful inspection it turned out that makes it the second fan. For test i use TPFanControl with Manual 255 value.

After setting the value of both fans should turn - to disperse the maximum speed. Unfortunately, the second fan will not turn on.

Laptop can run and operate by pressing the Esc key. Can I use my a laptop without a second fan? I do not have a WWAN and SIM card. Are you sure he is for WWAN card? From what I remember, the second fan turn on with heavy use of graphics card for example while running some games.

Is a second fan is definitely for WWAN card?

Can I use my a laptop without a second fan?

Yes, no problem with that. It has nothing to do with your graphics.

The 2.fan is pretty useless, added to the board because the heat from the modem, WLAN and WWAN cards can heat up the palmrest to uncomfortable levels.
Do you need the modem card? Likely not, so remove it.

If you know somebody who can do this, and have access to a X61 board without the 2.fan, it is possible to flash the EEPROM with the dump from the fanless board to get rid of the error. Soldering in such a EEPROM will also do the trick.

wileE wrote:Yes, no problem with that. It has nothing to do with your graphics.

Yes, the second day I test and laptop works fine with one fan (CPU), of course after pressing 'Esc' when it appears an 'Fan error'

wileE wrote:The 2.fan is pretty useless, added to the board because the heat from the modem, WLAN and WWAN cards can heat up the palmrest to uncomfortable levels.

So I just wanted to make sure

wileE wrote:If you know somebody who can do this, and have access to a X61 board without the 2.fan, it is possible to flash the EEPROM with the dump from the fanless board to get rid of the error. Soldering in such a EEPROM will also do the trick.

I thought about it too. I need the BIOS of the motherboard with one fan, right?

I need the BIOS of the motherboard with one fan, right?

No. That will not remove the fan error.
Fan control is not done by the BIOS.

AFAIK, fan control is handled by the embedded controller (EC). Updates to the EC firmware are sometimes included in BIOS updates, but I'm not sure if the firmware itself is flashed to the same EEPROM chip as the BIOS.

There are other ways to solve the fan issue:

1. lubricate the fan to see if it helps
2. replace the fan
3. replace it with a circuit that generates a fake fan RPM signal to fool the embedded controller.

wileE wrote:Fan control is not done by the BIOS.

I found your topic at thinkpad-forum.de
Are you able to program the chip U99 PS08 firmware from the motherboard with one fan?
I learned that the X61 chip is PS08 and it is a variety 24RF08.

MOD Edit: the forum does NOT allow discussions or links about password removal. Links removed.

tpx61 wrote:Are you able to program the chip U99 PS08 firmware from the motherboard with one fan?

No. Have not tried that myself. No reason to do so, as I do not have any boards with the 2.fan.

Fan Error he disappeared for about 3 months . Today the error occurred again but use Esc to continue boot.

Did you consider taking off your keyboard but keeping the keyboard plugged into the mother board and booting to see if the fan or both fans are spinning? I have a T410 with a fan error myself. I just got a new fan from China in the mail a few days ago. I had a fan error where the fan was not spinning. I took out the fan, disconnected and re-connected the fan and it worked. I then got the fan error again and ordered a new fan.

Hans Gruber wrote:Did you consider taking off your keyboard but keeping the keyboard plugged into the mother board and booting to see if the fan or both fans are spinning?

Yes, 3 months ago I taking off my keyboard and keeping pluggend into the motherboard and see that second fan not spinning. Today, I think that this is same problem and at the moment I use to pass it Esc key.

tpx61 wrote:

Hans Gruber wrote:Did you consider taking off your keyboard but keeping the keyboard plugged into the mother board and booting to see if the fan or both fans are spinning?

Yes, 3 months ago I taking off my keyboard and keeping pluggend into the motherboard and see that second fan not spinning. Today, I think that this is same problem and at the moment I use to pass it Esc key.

Sounds like you just need a new fan. After that your x61 should run smoothly.

Today I connected the docking station to laptop and after boot the 'Fan error' disappeared