Thinkpads Forum

It may be a silly question but is there any source of noise on ThinkPad X61 apart from the fan? My X61 gets quite noisy sometimes so have been thinking of replacing the fan, but before I do I'd ask around if could be something else. And if I do decide to replace the fan is there any specific fan I should look at?

If you're using a conventional spinning drive, that may be a source of the noise.

Inverters can also produce buzzing.

Can you pinpoint the location that the noise is coming from?

I ejected the hard disk to eliminate that as the source of the noise, which does appear to be coming from the left hand side of the laptop, so I'm fairly certain it is due to the fan, in which case is their a recommended replacement 'silent' fan? Or does it just need a good cleaning?

karotlopj wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:59 am

Or does it just need a good cleaning?

I'd start with cleaning, and re-pasting while you're at it.

It's somewhat of a pain on these systems, but that's what one gets with an ultraportable...

Good luck.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is re-pasting?

karotlopj wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but what is re-pasting?

Its where you remove the thermal paste and put new better stuff on. Thermal Paste allows the CPU to efficently conduct heat into the heatsink and fills the void if the surfaces dont exactly align.

If you do repaste, know that thermal paste will be in your hands for days if you touch it, so don't. Don't be clumsy and put your hand in thermal paste like I did.

While you have the laptop dismantled while applying new thermal paste, you can also lubricate the fan's axle/spindle.

Any recommendations on thermal paste? It's not something I've ever used before.

Take your pick: http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste ... gen-ln2/6/
(but not the "liquid metal" ones).

karotlopj wrote:Any recommendations on thermal paste? It's not something I've ever used before.

I personally use arctic silver, but i got a tube a long time ago for very few fan swaps so It lasted a while.