Fan Error

[nachetb]

hey guys.

So, I bought a new motherboard for my x61. It originally had a T100, new has a T7300. I also bought a replacement fan, since the original I had (Toshiba FRU 42X3805) rattled a bit. this new fan was unbranded but supposedly for the x61. When I plugged the new fan, it started to spin, but gave me a fan error. I tried moving it, spinning, cleaning, nothing worked. In the end I tried to open the fan to see if it was working properly and it broke (nice chinese quality lol).

I then attempted to use the old toshiba fan. I cleaned it and oiled it. It spins more than the unbranded one, but still gave me a fan error.

Also I should mention, the seller of the motherboard (which im trying to contact) sent me pictures of the motherboard working. It had an all copper heatsink (the one that goes over the fan, which isnt the one I got)

My question is, is this fan error due to using a fan FRU incompatible with this motherboard? Which fan should I buy then? I wasnt aware that there may be different fans for the different processors, which now that I think about it makes sense.

[axur-delmeria]

I've swapped heatsinks on the X61 and never encountered fan FRU compatibility problems. I've even transplanted an X61 fan to an X60 and it worked without issue.

[dr_st]

It is possible that either the fan sensor / fuse on the motherboard was faulty to begin with, or due to a unfortunately coincidence it got damaged when you tried to start it with the new fan.

It is possible to bypass a fan error by pressing Esc, and the laptop will continue the boot process (not that it's recommended to do), so a picture of the motherboard working in itself does not mean much (unless you saw a video of a cold boot which did not display a fan error).

[unixed]

If the original fan works (i.e. no error message) with your original motherboard but does not work with your replacement board then there is a fault with the latter.

[nachetb]

So, story follows:

Ive tried my old Thoshiba fan in my old T7100 motherboard and it works perfectly, no fan error.

So, then we can confirm its the new T7300 motherboard that has some sort of issue with the fan control.

Ive checked out the CPU core temps in both motherboards (skipping the fan error int he new motherboard) and both are around 40-45ºC, both also are around 3300 fan rpm.

Apparently you guys told me in the previous post that different fan and heatsink FRUs for X60/X61 should all be compatible. Should I then go all out against the seller because he didnt mention the fan error issue?

Thing is also, temps and fan work okay in the new motherboard, but its a bit annoying having to always skip the fan error, is there any way around this or should I just go with the old trusty motherboard?

[dr_st]

If the fan actually works and spins, and just an error is reported on startup (I wonder why that happens), then it's not such a terrible issue. Depending how frequently you reboot / hibernate the PC, only you can decide how crucial it is for you.

I've merged this with your previous thread. No need to open a new one a mere month after the previous one on the same topic.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

You should probably test the new motherboard under load, not just at idle, to make sure the fan ramps up to higher speeds as necessary. Or just manually set higher fan levels in tpfancontrol.

On my X61, fan levels 1-5 are all around 3200rpm and 6-7 are around 4000, but I think different fan models vary a bit.

[axur-delmeria]

If it's a fan error that you can skip/iqnineignore, then doesn't it mean that it's for the 2nd fan? Some X61 models have it, located on top of the speaker. Check if there's a fan connector in that area.

[nachetb]

If the fan actually works and spins, and just an error is reported on startup (I wonder why that happens), then it's not such a terrible issue. Depending how frequently you reboot / hibernate the PC, only you can decide how crucial it is for you.

I've merged this with your previous thread. No need to open a new one a mere month after the previous one on the same topic.

Sure, no issues, thanks!

[nachetb]

If it's a fan error that you can skip/iqnine, then doesn't it mean that it's for the 2nd fan? Some X61 models have it, located on top of the speaker. Check if there's a fan connector in that area.

Ohhhh haven´t thought about that! The new motherboard does have quite some more connections than my original one, ill look into that thanks

[nachetb]

If it's a fan error that you can skip/iqnineignore, then doesn't it mean that it's for the 2nd fan? Some X61 models have it, located on top of the speaker. Check if there's a fan connector in that area.

IT DOES HAVE IT. So that seems to be the origin of the issue

Any knowledge about this second fan? I dont exactly see what is it´s purpose or if it´s worth having another fan making noise and vibrating while the laptop is already cool isn´t it?

[axur-delmeria]

IT DOES HAVE IT. So that seems to be the origin of the issue

Any knowledge about this second fan? I dont exactly see what is it´s purpose or if it´s worth having another fan making noise and vibrating while the laptop is already cool isn´t it?

The X60/61 series has that annoying "hot right palmrest issue", which is caused by the WiFi card (and WWAN card if it's installed) being too close to the palmrest. The X61 remedied that by adding vents on the right edge of the palmrest and adding a small fan to suck the warm air around the WiFi card and blow it towards the center, where it gets sucked by the CPU fan.

[nachetb]

IT DOES HAVE IT. So that seems to be the origin of the issue

Any knowledge about this second fan? I dont exactly see what is it´s purpose or if it´s worth having another fan making noise and vibrating while the laptop is already cool isn´t it?

The X60/61 series has that annoying "hot right palmrest issue", which is caused by the WiFi card (and WWAN card if it's installed) being too close to the palmrest. The X61 remedied that by adding vents on the right edge of the palmrest and adding a small fan to suck the warm air around the WiFi card and blow it towards the center, where it gets sucked by the CPU fan.

I see, ive felt the wifi warmth on my own skin lol. I´ve just recently upgraded to a wifi 6 card that heats up waaaaaaaaaaay less (and is half the size) but I think ill still buy one just to get rid of the error

[nachetb]

Update on this, I bought the second fan but apparently ive got nowhere to screw it in, how is this possible?