Thinkpads Forum

I have an x201 which continues to run flawlessly (after an SSD upgrade). In the morning when I start it up my fan makes a rattling noise then goes back to normal levels (no rattle) and continues to spin. In the past I never noticed any noise but don't know if it existed as the environment was less library quiet like. Have used this notebook since new almost 16 hours per day and as I said its been flawless. However, is there something wrong with the fan? I'm still under extended warranty but hesitant to have them tear it up if the start up noise is normal. But then again getting a new fan before the warranty expires may extend its usage even further? If indeed I do need a fan, do you folks think onsite replacement is a good option? In the past, with Dell, I had a terrible experience with onsite repairs. Resulted in left over screws, misalignment of parts etc.

To replace the fan, you'd need to take the whole machine apart, to get at the fan that is mounted on the bottom of the motherboard.
If still under warranty, get it done asap and follow the technician with hawk's eyes!
You can read up how to do it in the HMM (see HMM-link at the top of this page).

RealBlackStuff wrote:To replace the fan, you'd need to take the whole machine apart, to get at the fan that is mounted on the bottom of the motherboard.
If still under warranty, get it done asap and follow the technician with hawk's eyes!
You can read up how to do it in the HMM (see HMM-link at the top of this page).

I also recall putting the HDD back in one day out of necessity and the fan made some grinding noises but when I put the SSD back in it was quiet. Seems whenever the fan needs to rotate at a really high speed it makes some noises thought its inconsistent when but usually on start up or heavy tasks.

Thanks, so you recommend the on site option over mailing it in? I'm thinking if I mail it in it might go to a specialist who replaces fans all day but onsite I get a generalist who may not know how to put it back together properly. Years ago I also has a Toshiba and brought it on for repair. Toshiba ranks their service centers. The one I went to was supposed to be top tier but they cracked the casing of the notebook and put the speakers back on wrongly when replacing the motherboard. This happened twice as the attempt to remedy the first disaster was not successful. Just very apprehensive although my T61 came back with a new fan without issues at all. That was a mail in.

Would they actually replace the whole motherboard with fan or do the fan only?

LemarAntwanJackson wrote:do you folks think onsite replacement is a good option?

That's really difficult to predict over the internet. There's too many factors to quantify, but my experience is on-site support tends to better than the depot, your experience with Dell not withstanding.

Your X201 and fan are getting older. It's not unheard of for one to fail. Have you tried cleaning it or blowing it out? There might be dust or other contaminants in there not allowing it do its job properly. My X200 had a noisy fan out of the box. Lenovo sent me a new fan and it fixed the problem.

LemarAntwanJackson wrote:

Thanks, so you recommend the on site option over mailing it in?

Huh...that's not how the process works.

The warranty is either a depot one (mail in) or an on-site option where the tech comes to your location and repairs the unit.

Would they actually replace the whole motherboard with fan or do the fan only?

Heatsink only.