Thinkpads Forum

I had a fan error message on a T410. I pulled the fan out and got it working again. I ordered a new fan. The fan should be here within a another week. The fan error returned with the bad fan. The fan was not spinning at all.

Does the fan error message simply mean that you need to replace an old fan that no longer works properly?

Yes, that would be the usual fix. There could also be a problem with the power supply to the fan and/or the circuit that is supposed to detect the fan speed but that's typically less of an occurrence. I "fixed" a similar error by rapping on the bottom of the system where the fan is located one time (too lazy to take it apart).

I've got a couple T410s doing the same thing. Strangely, just after a couple replacement fans showed up in the mail, one that I had been working on started working again and hasn't misbehaved for the last couple weeks. Who knows how long it will continue to function properly though.

Have you tried to lubricate the fan's shaft?

T410 are notorious for "Fan error".
It's the fan-motor that is bad, nothing to do with the T410 itself.

I should probably order 3 or 4 new fans in that case.