Thinkpads Forum

I just received my T410 yesterday: i7, discrete graphics, 4GB RAM, etc. I used it twice yesterday with no problems. Today I start it up, and just after BIOS post it beeps and says "Fan Error" before shutting off. Tried calling Lenovo but their tech support folks told me to call sales, and sales was closed. It's incredibly frustrating to get a brand new computer and have as serious a problem as this within 24 hours. Other than that, the system is great.

Should I ask sales tomorrow to get me a new computer or have it fixed? I live out in the boonies, at least a 1 hour drive from anywhere where it could be serviced by an IBM technician, and with all the horror stories I've heard about EasyServ there's no way I want to send my brand new computer there. Suggestions?

I don't think they will send you a new one, but they will certainly send you a prepaid box for you to send your laptop back to them in.

One could claim that when the computer is brand new, it should be flat out exchanged and not serviced. While there is reasoning behind that, Lenovo naturally tries to avoid it and convince users to accept a warranty repair.

I would suggest that you read archer6's description of his recent experience with Lenovo, and how he got them to agree to exchange the computer, in the last post of this thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 3&start=30

Lenovo agreed to replace it. I'm incredibly confused, however: it absolutely would not boot up yesterday, but today it seems to be working fine. Regardless, I really don't want to risk having & using this computer if the fan's not 100% working, for whatever reason.

EDIT: I've been thinking about this issue today, and I think I've got a partial solution. After the laptop arrived, I left it sitting horizontal, lid up, for a few hours. I turned it on & it worked fine. I stored it that night sitting vertically in my storage case. The next day I had the fan error. I left it overnight lid down, and the next morning fan error. I left it today sitting with the lid up, and it worked fine. It seems to me that this means that the thermal adhesive isn't doing a good job sticking to the CPU, or it's not screwed in properly or something. I'm leaving it upside down overnight again to see if I can replicate the problem. Very odd. I suspect that if I let the computer burn in with CPU Prime over 24 hours the heat sink & CPU will be stuck together a bit better -- or it'll fry the CPU.

Either way, something's wrong. Hopefully a replacement will fix this issue.

Txiasaeia wrote:Lenovo agreed to replace it. I'm incredibly confused, however: it absolutely would not boot up yesterday, but today it seems to be working fine.

[...]It seems to me that this means that the thermal adhesive isn't doing a good job sticking to the CPU, or it's not screwed in properly or something.

Over 5 years later, I bought a "low mileage" used T410 and had this issue. It was intermittent. If it had been happening all the time I would never have bought it from the previous owner.

In my case the problem was a non-rotating fan that was physically stuck when experiencing this issue. The first time it happened it corrected itself by the next time I used it. The 2nd time it happened I opened the top and un-stuck the fan rotor. It was clearly physically wedged when I first opened and looked at it. I bought a replacement fan assembly from an eBay seller in China and replaced it.

My guess is that Lenovo got a bad batch of fans on this model that had intermittent bearing problems. I doubt it was a temp or cooling-efficiency-related problem or the issue would not block the laptop from starting within a few seconds of power-on.