Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I am having difficulty identifying the exact part I need to order. I want to change my laptop's fan (if possible, along with thermal module. My laptop details:

Model: W520
Product: 4276CTO

Picture of my fan unit:
http://s28.postimg.org/4xvqighj1/fan.jpg

I see the following things printed on the white sticker:

WST PN:34.4KE14.001 B01
FRU PN:04W1574
DTA 2011/09/19

From which I figured that the part number is 04W1574

This is where the confusion comes in. I went to lenovo's website where they gave me link to IBM site for ordering parts(support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht100750). Since I want the part delivered to me in the UK, I clicked on the UK link on that page. That takes me to this link:

http://www-304.ibm.com/shop/europe/weba ... Id=3063814

There, under the "If you know the part number:", I typed 04W1574 and pressed enter. This adds a 55W fan to my cart automatically. But how do I know what exactly I am getting and what it looks like? Here is the system service parts list from lenevo: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/migr-76718 . If you go to that page and look at FRU number 21 on that huge list, you get the following for W520:

http://s27.postimg.org/vs0udqgab/fani.png

Is this a green signal? Can I go ahead and order this? From the lenevo parts list thing, we see that this part is labeled as the "Thermal module". Can I assume then IBM is then selling me the thermal module and labelled it in their cart as "FAN 55W"?

I am ready to order it right now if my interpretation is correct.

Thanks

That sounds correct.

Place your order.

Brad

Brad wrote:That sounds correct.

Place your order.

Brad

Thanks for the response. I will order that ASAP. Another question, I'll need to apply thermal paste, right? Although a technician will handle it, I just need to double check with him to know if he knows about that. These people are often clueless.

Another question, I'll need to apply thermal paste, right?

Every time you remove the heatsink, you have to change the thermal paste.
Use 70-95% isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth to remove all traces of the old paste on the heatsink as well as the silicon dies of the chips (CPU, GPU, northbridge/PCH, etc.) that the heatsink makes contact with.

Although a technician will handle it, I just need to double check with him to know if he knows about that. These people are often clueless.

If you actually have to remind the technician to do that, then maybe it's not a good idea to have your equipment checked by such clueless folks. :<

axur-delmeria wrote:

Another question, I'll need to apply thermal paste, right?

Every time you remove the heatsink, you have to change the thermal paste.
Use 70-95% isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth to remove all traces of the old paste on the heatsink as well as the silicon dies of the chips (CPU, GPU, northbridge/PCH, etc.) that the heatsink makes contact with.

Although a technician will handle it, I just need to double check with him to know if he knows about that. These people are often clueless.

If you actually have to remind the technician to do that, then maybe it's not a good idea to have your equipment checked by such clueless folks. :<

This is the problem, my friend. These people are often illiterate and the knowledge is passed down without any formal education/training. They can be totally clueless about certain things and extremely proficient at other things. I am in Bangladesh right now and I just don't have an option. I will have to deal with these people.

i hope that changing the thermal unit will buy my PC extra lifespan. Have you ever wondered why people don't design laptops that can be cleaned properly? I am talking about the clogged vents and fan.

Fortunately the technician will only have to clean the CPU of the old paste. New unused fans come with paste already applied where its needed.

I am fairly certain anyone can clean the CPU.

Brad

Brad wrote:Fortunately the technician will only have to clean the CPU of the old paste. New unused fans come with paste already applied where its needed.

I am fairly certain anyone can clean the CPU.

Brad

That's good news!! I ordered brand new unit from IBM's website. So I think it will have the paste already there.

A question, why is IBM selling spares for lenovo? I thought IBM sold Thinkpad to Lenovo a long time ago.

IBM has always done the Thinkpad parts distribution for Lenovo in the U.S.

Overhere they are completely nuts at the IBM part center. For some nonsensical reason they can only create new customers in their system on tuesday. So since I called on wednesday... I had to wait >1 week. After that they shipped it out with an invoice to be paid in 30 days, a totale unused way of selling stuff online here.

Anyway, Lenovo makes you buy the whole heatsink / fan combo for a pretty steep price. Next time I have a fan brake down (actually I already have one fan turned saw) I'll just buy a "fan only" from eBay.

They already have thermal pasta on 'm. You will have to clean the CPU / GPU / chipset though.

Dang I too will have to eventually buy a new heatsink too. I have bought a new board and was using my older i7 2620m for a while than I tried using the quadcore cpu that came with the board and a heat sink. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't holding temps correct along with the gpu than I figured it out why it wasn't working correct. The heatsinks for the cpu and gpu were warped and I screwed up a screw on it. it would be better than I could get my hands on some of those screws than to buy a new one.

Update I fixed my heatsink by replacing the stripped screws. MSKFAHIM the 45 and 55w cpu heat sinks look the same but the 55w is taller on the distance from the video card to the cpu if your laptop has the Quadro 2000m.