New fans and reliable sellers- T42

[helicopter]

Hello,

I have a T42 with the 9600 Radeon graphics card-- a 2373-9Xu.

I was trying to replace the fan with the long M10: 13R2657 or 41W5204.

I just had a bad experience with a certain ebay seller (not sure if it's allowed here to say which one... it's a company, not an individual, that sells a lot of these on ebay). Sent me a fan which whirred with a loud oscillating noise immediately. I had to send it back at my expense. They sent me a replacement, which did the same thing after one hour. If forum rules allow me to post the name of the firm, I will. I'm waiting to see if the firm will refund my money.

These are advertised on ebay as new, and they actually seem to be new-- but may be defective or poorly made.

IBM sells them new at around 70 USD. Anyone know of reliable sellers with quality products selling them elsewhere? Just checked the forum (quickly, I admit) and didn't see anything.

Mark

[ajkula66]

Hello,

IBM sells them new at around 70 USD. Anyone know of reliable sellers with quality products selling them elsewhere? Just checked the forum (quickly, I admit) and didn't see anything.

Mark

Welcome to the forum!

What you'll get from IBM is not a new fan, but a refurbished one. With T4x machines selling mostly in <$100 range nowadays, it's rather difficult to justify that type of an expense...

I don't have any recommendations for a particular seller that carries the M10 fan, but am sure that someone else will chime in shortly.

Stay tuned...

[Fixed_Rider]

I just purchased one from here. It should arrive any day now. Then off to RBS for a SATA Mod. I'll keep you posted.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-and-Origina ... vi-content

Thanks

[Cigarguy]

One of the best places for anything Thinkpad is this forum. Some reliable and honourable sellers here, TuuS, ajkula66, RealBlackStuff, are just some of the folks I would highly recommend. Check out the marketplace.

[GACrabill]

I just purchased one from here. It should arrive any day now. Then off to RBS for a SATA Mod. I'll keep you posted.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-and-Origina ... vi-content

This long fan was referenced in a recent thread :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180968043262?ss ... 1438.l2649

It is cheaper, and has the 'gray pad' which correctly supports the keyboard to reduce keyboard flex.

This one looks more like an 'original' than the other ... but shipping time will be longer since it comes from China (where almost all of the Thinkpad parts are made).

[helicopter]

Hello again-- I should have said that I frequented the forum at various times in the past under the name bloodbox, but changed ISPs and couldn't get back into my account. Hence the new user name.

I can also vouch for the great help and parts sold by ajkula66. My T42 still runs a motherboard that came from him.

The outfit on ebay that Fixed Rider refers to-- that's the one that has sold me two defective fans. Either the bearings are bad or the blades are rubbing against the housing. I don't think the laptop bezel/keyboard is crushing the housing to cause this to happen, btw, because the second fan ran smoothly for a whole hour before the noise kicked in. Still no response from the ebay seller, after I asked for a refund.

Thanks for the tip on the Hong Kong place.

I'm also going to try our trusty marketplace.

Mark

[kge420]

Purchased the same fan from the vendor mentioned by Fixed_Rider. No issues. Hope this helps.

[helicopter]

The vendor in question refunded my original purchase price. We're still negotiating on whether they will refund the cost of sending the two defective ones back to them.

Mark

[Fixed_Rider]

I received my fan. It appears to function. It's in RBS's hands now for a SATA mod. So I'll report back when I get the laptop in my hands.

[RealBlackStuff]

I can confirm that the new fan is functioning perfectly and quietly.
(and that the SATA mod has been completed ).