X201 Fan Replacement Does Not Fix Fan Error

[thetuber]

The other day, I had to reboot my X201 (normally it just goes to sleep). On boot up, it complained about the ubiquitous "fan error". Before reading about the "esc" escape, I was able to spin the fan manually to get past the error. Eventually, even that stopped, but fortunately I read about the "esc" trick. I was able to buy a replacement third party fan, but it never spun, and still got the fan error. Thinking it was a bad fan, I bought another third party fan from someone else, and got the same results. Any ideas on what to do next? Do I need to have a real Lenovo fan (FRU 60Y5422) because it has special sensor (like ink cartridages)? Or is there something wrong on the motherboard?

I see a similar post in the T60 forum, but it sounds like they bought a Lenovo replacement fan: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=123458

Thanks in advance.

[RealBlackStuff]

If you compare the wire-colors of the original fan with those of the 3rd-party one, are they the same?
If not, correct them and try again.
Can you measure any power there?
Also, check Fuse F8 (2A/32V) near that fan.

[thetuber]

Assuming the fuse is the large gray cube in the picture, I was able to verify continuity with a multimeter. Then I checked for voltage between each pair of pins at the fan connector during power on, but got nothing.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/p6gJusa7VO8YC9GC2

[RealBlackStuff]

Nope, the F8 fuse is sitting between the large black "58Ar" and the smaller black "60".
The fuse looks white on your picture and has a green letter "N" (or "Z" depending on angle) on it.

[thetuber]

Whoops. Well, now that I know what to check, I checked it, and there is no continuity. However, it doesn't look like an easy task to replace this fuse. At least, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to solder/desolder something this small. Right now I have an external fan blowing into the old air inlet, but this is not really a good solution because the fan is annoyingly loud and the setup is a little bulky. Any ideas on what can be easily done?

[RealBlackStuff]

Piggyback-solder a new fuse on top of the old one.