Replaced short fan in T40 with M10 fan

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#1 Post by **K. Eng** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:30 pm

The short story: I replaced the short fan with the M10 fan this afternoon. The results:

(1) The M10 is quieter than the short fan.
(2) The fan surge is still present every 30 seconds, but it is "softer" than it was before. The short fan had a pulse that sounded like a small insect flying around. As best I can describe it, it was a *ziP!* sound.

At least in my case, the M10 fan does not solve the problem completely, although it is a noticeable improvement. I will see how this works out for me over the next few days.

Original Post

My T40's fan surges every 30 seconds or so, and it is pretty irritating in a quiet room. I have taken the machine apart before to install a wireless card, and I know there is a short fan inside.

I was thinking about replacing the short fan with P/N 13R2657, found here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 46474.html

So 2 questions: (1) Will the M10 fan (13R2657) fit in my T40?, and (2) Will the M10 fan eliminate the fan noise?

DaniWurf · #2 Post by **DaniWurf** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:24 am

I am wondering the same. What are the effects of the M10 fan instead of the short fan?

s0larian · #3 Post by **s0larian** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:53 am

Yes, replacing the T40p Long Fan with the M10 was the best thing I could do. It solved the pulsating issue completly, and even when the M10 is runnig it is very quite.

The M10 should fit in the T40 as well, but to be sure just open your Thinkpad and look if there is the space for the additional GPU part of the M10.

lophiomys · #4 Post by **lophiomys** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:41 am

I fitted the M10 Long fan into a R51 1829.
It solved the pulsating fan problem. The M10 runs nice and silent but draws a bit more power than the originally installed fan.

AFAIK T40 and R51 are the same inside, except for the firewire port in the R51,
which in this case is an adavantage of the T40, not to have a firewire port blocking the Long Fan M10.

see for my report
http://lophiomys.gmxhome.de/Thinkpad_R5 ... Noise.html

hope this helps

#5 Post by **K. Eng** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:09 am

Thanks for the replies

I'm probably going to order an M10 fan and install it this weekend.

#6 Post by **K. Eng** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:27 pm

I just ordered the fan. Total came to $46 including tax and shipping

I sure hope this somewhat costly experiment works, because the fan noise has recently been driving me crazy enough that I am seriously considering not buying a ThinkPad next time (as revenge upon IBM and Lenovo for doing nothing about it).

#7 Post by **K. Eng** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:43 pm

Bump... results are somewhat mixed. Not a total waste of $46, but the result unfortunately wasn't perfect

DaniWurf · #8 Post by **DaniWurf** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:43 am

Congratulations to a softer fan noise

Does your fan run less often with new M10 fan assembly?
Does it ever run when you use the computer for light tasks such as web browsing, e-mailing etc at adaptive cpu speed?

A few days ago I started to experiment and install older versions of the wifi driver for my intel 2100 mini pci, now the fan is actually not running most of the time when the computer is doing light tasks such as those mentioned above. I hope that the M10 fan will improve cooling the internal and minimize the periods where the fan is on. If you have noticed any improvement I surely will order one as well

#9 Post by **K. Eng** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 4:23 pm

My fan does not run less often with the new M10 assembly. However, the fan is generally much quieter than the old short fan.

The fan does run when I am using the computer for light tasks at adaptive CPU speed. My guess is that the M10 isn't all that much more effective than the short fan at dissipating heat from the system. Idle temperatures are still the same for me (37C in summertime).

I hope that helps

The true test of the M10 fan will be in the next couple weeks. If I find that the fan noise is not bothering me anymore, I will consider the M10 a success!

Edit I should add that my ears are used to listening to the buzz of the fan. Sometimes I still think I hear it, even if it is not really there. One thing I have noticed - the pulse that still occurs is softer than the noise my HDD makes, so I am not really sure if the noise is from the fan or the HDD if my ear is not right up to the fan. Hopefully over the next few weeks my ear will forget to listen for the buzz sound from the fan.

DaniWurf wrote:Congratulations to a softer fan noise
Does your fan run less often with new M10 fan assembly?
Does it ever run when you use the computer for light tasks such as web browsing, e-mailing etc at adaptive cpu speed?

#10 Post by **K. Eng** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:24 pm

I was thinking - would it be possible to use a small capacitor to decouple the fan circuit?

Replaced short fan in T40 with M10 fan

Replaced short fan in T40 with M10 fan

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