Vibrating fan noise

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xbertmx · #1 Post by **xbertmx** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:46 am

I'm hoping someone can help me with a minor annoyance I'm having with my X60 tablet. Essentially, after the machine has been running for a while, whenever it is set on a flat table/desk, the fan at the back left begins to make a kind of intermitent vibrating sound. The sound tends to pulse somewhat, and is definitely different from the usual running noises. It's relatively quiet, but after a while it definitely becomes relatively annoying as well. Also, as soon as you tilt the laptop in any direction by a few degrees, the noise sounds, but obviously that isn't much of a practical fix.

Does anyone have any idea if there is any easy fix to this, or have at least encountered the same problem? I searched and found one post on a similar sounding problem where replacing the fan assembly itself because one of the bearings was bad was suggested. Has anyone else actually done this? Does this void the warranty? I'd prefer not to have to sent this back to Lenovo if at all possible.

Thanks very much.

smvp6459 · #2 Post by **smvp6459** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:38 am

Have you tried loosening the screws on the bottom of the laptop and then re-tightening them? If something was wrong with the fan, you would expect it to make that noise no matter what position it was in. Maybe there is some other part that is slightly loose and starts to vibrate in the flat position.

gunston · #3 Post by **gunston** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:14 am

smvp6459 wrote:Have you tried loosening the screws on the bottom of the laptop and then re-tightening them? If something was wrong with the fan, you would expect it to make that noise no matter what position it was in. Maybe there is some other part that is slightly loose and starts to vibrate in the flat position.

all screws should be well tightened from Factory unless someone did loosen it before.

smvp6459 · #4 Post by **smvp6459** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:09 am

gunston wrote:all screws should be well tightened from Factory unless someone did loosen it before.

Should is the key word - humans (even factory workers) aren't perfect. People in the past have reported machines that wobbled back and forth because the screws were tightened improperly (probably at the factory), bending the body out of shape. I believe loosening and re-tightening fixed that problem.

proaudioguy · #5 Post by **proaudioguy** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:04 pm

smvp6459 wrote:
gunston wrote:all screws should be well tightened from Factory unless someone did loosen it before.
Should is the key word - humans (even factory workers) aren't perfect. People in the past have reported machines that wobbled back and forth because the screws were tightened improperly (probably at the factory), bending the body out of shape. I believe loosening and re-tightening fixed that problem.

I thought they were assembled by robots.

45 · #6 Post by 45 » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:42 pm

I've postet about the same problem somewhat in the past. Someone told me, the reason for the strange noise is a defektive bearing of the fan. I've ordered a new one and exchanged it. Till now (about 2 Months) my new fan is very silent.

This problem of bad bearings seems to be not uncommon with X60, some people are reporting strange noise, while the fan turns on and off, this could be also caused by bad bearings I think.

smvp6459 · #7 Post by **smvp6459** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:21 pm

proaudioguy wrote:I thought they were assembled by robots.

I would highly doubt it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6675739.stm

It looks like Lenovo's plants weren't fully automated, and I doubt IBM would have been. For the most part, why would you have a factory in a country with lower wages if you are running a fully or nearly fully automated production facility...it seems to me that you would put it where you sell the majority of your product and where you have your headquarters.

xbertmx · #8 Post by **xbertmx** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:56 pm

Thanks very much for the replies. Yes all of the screws are tight, and I am certain that noise is coming from the fan assembly. Unfortunately the bearing explanation seems the most plausible at the moment. As was mentioned, only when the X60 is starting up or powering off sometimes there is a much louder noise (about a second long grinding sound) than that of the occasion vibrating sound that occurs during operation on a flat surface. Hard to describe, the pitch almost sounds like a very large bee stuck in the fan assembly (I suspect this is not the problem......).

45, you mentioned you replaced the assembly. Did you do this yourself? If so, does this void the warranty? And where did you purchase it from?

45 · #9 Post by 45 » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:11 pm

xbertmx wrote: 45, you mentioned you replaced the assembly. Did you do this yourself? If so, does this void the warranty? And where did you purchase it from?

I'am from Germany, so you should call lenovo and ask for a spareparts-supplier in your region. I've paid about 17€ for it.

I've exchanged the fan-unit by myself, after reading the corrosponding parts in the X60T-Service manual several times. Sadly you have not only to remove the keyboard assebly to exchange the fan, it is also neccassary to remove some parts on the mainboard (WiFi/WWAN-Card), Pen-Holder, Display and the mainboard itself, cause the fan is attached to the back of it. But all you need is a good screwdriver and some patience.

I've called lenove in my home-country and they said, the warranty would only get lost, if a damage is trackable to my actions, but I do not now if it is the same in the USA.

Vibrating fan noise

Vibrating fan noise

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