T30 fan error work around

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m509272 · #1 Post by **m509272** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:14 pm

Was getting "fan error" on startup. Dismantled, tested fan with 9V battery and it's working. Reinstalled with thermal paste. Starts up, work with it. Next day, fan error. My solution, blow into the back vent above the right USB connector while pressing the power button and voila, it starts up. Over the course of a number of hours the fan has gone on and turned off a number of times.

#2 Post by **rkawakami** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:23 pm

A kick start?

. It's possible that the fan is starting to seize up when cold and needs to be slightly nudged to get it going. Also, on some of the older systems (600 series and before), I believe that a weak CMOS battery could throw a fan error.

m509272 · #3 Post by **m509272** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:12 am

Any way to test the CMOS battery without removing it?

#4 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:11 pm

Nope. The only way you can determine if the CMOS battery is good is by taking it out and measuring it with a voltmeter.

m509272 · #5 Post by **m509272** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:28 am

Which I presume would wipe out the CMOS values, yes? If so that would then wipe out my no1802 fix, yes?

Website · #6 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:33 pm

m509272 wrote:Which I presume would wipe out the CMOS values, yes? If so that would then wipe out my no1802 fix, yes?

Yes, you would have to redo the no1802 fix. It could just be that the fan is going bad, but hasn't completely died. The fans are pretty cheap. It might not hurt to just go ahead and try replacing it.

Ray is right that sometimes a CMOS battery can cause fan errors, but I thought that they were just on the older Thinkpads, like te 600 series.

m509272 · #7 Post by **m509272** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:02 pm

What's the typical life on those batteries? It might just pay to replace it regardless. I'm sure it's original from 11/02 and I have 4 of these units.

I could take a battery from another and see if that makes a difference. I could also swap the fan with another unit too to see what happens. I'm very comfortable with dismantling these.

#8 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:08 pm

I think the lithium backup batteries generally last about 5-7 years in operation. They are supposed to have up to a 10 year shelf life.

m509272 · #9 Post by **m509272** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:37 pm

I think what I'll do is pull the battery and see what the voltage is and go from there.

m509272 · #10 Post by **m509272** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:20 pm

Well I finally got around to this. Pulled the CMOS battery and got 3.03V so that was definitely in range. Put it back on and guess what, everything seems to be ok now. Maybe the connection was not as good as it should have been and replacing it fixed the problem. So if it continues to work it was indeed CMOS battery related.

T30 fan error work around

T30 fan error work around

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