Fan Error, replace fan assembly?

[barleydude]

Well last night I went to grab my laptop, and it was extremely hot. So I immediately turned it off, thinking that it was going to overheat. I waited a few hours and went to turn it back on, and received the "Fan Error" on boot up.

I did some searching around, and came across this link, which was very helpful in finding what I needed: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=68646

My laptop is a T42 2378-FVU so I searched their parts directory, and believe the replacement part needed is 41W5204 (which replaced 13R2657). Before I buy this part, I wanted to make sure I had the right part number. Can anyone confirm this for me?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... R-46474#18

Also, what is everyones thoughts about ordering this part from IBM versus eBay or another reseller? Would you say it's worth the extra money to order fro IBM? IBM is asking around $85, but found other sellers that have it from $40 to $70.

Also, is there an easy way to at least get it past this error so I can do a backup? I normally back up my data every month, but missed the last two...

Thanks for any help

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Replace the fan first, don't do any backups with a non-working fan.

You've got the correct part numbers. What you'll get from IBM will likely be a "serviceable used part" with 90-day warranty. Now worth $85 IMHO.

A good used fan can be found for $30 or so on eBay or this forum's Marketplace.

Good luck.

[barleydude]

Welcome to the forum!

Replace the fan first, don't do any backups with a non-working fan.

You've got the correct part numbers. What you'll get from IBM will likely be a "serviceable used part" with 90-day warranty. Now worth $85 IMHO.

A good used fan can be found for $30 or so on eBay or this forum's Marketplace.

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. I think I'll go with IBM over a used fan. Might be nice to have the 90 day warranty

I downloaded the maintenance manual and it looks very simple to replace this fan. I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Maintenance manual: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46464

[Norway Pad]

There was a little posting back and forth here regarding the fan changing process some weeks ago, so it might be worth taking a look at. A very straightforward process, but you seem to have the long fan that also covers the GPU, and it can be wise to use some care when trying to remove the heat transfer pad from the GPU heat spreader.

Good luck!

[barleydude]

Well, I never ended up ordering this fan from IBM. I ended up just getting an external hard drive enclosure, and transfering all of the data to my desktop.

Now that this laptop has been sitting packed up for a while, I thought I'd go ahead and try fixing it, but don't want to spend the money on the part from IBM. If I remember correctly, it was over $100 shipped.

So has anyone had any experience with the fan replacement from ebay? It's only 39.99 + 6.50 shipping.

Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Lenovo-41W5204- ... 58830b33d8

[RealBlackStuff]

That's a reliable seller, I've bought from him several times.

[barleydude]

That's a reliable seller, I've bought from him several times.

Thanks for the response. For that price, I think it's worth getting that laptop up and running! Feel like it still have some life left. I'll let you all know how it goes.

[barleydude]

Well I successfully removed the broken fan last night, and order the part from ebay shortly after. I should get the fan in next week! Being the first time I've ever opened up a laptop, I was surprised how easy it was to get to that fan. I believe in total there were 15 screws in total that had to be removed. The pdf instructions I posted a while back were very easy to follow. I'll let you all know when I get it up and running.