IBM ThinkPad laptop displays fan error message on bootup
Let’s say you have an IBM ThinkPad laptop and when you turn it on all you get is a black screen with “Fan error” message. What could be wrong?
A few weeks ago, the fan in my trusty IBM T42 bought the farm. This resulted in the unit heating up considerably, as well as numerous “fan error” messages on bootup. It eventually became so bad that to boot up at all, I had to blow compressed air into the fan’s exhaust grill for 5-10 seconds, in order to fool the BIOS and make it believe the fan was actually spinning.
According to the IBM hardware maintenance guide (HMM) for ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p, T42, T42p this error message indicates a problem with the fan, you can find symptom-to-FRU index on the page58.
The symptom-to-FRU index in this section lists symptoms and errors and their possible causes.
Apparently it’s time to replace the fan assembly. The cooling fan comes together with the heat sink, that’s why you’ll have to replace the whole fan assembly.
You can easily replace the fan assembly after you remove the palm rest and keyboard.
1. Remove the battery and unplug the AC adapter.
2. Remove four screws marked with yellow circles. These screws securing the keyboard.
3. Remove eight screws marked with orange circles. These screws securing the palm rest.
4. Lift up the keyboard and upnlug the keyboard cable from the motherboard.
5. Lift up the palm rest and unplug the touchpad cable from the motherboard.
6. Remove three screws securing the fan assembly, unplug the fan cable from the motherboard. Lift up and replace the fan assembly.
You’ll find step-by-step laptop disassembly and fan replacement instructions in the HMM in the chapter “Removing and replacing a FRU” on the page 70.
You can find a new fan assembly using the FRU number located on your failed fan, it might look like 91P8393, 26R7860, 13R2919, 13N5442, or 13R2657. Just google the FRU number and find a place to buy it from. Different laptop types with different screen sizes use different fans, so you have to find the correct one witch fits your model. If for some reason your fan assembly doesn’t have the FRU number, you’ll have to refer to the HMM page 216-217. On these pages you’ll find witch fan belongs to your laptop. Here you can find new and used fans for ThinkPad laptops.
For example, if have a type 2378-FVU laptop with 15.0″ LCD screen, then you need a fan assembly with FRU: 13R2657
Topics: Keyboard, Disassembly help, Cooling fan, 6. IBM & Lenovo Laptops |
May 20th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Hi guys
I have a Fan Error on my T40p since this week end. I think I could repair by myself thanks to your Tuto.
But I can’t download the IBM hardware maintenance guide. i guess their FTP is down. Do you have this document? Could you send me back this doc?
Many thanks
Pilou
May 20th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Pilou,
It works fine for me, the site is working. It takes some time to download the maintenance manual because it’s a 5MB file. Maybe you just have to wait for a while.
Here are links to all IBM ThinkPad manuals.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I just finished replacing the fan (under warranty) for my 1-month old refurbished T42p. The photos and explanation were great, except I had a major problem getting my fan assembly out and could not figure it out until i searched several other forums. I finally found where some people had to use a hairdryer to heat up lower right corner of fan (square area) that seemed to be glued on (apparently this is Thermal paste). According to the manual, i have a LONG fan assembly. I used a hairdryer for at least 5+ minutes (very close to fan) until it got hot enough to gently pry off with a small flathead screwdriver. Once it started to loosen it was easy to come off; before that it seemed impossible to get off. I was concerned the hairdryer would damage other parts, but all seems to be fine. It was not obvious what part was even going to come off as this section of the fan sits on top of a separate do-dad. The manual also says to take pink plastic piece off before installing, however the fan I was replacing still had it on and other people mentioned leaving it on so i did. I do not know which was correct. Here’s the link to the other website i found helpful:
http://foolswisdom.com/fan-error-blown-away/
Thanks for this posting!
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I just finished replacing the fan in my wonderful 4 year old t42p thinkpad after getting the “Fan Error” screen. I’d been expecting something like this to happen because my computer had started to sometimes click and also get very hot. I bought the fan through the Lenovo number on the manual and it was actually cheaper than best buy (I called both). It arrived 1 day DHL which was obviously more money but worth it for me. Anyway, thank you for the hair dryer advice. I held the hair dryer on the glued part for a good 10 minutes before the thermal paste gave way. At first it really didn’t seem like it was going to budge but as soon as it came loose the fan slid out nicely. My old one also still had the pink plastic on and it was stuck on there very firmly so I didn’t peel it off the new one either, as the manual says to. Now my laptop is running smoothly, thanks for all the info!
July 29th, 2008 at 5:16 am
can you tell me if 00191 is a fan error message on thinkpad 600e
August 12th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Thanks everyone for posting this information. My local PC repair shop couldn’t fix it, but I was able to do it myself with everyone’s help. Couple updates, FRU 13R2657 is now known as 41W5204. I ordered it from IBM 800-388-7080 option 2-1-1. It costs $32.94 + tax + shipping = $51.08.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:04 am
nice article, it got me through this fan removal/replacement. Thank you.