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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
January 21st, 2013 at 11:45 am
I had the same problem, i open the back of the cumputer, clean every thing with airspray, it works for a couple times.
Then i had that message again,
I pull the dvd disk out and then with a hair dryer at cold, i blew some cold air in the dvd opening while pushing the power button
it’s works.
January 15th, 2013 at 9:48 am
ThinkPad Z61m
I had the Fan Error message. Bought a new Fan unit with heat sink(whole Orange color part) from Amazon. Fought very hard to remove screws from old Fan. Fixed new Fan myself.
Output- Now there is no Fan Error message. and there is no display. New Fan spins for 2 secs and goes off.
IBM Folkers make laptops to survive for 5 years only. Have to buy new one, so that they can show there Q1 results.
December 30th, 2012 at 11:25 pm
I have done same thing, and it is working now. Well done, Phil and thanks you to Dave too
Phil Says:
July 8th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
“Fan Error”, Lenovo Think Pad, error message came on then it turned off. I read “Dave, June 9, 2012″, put my mouth over intake then exhaust rectangular openings (on left-rear sides, under ESC key), blew hard into each a few times….. it worked!! My wife thinks I’m a tech genius ).
THANK YOU!!
November 1st, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Resolved : 1:- i turned the laptop on
2:- turn around the laptop make it stands at 90 degree
3:- the try to hit the fan cover
finally the fan worked immediately and i discover that there was a small screw ,
and i heard the sound of the fan hits the screw so i have to resolve it by a surgical operation
October 18th, 2012 at 9:59 am
I got an error message one day on my PC, after I dusted the air vents with a leaf blower (don’t ask me why
Anyway, I bought a new fan assembly, replaced it – but then found a piece of paper that got stuck in the old fan. Most likely this is what was causing the problem.
October 16th, 2012 at 7:32 pm
@ eric,
It’s possible you have damaged the fan. Normally you get “Fan error” message when the fan doesn’t spin.
Also, there is chance it got blocked with a dust bunny. I think you can remove the keyboard and take a closer look at the fan.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:09 am
hey guyz, I have an ibm think pad that I subjected to some blowing recently. however, after blowing it with a blower machine, I tried booting it and it gave me a message on the top left corner: fan error. am not sure if the blowing might have caused this but I really need some assistance.
August 15th, 2012 at 5:57 am
My ibm laptop was freez and its not working now.
July 8th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
“Fan Error”, Lenovo Think Pad, error message came on then it turned off. I read “Dave, June 9, 2012″, put my mouth over intake then exhaust rectangular openings (on left-rear sides, under ESC key), blew hard into each a few times….. it worked!! My wife thinks I’m a tech genius
).
THANK YOU!!
June 9th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Hi Guys,
My wife has a Thinkpad issued by her company and recieved this error. I read Raj’s comment (on May 16, 2012) about the dustball, so I blew hard into the exhaust port and watched as dust came out the intake. I then blew into the intake and a bit more dust came out. I then powered it up and it now works! I told my wife to get some compressed air, because it’s probably pretty gunky inside. But this was literally a 5 second fix.