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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
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August 18th, 2010 at 4:58 am
My wife’s T41 got the dreaded “Fan Error” message the other day…I wasn’t there but she said it started to make a buzzing sound so she rebooted it and it came up with the blue screen fan error message, so she shut it off.
I followed your directions to get to the fan (short fan in this case) and it was a bit dirty but spun ok when I physically moved it.
I wanted to see if it would boot at all, so with the keyboard and touch pad still plugged in to the board I put the battery in and started the computer.
The fan starting spinning immediately but had a buzzing sound which it hadn’t had before. The boot started and went to the “Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP” screen like a normal bootup, but it just hung on that screen and wouldn’t finish…the little slider window on that screen that shows the computer ‘thinking’ would move then stop, with no hard drive activity.
Is this normal for a dead fan (the bootup sequence stopping in mid stream)??
I want to make sure based on my description that it indeed sounds like the fan is bad before I invest in a new one only to find something else happened?
It never did get to the blue screen with the fan error message.
Thank you and great directions on how to get inside a T41.
Bob
August 16th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Hi, anybody knows where to purchase the IBM laptop fan in Singapore? Thanks.
August 13th, 2010 at 6:43 am
Thanks Laptop Tech…. kind of thought so.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
drew pompa,
Do not use the short heat sink. Send it back and order the correct one.
Using a wrong heat sink assembly will cause motherboard damage.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Greetings Laptop Tech,
I also received a “fan error” message. After reading through this forum, I decided that I would go ahead and order the fan part and fix the computer myself.
However, when I received my fan, I noticed it was not exactly the same as the original fan. The fan that I ordered didn’t consist of piece that covered my graphics cards. Therefore, my graphics cards in now exposed.
Take a look in these two pictures. Keep in mind, that in the fan assembly picture, the top fan displayed is the one that I ordered. The bottom one with pink tape is the original. Also, in the computer schematic picture, “X” marks the spot where my graphics card is now exposed.
Is this okay, or should I send back the fan and re-order another?
http://www.blankartists.com/images/fan_assembly.jpg
http://www.blankartists.com/images/computer_schematic.JPG
August 4th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Replacing THIRD Fan on ThinkPad T41 with your helpful article — Rebecca
July 28th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Thanks. Another successful fan replacement from info on this page. Much appreciated.
Mike
July 10th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
Terje’S
Does the fan spin on startup?
If not, there could be a problem with the motherboard.
July 6th, 2010 at 6:32 am
Hello! I have just replaced my old fan with a new one, and have the same problem problem “fan error” may it be something else, that is wrong??? Please help me! IBM ThinkPad T42.
June 13th, 2010 at 7:54 am
I was able to bypass the Fan Error message with a combination of F1/ESC which dropped me into the bios setup screen and then from there I was able to boot into windows. It did take a few attempts before this worked. I don’t know what the magic combination of key presses is, but I decided to give it a try based on an earlier comment that mentioned this technique.
Once in windows I did a full backup. While running I pointed a fan directly at laptop in hopes of keeping it cool while I was backing it up. But I’m not running it this way for daily use as I don’t want it to overheat. I’ll replace the fan as soon as I can find one.
May 31st, 2010 at 4:53 am
Clayton,
I had the same problem with my T42. The M10 Long FU was “glued” to the heat sink. I gave up and bought a new computer, but now that I don’t really need the laptop anymore (btw: I kept it alive thanks to this article by blowing compressed air into the fan during startup)… anyway, I took it apart and used a razor knife to carefully cut unter the copper fan plate and the heat sink. I used a small vacume to clean up the debris and eventually I cut far enouph into it that it released and I was able to remove the fan unit. I have ordered a new one and hopefully will have it running soon.
Good luck!
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:21 am
Worked for me … scratched my head a bit but then stumbled on this page … used hair dryer for ~5min to heat the part glued to the motherboard and from there on was easy …. Thx
May 5th, 2010 at 7:26 am
shivasyif,
Take a closer look at the fan. Does it work at all?
If you are getting “fan error” messages, most likely you have to replace the fan.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:29 am
hi.. I really need help,, i have IBM Thinkpad G40.. but likely some trouble in start up,, show fan errors then it turn off self, but if I press Escape then it will loading again like normal start up..how it is fixed?? please help.. T_T
thank for your help
April 1st, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Calyton,
Make sure you loosened all screws securing the heat sink. If the heat sink is glued to the chip by the thermal grease, I guess you’ll have to use some reasonable force to remove the heat sink.
March 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I have my T42 open, and can easily see the FRU. What I cannot do is get it out. It is glued to the chip in the middle of the motherboard, and I cannot get it out. What should I do?
Thanks in advance.
March 20th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
thanks for Laptop Tech, i was able to start my IBM T42 as you prescribed. But definitely, i have to change the fan to work it better. it sucks everytime i blew the fan using my mouth just to start. hehe.
Anyways, thanks again.
Kwaksinator
March 16th, 2010 at 2:22 am
Hey!
I have an ibm T42 thinkpad notebook. Recently, its given me the ‘fan error message at the top left corner of my screen. Its shutting down just after I boot it. I’ve read a number of forums on the fan error issue. Anyway, I have another thinkpad (T29 – which has its own issues by the way) so I took the fan from the T42 and tried it on the T29 – its running smoothly. I then tried running the fan from the T29 on the T42….it didnt run. coz of this, im not entirely certain that my problem has to do with the fan.
I’m considering shelving the T42 till I can get another notebook but I dont want to coz I really love the notebook i was using.
Help someone before I empty my pockets unnecessarily
March 5th, 2010 at 10:54 am
jeman,
Possible memory failure.
Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. Try using different slots. One of the memory modules could be bad.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:16 am
I have an ibm thinkpad T42 notebook, when i turn on the power button I got a black screen, the power turns on the power light, battery light, and the z light, no hard drive light, and on the screen nothing comes on, not even a fun error message or the post bios test, all is black and blank.
Any advice from a friend.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Leo,
I have the exact same problem. My T43p with new fan will power on but after 15 seconds it shuts off without warning. No error, no over heating, just shuts off.
So I put back my old fan without thermal grease and it works. It seems the my new fan, I purchased a refurbished one from e-bay, has some issues.
February 12th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Mark,
Not sure what’s going on. Did you apply thermal grease on the CPU before installing the heat sink?
February 11th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Hi, I have t43p. It had a noisy fan so I took apart the laptop to try to clean it (I did have the glued / stuck thermal grease issue as mentioned elsewhere here, but a firm hands got it off). When I reassembled I started to get “fan error”. Thus, upon startup, the fan pulses, starts then stops then starts again etc never really getting going and a couple of seconds later the fan error message comes up and the pc shuts down. I installed a new fan, thinking the fan was the problem but still the same issue (fan is quieter, but still the pulsing). Any thoughts? Thanks! Mark.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Can I just mail you my T43 which is having fan issues so you can replace it for me? For some reason, taking apart my laptop is not something that I am inspired to do.
January 10th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Hi, I have a t42 15″ with the long fan. fan went out. Person using comp continued to run it at about 15-35 minute intervals. somewhere along the way the screen was cracked. Replaced the fan and screen. Computer shuts down while booting or after booting to desktop. I did apply new grease and fan and display work fine. Just cannot get to boot to desktop and stay. Suspect heat has damaged cpu and or mobo. Was hoping to fix it cheap. Can anybody give me some pointers?
January 5th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Leo,
Did you replace the entire cooling module (heat sink and fan)?
Did you apply thermal grease on the CPU?
Did you notice if your new cooling module had thermal pad for another chip?
It’s possible that your laptop shuts down because of overheating. Make sure that thermal grease is applied correctly.
January 5th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I replaced the fan in my T42, and it seems to be working (the fan), but now the computer shuts off after 10 seconds when I turn it on. This happens when I reconnect the old dysfunctional fan as well now (I pass the fan error by blowing air with my mouth and the fan spins for a few seconds). It doesn’t matter what I do at startup – within 10 seconds it will shut down. While playing around and changing fans back and forth, once it actually went into safe mode for a little while. Then suddenly it shut off (after about an hour). Then it didn’t go on at all (the power on button didn’t do anything). Next morning, I plugged in the new fan again and while the computer goes on, the problem is still there – within 10 seconds it shuts down. I think something else than the fan just moved around a little bit and screwing up the startup but all the wires seem to be connected and everything looks OK. Any advice?
THANKS!
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
SME,
Here’s a list of manuals for IBM/Lenovo laptops: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-39298.html.
Find your model and look in the service manual. Maybe you can find help in there.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:14 pm
delton,
You were able to bypass the PROBLEM or the ERROR MESSAGE?
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Anton,
Apparently thermal grease dried out and glued the heat sink. You’ll have to use some force but be very careful.
After removing the heat sink don’t forget to reseat the processor.