Comments on: IBM ThinkPad displays fan error message

By: John_r

John_r — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 10:50:08 +0000

I have a Thinkpad T400 which developed the “Fan Error” a year ago. Fitted new fan even though the old fan tested ok on a seprate power supply. The new fan did however cure the problem for a while but now the fan error problem is reappearing again. The OS obviously checks that the fan will rotate during start up and if not aborts the boot. The fan also has a speed control mechanism which varies the voltage from around 3V to 5V depending on how hot the microprocessor is. In cool conditions at start up the fan voltage will be low and more likely to fail to start. From my experence with brushless motors the start procedure should be to start them initially on full voltage and then drop the voltage back to give the desired speed. This seems not to be happening.
Temporarily to get over the problem I go to the start up control panel (windows 7 – Ctrl S during boot ) and leave it running in this state for a few minutes to warm up the machine. Then reboot and the higher voltage allows the fan to start and boots fine.
When I have more time I will strip the m/c down again and do a more thorough investigation on the fan behaviour and if necessary implement a hardware fix but meanwhile these comments may be a help to somone. I am intrigued to know if this is a one off issue or a general problem.

By: julius

julius — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:47:19 +0000

Hell, i have lenovo thinkpad x301 it had the same problem, i went to my local pc mechanic and replaced the fan set. after a period of less than a month, it heats but does not go off but then when i try switching it on, it refuses to go on! not until i use a blower to help it start. But after it goes on, it does not go off.. it only refuses to turn on at the beginning.

By: moses

moses — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:41:01 +0000

i had the same problem with my lenovo thinkpad laptop. An abnormal sound could be heard coming from where the fan is located, so i opened the back of my laptop, three screws could not open coz i didn’t have the right screw-drivers. I decided to screw them back and open them the following day with the right tools. when i finished, i turned it on and the irking message (FAN ERROR) was not there. I guess there is something that is preventing the fan from rotating well.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 21:51:30 +0000

had Same issue on t230 hit F12 reset and saved bios an so far it has not done so again afer several starts.try this You have to hit F 12 before the Error message

By: IML Tech

IML Tech — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 18:23:10 +0000

In reply to McDonald Asi. @ McDonald Asi, Did the laptop shut down by itself (because of overheating) while if use? It it did, it's possible the OS got corrupted. Also, there is a chance this is just another issue. Could be related to the hard drive failure. Here's what I would do in this case. 1. Replace the failed fan. 2. Test the hard drive. If the drive fails test, replace it.

By: McDonald Asi

McDonald Asi — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 22:05:26 +0000

I got fan error messages on my IBM T41 ThinkPad several times.Never replaced it ,what I usually do is press the ESC key and it just goes away.Did that until I finally came to a point where now my ThinkPad is telling me upon start up that “operating system not found”.I think I must have screwed the whole thing up.Would have any idea has to go about.with this?

By: titus geekandi

titus geekandi — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 09:57:08 +0000

i have a hp envy 15.when i put on the wifi hot key it mute the sound?any idea

By: GEORGE MYINGA

GEORGE MYINGA — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 08:30:34 +0000

the “fan error” appear (not allways) durig switiching on laptop. then i switch off and reopen without any problem. this problem started after technician was changing screen of my laptop which was broken before.

By: Angie

Angie — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 06:55:01 +0000

Thanx alot, its exactly the info I needed. My IBM ThinkPad T43 has been giving me major problems “fan error” but now I know what to do

By: Helge Sverre

Helge Sverre — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 11:43:21 +0000

Haha, thanks mate, I just got one of these for free off of work, we had a day cleaning our old computer equipment, got me a laptop a docking and a charger ^^
This will do nicely as a Lubuntu Computer.