Comments on: “Fan error” Blown Away

By: victor

victor — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:29:30 +0000

wow… just had the same “Fan Error” bootup error on my trusty T42p, and i called IBM for the 41W5204 part…. except now they are charging $119 for it. With shipping and HST the total damage was $145.77. >_<

the part is really just a simple laptop heatsink, and probably cost them a few dollars to manufacture it in China… what an incredible mark-up..

found it on ebay for much cheaper ($30 to $60) but need it quickly so had to bite the bullet on this. they said i should get it in one or two days.

By: Nate Smith

Nate Smith — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:19:55 +0000

thermal paste/grease would be recommended… …if the part doesn’t come with some most computer stores sell it in like 3oz tubes for $5.00 so i would worry about it.

By: sjanzeir

sjanzeir — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 03:42:23 +0000

I get the “fan error” message almost every time I start my clunky old T42 after it has been shut down for more than a day or so. My trick is to tap the underbelly of the laptop (just off the battery) a few times, and the thing comes back to life again. It doesn’t always work the first time, but seems to work every time.

By: Peixiang Liu

Peixiang Liu — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:14:03 +0000

Thank you. As you said, I lifted the right side of my T41 and let it go. Repeated twice and it worked. “Fan Error” is gone. Thanks so very much!

By: DWG

DWG — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 06:57:47 +0000

The Pentium CPU also has a temperature sensor (and probably your graphics chip too), as these are very cheap insurance to add to the VLSI floorplan. If your thermal paste is not intact, the CPU or graphics engine can probably still overheat, despite the fan spinning, causing your laptop to crash or shutdown after many minutes of correct operation with the fan spinning properly.

So if your laptop locks up after a few minutes or hours, or especially, when running intensive software (e.g. 3-D graphics or video), the solution is probably to remove the fan and reinstall it properly with thermal paste, then reassemble the laptop.

By: Hugo Carcamo

Hugo Carcamo — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:25:52 +0000

Hello Justinsg,

Just wondering if you fixed your issue cause I have the same. Got a new fan and does not seem to be getting power. Did you fix yours?