My ThinkPad t42p is less than two years old, and today it became a paper weight — I hope temporarily.
Thursday Update: Yes, it seems that it was temporary!
I was already in a bad mood because of a combination of personal challenges and work-related quandaries from the day before, and then while working this morning my laptop shut down suddenly and in a manner I hadn’t seen before.
When I tried to start it back up I get 2 beeps, and the only text on the screen is Fan error. Wait a second something smells bad, like burnt plastic. Wow, the bottom of the laptop is hot.
The floor falls away and me on my chair plummet with the crumbling room falling on top of me.
It is almost embarrassing how bad I feel with the sudden loss of my Ubuntu Linux running laptop, but it is my trusty hammer. The hammer I have grown attached to; the one I know best.
I shouldn’t be surprised that it has failed me:
- I have been flushing more of my time on the Dell desktop running Windows Vista lately.
- I have been thinking about what parts of Windows and Mac OS I find much more productive than my Ubuntu experience.
- Recommending Apple Mac to some people!
Its feelings were probably hurt!
The laptop is out of warranty. I always recommend people get extended warranties on mobile or expensive hardware. This laptop does not because it was purchased by Flock in the US, and I bought it off them when I left.
First, although it seems likely that the fan is fried because I can’t hear it when I start the computer and the smell is worse in that area of the case, I still look to see if I have misdiagnosed the problem.
Error messages – ThinkPad General:
Fan error: Fan
Not very useful.
For a different ThinkPad model, I found that error could be caused by a problem with a bad battery. So I removed both the batteries and tried with just A/C. Same symptom.
While searching I discovered a great ThinkPad forum called thinkpads.com Support Community — you know you are using a good product when there is a community freely helping each other.
So I think my original diagnosis is correct. Burnt out fan. It is a mechanical part almost always on, and like the hard drive it will fail.
Lets see how I can get this fixed. I’m not encouraged that it’s the start of a long weekend.
Thankfully, I know a lot of good sys admins, and the best PC hardware person I know is my friend Aaron Greengrass.
He quickly found me a link to the schematic with part #, and the IBM/Lenovo contact information:
IBM hardware, software, and systems support
1-800-IBM-SERV
(1-800-426-7378)
And from there a support technician guided me to find a local business partner:
- http://www.ibm.com/ca/
- Learn about
- IBM Business Partners
- Find a Business Partner
- Find a PC Warranty Service Provider1
Six results for Victoria.
The first two I call I get voice mail before noon — yup, it’s a long weekend.
The third one, NexInnovations, the answering service says to call a 1-800. I speak to someone back east who says there is local service, but no “walk ins” I would have to courier it or otherwise ship it.
Next, I call Microserve Business Computers and the receptionist connects me right away and the person I spoke to was helpful, but they don’t carry an inventory of parts (shipped by air only a day or two) and turn around time is at least a week, and service is at $85/hr.
The reality of not having my laptop for at least a week sinks in, and my priority becomes setting up a full work environment on my desktop PC — yes, I will leave the OS as Windows Vista.
That $85/hr quote immediately reminded of what Daniel Lackey recently wrote “It’s a bit like cars. You simply HAVE to know the simple mechanics behind a car, and a bit of knowledge and experience with the car yourself before you take it in to a shop” before he went on a total car tangent.
When I was searching on all of those sites and forums about ThinkPads and “Fan error” I found out that people consider replacing the fan fairly easy and included in the response to most hardware questions is a link to the HMM, the Hardware Maintenance Manual.
This is another reason why the ThinkPad is a great family of products, manuals.
The next step is taking apart the laptop. Confirming the smelly part is the fan, and ordering that part.
I will let you know how it goes. My thoughts are also with my colleague Mark Riley who is also having his own severe computing problems.
- Note the favicon. As a former IBM employee I shudder when I see that icon as I know I’m in Lotus Notes land with its cryptic URLs. [↩]
Comments (18)
Macbook *cough*….. Sorry to hear that Lloyd!
Trent, there are two reasons why I don’t own a Macbook:
1. Although Ubuntu Linux runs on it, it isn’t one of the most popular hardware configurations, and therefore not the most supported configuratin.
2. Of the many people I know that own Macbooks, it seems like 1 in 4 of them have had to use send it in for “AppleCare” because of hardware problems from bad pixels in the screens through fried motherboards and many failed hard drives. Often within the first year.
Although I would love to own a Macbook, it won’t be my primary laptop.
Really, all those hardware problems? I have been lucky as I have 4 of them right now for the company and they are working well for the past 1-2 years. Luck? Maybe…
I have found that since I need Windows applications and like to play around with other OS’s as well, I just use Parellels to do it. Just like everything else in this world, use whatever you like that gets the job done. If it does the job, don’t fix it.
Hopefully you get some good luck on getting the IBM fixed!
Really. At one point I was thinking of having a friends of friends and their Macbook problems. I imagine now that they are in the ?3rd generation? of Intel based Macbooks that the issues have substantially dropped off.
You have brought up another issue about Apple’s offerings that I resent. I can run other OS’ on their hardware, but I can’t run their Mac OS X on other’s hardware. People love to tout Macs as the perfect cross-platform PC development environment without acknowledging that if Apple was really serious about encouraging development for Mac OS X then one of their partners would be selling a virtual machine that ran Mac OS X.
That is extremely true as Apple is very hypocritical on that issue. Since Microsoft owns a large stake in Apple, you have to be sure that it is deliberate though.
Almost brings the Beta versus VHS issue where Sony lost out market share due to BETA only working on their machines and VHS put on every “tom, dick & harry”. Apple and Windows are still the same. Either way, I like Apple and their products! Now I see why you dig me on the iPhone addiction
I am crazy though Lloyd. You must have figured that out by now!
Yea i suggest people who are using mobile computer should extend their warranty too as these kind of hardware may start to “die” after a year.
Trent, as far as I know Microsoft owning a “large stake in Apple” is a common misconception. If I remember they sold their shares in 2001. I have heard they still own much less than a percent through a fund.
I think it is safe to assume that Microsoft is not in cahoot on this one. The convicted monopolists would stay far away from any such market manipulation.
Lastly, what benefits would Microsoft gain from this situation?
I also like Steve Jobs, Apple and their products.
I was just teasing you Lloyd! The actual percentage is closer to 0% than 1% from what I gather now. On an unrelated note, how come the “free hugs” event disappeared? I guess I have to start my own for Sept. 10th then
Hugs? The event on facebook? For now, most of hugs are reserved.
I just got the same error a week ago and received a new fan from IBM. I replaced the fan/heatsink, but still get the same error. Bummer. Now I’m thinking its the motherboard which means its kaput.
Sorry to hear that the machine up and died like that.
As for the Macbook issue, all the folks I have talked to with one seem to find them reliable. Dell also sells a laptop with Ubuntu pre-installed, and I’ve heard from folks here at Mich Tech that they work equally well.
Dell with Ubuntu pre-installed, nice! I heard about that, but haven’t seen any. Is there much adoption in the university crowd?
You can ask the Flock crew who got some of the first batch of Intel Macbook Pros, how reliable they were.
i have the same error msg but i open my thinkpad and i found out that the fan is “working” for 30 seconds and stops maybe is mother board promplem?
andreas, very likely the issue is still you fan. The friction and heat after running for a short time could explain why it goes for thirty seconds. See my follow up post http://foolswisdom.com/fan-error-blown-away/
Hey Lloyd, i had the same problem this morning. So it’s just the fan that needs replacing yea?
James, that was my experience, and many people have written me saying the same, though lecs recently reported that he replaced the fan and the issue wasn’t resolved.
So, what happened when you replaced the fan? Did it fix the problem? I tried a different battery also, when I saw your note, but no luck.
Thanks,
~deirdre
Got one of those fan error boot messages. There is a simpler solution to taking the thing apart. Just get a blow tip on a air pressure hose and blow it through the fan port – and all the little ports you can see. Did the job for me. AND you should do that about once a year to avoid overheating laptops (and desktops) that can do funny things to your software too. Surprising how much dust comes out.