Laptop Problem

So the fan on my laptop died. It won't boot up... about two seconds in it displays 'FAN ERROR' and shuts itself down. It's a Windows machine, I'm assuming there's some way to bypass this check and force it to boot anyway, right? Anyone know? The machine is an IBM Thinkpad T30.

That's the only cooling fan for the entire system ... it would be unwise to bypass it.

No, what you have to do is get the fan working again. ThinkPads are sort of notorious for this. It could be any number of reasons, but you can bet, it's a physical one.

Solution: you have to open the laptop and see if anything is blocking the fan (like the power cable, as retarded as that sounds). The worst case scenario is you find another unit. (it'll be a large metal heatsync with a fan, most likely, going over both the GPU and CPU) ...

That's about it.

Oh yeah, try not to break the keyboard cover when opening the laptop. Those things snap easily and it is secured by plastic snap in things and not just screws.

You can look around online for more detailed instructions on how to open and service the system.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I'd think if your getting a fan error and you did manage to bypass it, it would be only a short time before it overheated or something.

A while back I think u mentioned you went to RPI, they give that to you? if so they're still giving out thinkpads, got myself a nice T61. Would recommend it if you end up shopping for a new laptop.

The one good thing about ThinkPads is that it will tell you when something is wrong. They've reported fan errors, for example, since before the 600 series.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I just want to hop onto the machine for like ten, twenty minutes, grab some important files and then throw it in the trash. I'm not concerned about the longterm stability of the system. Four and a half years as my primary computer is definitely my money's worth, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for advice, right now I'm just gonna focus on finding a new PC and I'll leave it around to get the stuff out when I can.

Grab an adapter to hook up the HDD to your desktop computer, then.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Just want to say that my comp came in and I'm up and running (mostly) :biggrin:

Congratz. You know, I had a very similar problem with my laptop http://www.snarkpit.net/forums.php?forum=1&topic=8087&15. You should try and get all the dust out of the fan like I did. I think the fan still worked (I think) but it wouldn't boot up, just like yours.

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Aaron's Stuff

ThinkPads generally have unique issues.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
ThinkPads generally have unique issues.

so does aaron :razz:

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i eat paint

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Aaron's Stuff

Heh, don't congratulate me. All I did was order a computer :razz: The laptop's still entirely inert.

Oh, and aaron, your issue sounded like a power supply issue to me. I once needed to replace the power supply adapter on my T20 when I had that.

Hehehehehehe

Hmmmmmm I see .Well, the problem was dust, we had to suck it all out with the vacuum cleaner. Quite a lot came out, I was surprised. Give it a go, you don't need to open up the laptop, just make sure you have a decent vacuum and start sucking. First do it while the laptop is off, than turn it on, let the fan spin and start sucking again.

It might just fix your laptop, give it a go, you have nothing to loose.

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Aaron's Stuff

I fixed my laptop by selling it to some schmuck for AU$500. (And no, it wasn't Aaron!)

You got a good deal there Gwil, 500 for a broken laptop.

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Aaron's Stuff

Aaron, be quiet. The T30 doesn't have an intake, meaning, air only goes OUT of the compartment, so there's no way it can be clogged.

Anyway, that error only comes up if the fan wont spin, meaning something is blocking it (very likely the power cable for the fan) or the fan is dead (very unlikely).

I'd like to add that, if you're going to toss the thing, I'd gladly take it :biggrin:

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
The T30 doesn't have an intake

Never knew that :bandit:

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Aaron's Stuff

Air out but nothing in means the laptop internals become a vacuum, which is silly. Crap always goes in, in these cases, same rate as it comes out. So while it may not have a nominal air intake, air comes in through small holes in the case, like speaker holes. Unless youve got a filter over these, dust enters.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

I think it has been somewhat established that air, dust, the fan, and the laptop not booting up are all connected. I stand by my idea, I think the laptop isn't booting up because of heat, and the heat is there because of fan malfunction, and that is caused by dust or something else.

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Aaron's Stuff

Wilson, all the "vents" lead to secluded areas, and most everything else is blocked by the keyboard (which you have to remove to get to the motherboard) There is a vent on the other side for memory, but on the sides of the motherboard is foam.

Most of them don't even have vents all around the laptop except for the exhaust.

I've worked on these things so many times it's ridiculous. I've dealt with this specific error 90% of those times.

It's incredibly unlikely that the fan has stopped moving because of dust, or hair.

And, I said this before, but I'll say it again, the ThinkPad fan error means the fan isn't moving ... it has nothing to do with temperature readings. What is the most common case is that the power cable to the fan is blocking the fan.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I had a similar problem about a year ago. The fan for my laptop had stopped rotating, so I assumed the worst. I got quotes on how much it would take to repair which seemed quite reasonable. I decided to open up the laptop to see if I could get to the fan. I opened up the fan casing to see if I could fix it, and, almost to my disbelief and sheer relief, I found that a small component label propably from the fan itself had jammed the fan propellers stopping them from rotating. I removed the label and it all worked like clockwork. Other than that, this Packard Bell machine is still serving me well to this day(more than three years). Just don't forget to earth yourself before you touch anything!

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding