Thinkpad T40p -> no fan problem?

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for your reply.

My fan isn't on at the moment, and the laptop has been on for about an
hour, though it hasn't been doing anything intensive. The fan doesn't
go on if I use : photoshop, play music, browse the internet,
word-process etc.. but it does go on if I start rendering
3d-graphics. I.e. if you have downloaded the new WinXp screensaver
from the microsoft website, I find my fan goes on after running that
for about half a minute.

Otherwise the only time it goes on is when I press the power button to
switch it on, and only for a few seconds.

What processor do you have? Mine is 1.3Ghz, maybe yours is faster,
and therefore a bit more heat-producing. Maybe to avoid the fan
problem, one needs to get a slower processor?

I'm sure the fan isn't on at the moment because no air is coming out
the ports on the left.

However, since I have my processor on at full speed - there are all
sorts of crackles and beeps (though quite quiet) coming from the fan
port, which I believe originate from the chips inside the computer
(GPU and CPU).

My hard drive does not vibrate, but I do hear it spinning if I'm in a
silent room - it's not annoying. My harddrive also clicks every now
and then - this is normal - it's just the hardrive parking. I think
it does this every now and then, and definetely does it when it stops
spinnin the harddisc.

Duncan.

yeah... it's the fan.
put your ear to the vent on the left side.. you never hear anything in
there? do you work in a meatlocker?
mine spins down when i'm not using it, but in general it's on a lot of the
time.. (and it's blowing out hot air a lot of the time, so it's doing its
job..)

In fact.. I regularly use the left side vent as a finger warmer for cold
room coding.. ; )

here are my noise gripes:
1. the hd's not noisy.. but it vibrates.. it does so right under the palm
rest.. which over time drives me nuts because i rest my hand there.
2. The fan is a tad noisy.. i think it's just getting dirty over time.. it
was nice and quiet when she was new.
3. A loud 'click' when my hard drive parks.. this only happens
occasionally.. and i've only found one reference to it on the ng. i'm kinda
worried.

Duncan, If your fan doesn't come on and the laptop gets hot on the bottom..
get that thing checked.. it should be running.. and you should be able to
hear it.. or feel the airflow on occasion.

Aaron



<>...

Hi Everyone,

Could someone please tell exactly what this fan noise thing is??? I
have a thinkpad T40, and I can't hear the fan!!!

Instead the noisiest things about my laptop are, in this order (and
bearing in these noises are still very very very quiet - as in I have
to be in a totally silent room to hear it - i.e. the library):
loudest first

1.clattering of the keys when typing
2.harddrive when accessing
3.fan when it switches on (rare - happens at start-up is often the
only time if switches on, since I don't use processor-intensive
applications)
4.an annoying buzzing noise which I believe comes from the processor,
since I can make it quieter by simply changing the processor speed to
'slow' or 'very slow' - and I often do this if working in a library
5.the harddrive spinning - this is really quiet, and sounds a bit like
a fan. (I have the 5400rpm high-speed 8MB buffer 40GB hardrive).
When it parks, there is no noise from the laptop at all (apart from
the processor).

So are you people really referring to the fan? If you are sure it's
the fan, are you using processor-intensive tasks, like 3d rendering,
or playing games? If you think it might be the harddrive, exactly how
loud are you talking about - maybe I'm going deaf?! If it's the
processor, then I totally understand - since this *is* annoying.

Yours,
Duncan.

Hmm, you may be in luck though.. It looks like there are 3 different fan
assemblies used in the 40(p)/41(p) models.
What follows is the names/model numbers, and part numbers of each of those
(from the manual)

Chances are, ibm used the same fan on all three, and just has different
aluminum/heatsink shapes based on what processor is being used.. just a
guess.

imagine the noise would still be universal.. but it's possible it's not.

Aaron

ps. anyone know how to silence a dirty fan? mine didnt make this noise when
i first got it.. but as it accumulated dust it got worse.. wonder if
cleaning it periodically is a possibility?

18 Fan assembly (short)
v 2373-12x, 14x, 16x, 19x, 1Bx, 22x, 24x,25x, 29x, 2Ax, 2Bx, 2Cx, 42x, 44x,
47x,49x, 4Ax, 4Bx, 4Cx, 51x, 54x, 61x, 66x,6Bx, 6Dx, 71x, 72x, 75x, 76x,
78x, 7Ax,7Cx, 81x, 82x, 85x, 86x, 88x, 8Ax, 8Cx,8Dx, A2x, A3x, A4x, A5x,
A6x, A7x,B2x, B5x, BDx, C1x, C3x, C4x, C7x,C8x, CAx
v 2373-1Ex, 1Fx, 1Hx, 1Lx, 2Ex, 2Fx,2Qx, 4Fx, 4Gx, 4Hx, 4Nx, 4Px, 4Qx,4Sx,
5Hx, 6Kx, 6Sx, 7Ex, 7Fx, 7Jx,7Kx, 7Mx, 7Px, 8HU, 8Jx, 8Kx, 8Px,8Rx, 8Sx,
AFx, AHx, ALx, BFx, BJx
v 2374-12x, 14x, 72x, 75x, 7Cx, 82x, 8Cx
v 2374-1Hx, 1Fx, 4Hx, 7Fx, 7Jx, 8Rx
v 2375-72x
v 2376-72x
v 2378-D1U, D2U
v 2378-DFx, DGx, DHx, EFx, EJx, ELx,EMx
v 2379-D3U, D4U
v 2379-DKx, ERx
PN: 91P8393

Fan assembly (long)
v 2373-32x, 33x, 3Cx, 58x, 91x, 92x, 93x, 94x, 96x, 9Cx, A1x, A8x, A9x, G1x,
G2x, G3x, G4x, G5x, G6x
v 2373-3Fx, 3Hx, 3Px, 5Qx, 5Rx, 9Ex, 9Fx, 9Gx, 9Hx, 9Jx, 9Kx, AJx, AKx, AMx,
AEx, BHx
v 2374-9Cx
v 2374-3Hx
v 2378-DEx, EEx, EKx, ENx, EPx, ESx
v 2379-D5U, D6U v 2379-DJx
PN: 13N5442

Fan assembly (long) M10
v 2373-ANx, GEx, GGx, GHx, GLx, GJx, GKx, GMx
v 2374-GGx
PN: 13N5347

...

what's the difference between the 41 and the 41p?

I seriously doubt the fan is different in either model.
(i've cracked mine open.. and the fan looks pretty straight forward (and
probly easily replaced if it starts getting really gunked up))

i can totally relate to the noise though.

Aaron

...