Thinkpad t61 fan replacement

Hi,

I have 14inch lenovo t61 and it's about 4 years old. Recently fan started making some noise. After browsing websites for info I tried to clean it first. I took the fan out and cleaned it with air blower and put it back with the thermal paste. Unfortunately the noise is still there.

I am trying to replace it, but found that it's not easy to find/buy it. The only place i found is ebay.

My question is can I buy a new fan only without the heat sink as it's cheaper than with HS and replace it on the existing HS myself ?

Or would be safer to spend a little extra and to buy the whole unit ?

Thank you

 

Welcome to the forum!

Personally, I prefer swapping an entire heatsink. They are inexpensive enough nowadays.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for your reply. I am happy to replace the entire heatsink, but found none online even on the ebay. Woud you happen to know any relevant site to get one as the only I found from all the searches are for T61 14" wide screen. But my laptop isn't widescreen.

Thanks again

 

Intel or nVidia graphics?

What's the full 7-character model number, should most likely start with 88** and is located on the same sticker that holds the serial number and production date on the bottom of the unit?

 

It is 8898 and the graphic is integrated (Intel) and it's original 14"screen, non-wide. I have checked somewhere on Lenovo page and the part is FRU 42W2821.

But I find it very difficult to buy it anywhere. Lenovo site says that it's under some RoHS compliance, which as I understood it's some sort of hazardous part. In other words they would only sell to part dealers but not to individuals.

Thanks for you help ajkula66

 

Hogwash from Lenovo.

Posted it on LF, but here's the fan, and these folks ship to UK:

New Fan w Heatsink IBM Lenovo ThinkPad T61 T61p 42W2820 42W2821 42W2028 | eBay

Not affiliated with the seller in any way, but have purchased several small ThinkPad parts from them in the past and was happy. YMMV.

Good luck.

 

I have checked that but not sure about it because under Item Description section it only says FRU:42W2820. Compatible With: FRU 42W2028, 42X4685

What do you think ?

 

I'm pretty sure it will work. You'll probably have the coolest-running Intel-based T61, though...

 

Ha-ha-ha. I will follow your suggestion and order this one. Thanks again for your help - much appreciated.

 

Any idea what heatsink / fan assembly is valid for my T61?
Bottom sticker says ProductID: 7661A13. The type sticker says basically the same thing: Type 7661-A13

I got the fan error this morning. Just pulled it apart and took out the assembly but don't see any part numbers on the assembly.

 

It depends which version of the 14" T61 Widescreen you have. If you have the Intel integrated graphics model you can choose either the Toshiba fan (42W2460) or the Furukawa fan (44C0825). For discrete (nVidia) it's 42W2462 for the Toshiba or 44C0557 for the Furukawa one.