T61 fan problem

About a month ago, the fan of the T61 that I purchased last August started making a constant noise in the background that rarely goes away, a noise that I never had before. I tried undervolting using the guide provided by the forum in the hardware section but the noise still wouldn't go away. Recently, the noise is no longer intermittent and doesn't even go away anymore.

HWMonitor gave me roughly 40 Celsius for the CPUwith Windows Explorer and Firefox on. Light gaming will make the CPU go over 50+ Celsius. Undervolting slightly only gave me a minor decrease of 2 Celsius in temperature.

When I called the CS last week, they told me that if the fan indeed need to be replaced, they will do it for free if I send in my laptop. However, if the noise comes from natural wear, they'll charge me at least 80 dollars.

Have any of you experienced this type of non-stop noise after 1 year of frequent use?
I don't think it's that noticeable in a classroom, but inside my room, I definitely notice it, especially at night.

On a side note, I did blow some dust off when I replaced the keyboard several months ago. That must have helped right?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

They shouldn't charge you 80 dollars to replace the fan if it is under warranty. No matter if it is from "normal use" or not. If they still claim that, hang up and get a different rep.

 

Does it happen to sound like any of these? :

http://cjkgcw.bay.livefilestore.com...ONMB2Tn9mhoymEePDt2OAhtCCg7T7y2s7bvw/3300.wma

http://cjkgcw.bay.livefilestore.com...pOymZ8bpcoB2buWuOi_neYXMeEbHT7OWhiJQ/3200.wma

Plug in your earpiece, the T61 speakers are too soft.

 

The second one is almost identical to what has bothered me so far. So it's b/c of the lousy speakers that are set to the max?

 

No, I meant that the T61 speakers are not loud enough to hear the audio files.

Anyway, my T61 fan starting having this problem after a year. I still haven had my fan replace though. But here's a thread about another person having the same problem and he had the fan replaced under warranty: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=339787 (4th post)
This fan problem seems quite common among T61's.

As SteathTH said, they should not charge you for it if you replace the fan under warranty.

 

'UPDATE'

I finally sent it in after it failed to boot into Windows a week later.

9 days later, it was returned from the depot 1 hour away from Toronto with a new fan and system board.

However, the technician didn't bother tightning all the screws properly, resulting in the formation of a loose palmrest below the right "Alt" key. Half of the keyboard along with the palmrest flexes if pressure is applied there.

I tried taking out all the screws and reinstalling the keyboard and the palmrest myself but the screw directly below the bulge wouldn't come out no matter how hard I try. I can turn it around in both directions rather easily but it just can't be taken out. Keep in mind that I have performed this maneuver of dissembling the keyboard quite a few times before.

The technician who treated my case should be held responsible for this kind of childish negligence/laziness and I will see to it that my complaint has been properly administered.

Sorry guys I had to vent. Damn is this frustrating......

btw, do you guys have any suggestions on how to take out the loose screw besides the conventional way? Or else, I would still have to send it in again according to the rep I talked with and end up laptopless in the middle of the semester.

 

call Lenovo and escalate the case and tell them that the service personnel whom touched your laptop actually damaged the threads of the screw, which now means that you can remove the screws if you were to replace the CRU parts like keyboard or palmrest.

They will probably have to replace the laptop, if they can't remove the screw in a normal manner.

 

I did file a complaint which is probably why they sent an IBM tech to my place earlier this week to fix it. I did get a keyboard for free as they thought the keyboard screw might be stripped also.

I certainly wouldn't mind a new lappy though