A few weeks ago the fan in my Thinkpad starting making an unpleasant noise. The Friday before Memorial Day the noise changed, growing louder by an order of magnitude. I quickly moved a few important files to our network storage drive and shut the laptop down. I did a little research and it looked like replacing the fan would be fairly straightforward, so I ordered a new part. It was delivered Thursday.
It was the wrong part. I had ordered 91P8392, a long-style fan assembly. Long fans have an extra heat sink for, I believe, the gpu; it was otherwise identical to the short fan I was replacing (91P8393). The assembly sent to me had two labels: *93 on the part and *92 on the bag. No big, but I won't buy from that place again. Let the surgery commence.
Five screws across the front hold the palm rest down. They're all covered by glued tabs that were not replaced. I had enough trouble getting them off, I was about to go hunting for low-grade adhesive just to make the underside prettier.
Keyboard and front bezel removed, my nemesis is revealed. The copper piece on the left is the fan. I had to ask K if she had a set of microscrewdrivers because I stripped the head of my philips driver trying to get the retaining screws out. Her screw drivers had a sheen of dirt and sawdust on them, which is perfect for delicate work inside a computer.
"Fuck, it's dirty in here." Also: "The red wire goes on the left... I hope the new fan has the same color code."
The "new" fan with grease syringe.
A picture of the flipside. This was cool because it gave me a target for the new thermal grease. Three cheers for refurbished parts! What do you mean you don't like refurbs? Fine, I'll refurbish my own parts. With hookers. And blackjack. In fact, forget the refurbs.
Installed. I replaced everything and hit the power. No noise, but the fan is definitely working, and thus ends another episode within the ancient walls of my malfunctioning machines.
It was the wrong part. I had ordered 91P8392, a long-style fan assembly. Long fans have an extra heat sink for, I believe, the gpu; it was otherwise identical to the short fan I was replacing (91P8393). The assembly sent to me had two labels: *93 on the part and *92 on the bag. No big, but I won't buy from that place again. Let the surgery commence.
Five screws across the front hold the palm rest down. They're all covered by glued tabs that were not replaced. I had enough trouble getting them off, I was about to go hunting for low-grade adhesive just to make the underside prettier.
Keyboard and front bezel removed, my nemesis is revealed. The copper piece on the left is the fan. I had to ask K if she had a set of microscrewdrivers because I stripped the head of my philips driver trying to get the retaining screws out. Her screw drivers had a sheen of dirt and sawdust on them, which is perfect for delicate work inside a computer.
"Fuck, it's dirty in here." Also: "The red wire goes on the left... I hope the new fan has the same color code."
The "new" fan with grease syringe.
A picture of the flipside. This was cool because it gave me a target for the new thermal grease. Three cheers for refurbished parts! What do you mean you don't like refurbs? Fine, I'll refurbish my own parts. With hookers. And blackjack. In fact, forget the refurbs.
Installed. I replaced everything and hit the power. No noise, but the fan is definitely working, and thus ends another episode within the ancient walls of my malfunctioning machines.
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