[ltp] x61: Fan error

[Paul Bolle]

[This question is not Linux specific, but I like this list's signal to
noise ratio.]

A six years old ThinkPad X61 (that is now used by a member of my family)
today suddenly refused to boot. It only emitted some scary beeps before
shutting itself down. After a few attempts I notice an equally scary
    Fan error

message before it shut down.

Another few attempts later it, somehow, actually
booted. /proc/acpi/ibm/fan show a zero "speed" while /proc/acpi/ibm/temp
showed one of its temperatures nearing 90 degrees celsius with a bit of
help of Youtube etc. Not good.

A new fan apparently costs about € 60 and probably requires applying
"thermal paste": ie, quite a bit of money compared to the present value
of this laptop and I guess an afternoon fiddling with hardware (not my
cup of tea).

Has anyone seen something similar? Should I try to fix this or should I
be happy that I squeezed six years out of this machine?


Paul Bolle