ThinkCentre M58 - Fan speeds constantly 100%

[cquilliam]

I have a thinkcentre M58 here who's fan speed is running constantly at 100%.  To ensure this wasn't a heat issue, I checked with CoreTemp, and the CPU is running in the mid 40's, which should be more than fine.  Tested a different fan, same issue.  Replaced the Motherboard, same issue.  Found a suggestion on this site regarding the RAM being in the wrong slot, the RAM is in SLOT1, and no change (tried every slot, no difference).  The BIOS is updated to the latest, tried to Restore Defaults, no change.  This is the 3rd motherboard for this system.  What else could it be? I'm really running out of ideas here.  Fans are full speed in BIOS and in Windows.

[dalexop]

Hi there,

what is the issue ?
Noise ?

It's better to run the fan at 100 % and save the CPU, other than the alternative.

Did you load the PC Doctor S/W ?

Is there a fan in the case ?
If you open the case, does it exhibit the same issues ?
How is the fan in the power supply functioning ?

Good Luck,
Derek 

[cquilliam]

The issue is, the fans (CPU and rear Case fan), should not be running at 100% all the time.  The fans are really loud and disruptive.

What exactly would I be looking for in PC Doctor software?  I would think that the fan speeds are OS independant.

Yes, there is a fan in the case.  The power supply fan is running fine.  Opening and closing the case makes no difference.  Tried different fans from a functioning unit, not change.

[cquilliam]

Tried another IBM power supply, and still the same problem.  I've no idea what else to try.  What the hell else could cause this//

[wsgraham]

One of our M55 (8811 D1U) systems started the same problem the other day. 

At first I thought it was a bad bearing because the fan was so loud. Then I realized that it was on high speed all the time.  It isn't any cooling problem but it is so loud it interfers with normal function of the office. (we have four people working within 8 feet of the front of the unit). Everything else is normal. (no dust clogs; plenty of room around the unit; PS and drives all seem OK.)

I was going to replace the fan with a spare from the closet but it's that odd 90mm size and I had none.  I couldn't even figure a good part number for it from the lenovo/IBM support pages but now I'm curious whether it could be a MB problem or, as I type this, I have a strange feeling I better check to see if any upgrade from 'patch Tuesday'  might have caused this. (I kinda doubt it)

Could the PWM circuit be fritzed somehow on the MB?  The way I understand PWM, even if I clip off the 4th wire, the fan defaults to 100%.

2 Questions:

   1. Anyone else working on this issue have ideas?

   2. What's a good P/N for the 90 mm fan?  (I assume the more common 92mm ones won't fit so well)

Thanks.

[9k2s53co]

Hello wsgraham,

according to HMM, P/N for fan is 39M0470

You can find HMM here:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/thinkcentre_pdf/41x6286.pdf

Good luck

[nospam]

Had the same problem on a ThinkCentre.   What fixed it for us was unpluggin the box,  popping out the CMOS battery and waiting 1 minute until the power completely discharged.   Plugged the PC back in, then put the CMOS battery back in and configured the system time in the BIOS and then exited and let it reboot.  It did a scan for a bootable device, found the disk and booted into Windows.   Fan problem was gone.

[wsgraham]

Hmm.

Well, I put a new fan in and when I tried to start it up, the hard drives spun but didn't sound like they were loading anything and there was no signal to the monitor.  Rechecked connections and made sure cards were seated but no luck.  Sounds like maybe a surge caught the system and the fan was just a visible symptom. Since it was the cpu cooling fan, I didn't bother to reboot with the bad fan.  Duh!

[badbeef1]

check that the thermal sense cable is plugged into the system board. We had replaced a system board for a video issue and the cable was laying under some other cables and the tech missed plugging it back in. Once it was plugged in the high speed fan issue was solved.

The connector plugs into the system board close to the main power connector.

[Megabyte]

How many RPM are 100% fan speed? The fan in my M58p constantly runs with 660 RPM and I think it is too loud. Is this speed okay or is it the same problem as with you?