T420s Fan noise Issue

[namelessrabbit]

If there really is a new part number, we may have found new hope again. But to be honest, the last year made me quite pessimistic that there will be fix...

[Helvetia]

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mycroft schrieb:

Hi all,

after using TPFancontrol for the last 8 months my fan started to make very scratchy noises when it ran on 2K revs. So I finally called local Lenovo support and asked for a replacement. Without asking any question (!), the they came over and replaced the fan. While doing so, the technican mentioned that the fan on the T420s is one of the biggest problems and that a new model is used nowadays.

Ever since replacing the fan the maschine runs perfectly quiet! Finally! Should have done that so much earlier!

So: Given that Lenovo did not ask a single question (!) and replaced the fan immideatly, I can only recommend everyone to do the same!!!

HTH!

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@ Lenovo & Mark_Lenovo: Is this the long awaited fix? When will the product recall start?

[jmstuckman]

mycroft: Is the fan quieter even while running at 4000RPM?

[mycroft]

@jmstruckman: No, it isn't. but it doesn't run on 4k constantly anymore. It runs on 3.5k from time to time, but that's much less noise (though still audible).

@mh420: The T420s is a 4174P4G. Or do you mean the part number of the fan? If so, how do I figure out this number?

[mycroft]

Ehrm - this is a bit awkward to admit: I just noticed that I didn't completely deactivate TPFanControl after my initial testing (which I thought I did) - so last few days it actually continued to run with TPFanControl after I restarted Windows. :-(

Now that I turned it off again, fan runs at 3.5K most of the times (@48-60°C) and at 2K (<48°C) sometimes - still much better than the almost constant 4K before - but not as quiet as I praised it yesterday.

Sorry!

[X2222]

That might be a slight imporvement. I don't recall the fan on my T420s ever running at 3.5k.

It runs at 4k (@48-60°C) and at 2K (<48°C). The problem is that when using the lenovo dock, the NVS GPU is always on at 100% and the laptop isn't capable of reaching less than 48°C even on idle. However, off the dock on battery power the temperature is much lower. I've tried all the power manager and bios settings but no luck.

Lenovo is ignoring this situation. I slight bios change would solve this problem. 

[alexcriss]

I still wonder why they don't care changing the thresholds a bit (and maybe reintroducing the 3000 RPM behaviour). It would take five minutes of their time, it won't destroy any hardware, and we will be happier (not completely satisfied such as if they solve the fan stuck issue, but I lost hope for that).

[tripplec]

I was thinking of all you guys when I read the following. Following this and going from Active to Passive state may help you. Its a toggle so there is nothing to lose. However, if you fans are faulty that should be the first course of action.

Windows 7 tip of the week: Configure the system cooling policy

You've probably tweaked the power settings on your Windows 7 computer; you might have even created a custom power plan. But have you delved into the advanced settings? You can specify how Windows should respond to heat conditions when your system has active cooling features. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Click Start | Control Panel
2. Click the Power Options applet
3. In the right pane, for the power plan that you have selected to use, click Change plan settings
4. Click Change advanced power settings
5. In the Advanced settings dialog box, scroll down and expand Processor power management
6. Expand System cooling policy
7. Here you'll see the current setting (either Active or Passive) - click the setting to change it
8. Click OK

The Active setting increases fan speed before slowing down the processor. The Passive setting slows the processor before increasing fan speed.

[sunan126]

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tripplec wrote:

I was thinking of all you guys when I read the following. Following this and going from Active to Passive state may help you. Its a toggle so there is nothing to lose. However, if you fans are faulty that should be the first course of action.

Windows 7 tip of the week: Configure the system cooling policy

You've probably tweaked the power settings on your Windows 7 computer; you might have even created a custom power plan. But have you delved into the advanced settings? You can specify how Windows should respond to heat conditions when your system has active cooling features. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Click Start | Control Panel
2. Click the Power Options applet
3. In the right pane, for the power plan that you have selected to use, click Change plan settings
4. Click Change advanced power settings
5. In the Advanced settings dialog box, scroll down and expand Processor power management
6. Expand System cooling policy
7. Here you'll see the current setting (either Active or Passive) - click the setting to change it
8. Click OK

The Active setting increases fan speed before slowing down the processor. The Passive setting slows the processor before increasing fan speed.

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Thank you for your kindness. But without luck. Actually this setting is equal to that the Lenovo Power Management did.

[David44]

Mycroft,

Is your fan still running a little more quiet than the original?  I know there is still a BIOS problem, but I only have 45 days left on my warranty and will do anything to get the fan to be quieter. Including sending it out for repair that may only slow it down a bit.  The sucker runs nonstop while charging and erratically on battery.

By the way, our last BIOS update (1.31) was around 12/21/2011 just before JamieZ left the group.  And nothing from Lenovo except for being scolded about forum rules on 3/27.