T520 fan has stopped spinning (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by solrize@lemmy.ml to c/thinkpad@lemmy.ml

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Not sure what has happened, whether it's physically broken or something went wrong with the software. So the machine overheats fairly quickly now. This is running Debian 11 (bullseye) and /proc/acpi/ibm/fan says:

status:		enabled
speed:		0
level:		auto

so I don't know if the heat is being recognized. The CPU does clock down as it gets hotter. I'm not getting any type of overtemperature alerts though, and I haven't found any place in the acpi tree to read the temperature. That's annoying since there must be some sensors in there.

It looks like there is a program called "thinkfan" in trixie so I might try to upgrade the machine tomorrow. I can only do so much at a time before the box gets too hot.

Any help? Thanks.

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[-] solrize@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 months ago

It's sort of weird, ACPI said the fan was enabled and not spinning. I would have expected different if it was trying to spin. After the power cycle it sounded about normal. But I'll try to clean it, at least with compressed air. Thanks.

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago

btw i recommend against compressed air, laptop fans are fragile and especially on this 15yo machine. it's very possible to break the fan blades. imo a soft brush is better.

[-] solrize@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 months ago

Hmm interesting, thanks, yikes. I will avoid the compressed air then, or stay with very low velocity like a blower brush. But, I had hoped to avoid disassembling the machine. Wow. I powered it off last night and turned it on a little while ago and the fan is running gently.

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2 points 6 months ago

the t/w520 isn't that bad to disassemble, it's all very easy after you manage to detach the plastic palmrest held with clips. if it runs well now that's great :)

this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026

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