Repairing Lenovo R61i fan assembly replacement or cleaning

identify the exact type of your ThinkPad

get the right fan assembly, in this case FRU P/N: 42W2779

disconnect power-supply

detach battery

find all five screws with the shown symbols and unscrew them

unscrew all the shown screws

These ones are tiny

remove the palm rest carefully

blow the dust away

lift the keyboard carefully

Use a spudger to detach the cable

lift the keyboad and leave it on the side

blow the dust away

unscrew the left and right screw of the keyboard bezel and speakers

unscrew the first two screws of the shielding

carefully lift the wireless antenna cable from the cable guide

unscrew the last two screws from the keyboard bezel

carefully pull out the keyboard bezel

flip the bezel 180°

remove the wireless antenna cable from the cable guide of the fan assembly

unscrew the fist, tiny screw of the clip

unscrew the longer screw of the clip

remove the clip

remove the shorter screw of the second clip

remove the longer screw of the second clip

remove the clip

remove the last two screws of the fan assembly

detach the power cord with a spudger

CPU with thermal grease

other chip with termal grease

carfully lift the fan assembly

you may need to pull a little more because of the thermal grease

blow the dust away

take a spudger and remove the old thermal grease

get a paper-wiper

wrap the wiper around the spudger

get some alcohol on the wiper

clean the CPU with the wiper

clean the chip with the wiper

Ensure there is no old thermal grease left

Follow this guide to add new thermal paste to the CPU.

now place the new fan assembly

press down the CPU- and chip-connector

don't forget to plugin the power cable of the fan assembly