Thinkpads Forum

Hi there,

I have managed to delete the all important partition on mine and don't have the recovery cd's. It made a happy man very old. I'd like to change that about.

I don't have the recovery discs for this model but you can use a windows xp setup disc then download the lenovo drivers and install them after windows is installed. Many prefer this method because the setup discs will install drivers that are outdated and will need to be replaced anyway, so it's probably best to install the newest drivers manually after windows is installed.

If you need a Windows disc I have them, including COA for $20, your choice of WinXP pro or Vista Business edition, both with the latest service packs integrated. You can send me a PM if you'd like one.

Thanks for your reply. Is there a tutorial for this because I've tried installing windows first and it just says there's no hard drive installed?

If your laptop has an SATA harddrive you'll need to either slip the drivers in during the install which requires a floppy disc, or add the drivers to the winXP disc. I have a winXP disc that has SATA added, as well as service pack 3 and all critical updates as of the date that I made the disc.

You're welcome to send me a PM if you'd like me to send you a disc.

ashrob wrote:Thanks for your reply. Is there a tutorial for this because I've tried installing windows first and it just says there's no hard drive installed?

Since your laptop has a PATA and not a SATA drive I'd imagine that there's something wrong with the partition or the drive itself.

Download DBAN and wipe the drive clean, then try the install again.

Good luck.

Thanks George, I wasn't sure what type of hdd the r50e used and thinkwiki didn't specify. Since it's not a serial drive winxp shouldn't need any special drivers to detect it so you could have a bad drive.

You can download DBAN Here: http://www.dban.org/download

If wiping the drive with DBAN doesn't work try substituting a known good drive.

if you are still looking for recovery XP cd's, the ones posted at the bottom of this thread should work for you

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 93#p713493