Thinkpads Forum

Hi all, hope you can offer some advice to a fellow thinkpad user!

I would like to reinstall Windows XP on my 5 year old X40 laptop, as it has just become way too slow and buggy. I have long lost the original CDs that came with my machine, but have a different licensed copy of XP on CD that I can use.

What is the best procedure here? After backing up my files and programs, should I just install the XP as if were a generic laptop? Can one download the Thinkvantage utilities ("Software Installer") after that, and it will update itself to become the old system I'm familiar with? (for example, the IBM wireless controller "Access Connections", instead of Windows Wireless)

I cannot find much useful on the Lenovo website about refreshing a Windows installation, and how to make that work with the IBM-specific software that originally came with the laptop...

Thank you!

Backup your personal data, then format the HD and install XP.
Enter your Type/Model in this page:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ry=26474MU
then select Downloads and Drivers from your page.
System Installer is no longer supported, get System Update V3.14 instead (NOT V4 which is only for Windows 7).

Alternatively shop around for a set of X40 recovery disks (marketplace forum).

thank you for such a quick and informative reply!

For another option, see also...
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP

Moving this to the "Thinkpad - General HARDWARE/SOFTWARE questions" forum.

so just to update this -- actually I discovered that the IBM "Rescue and Recovery" partition (?) provided an easy way to do the update -- I just chose the option to restore the system to factory settings which includes the IBM thinkpad software. And then I used my XP SP3 disk to refresh/update the installation, and it was all good! Now just to download all the software updates and restore my files to the machine.

Thanks for your help,all.

I think you might be able to use the R&R partition to create a set of restore discs also.