Does the web auto detection require the Service Partition?

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Oxleyrd · #1 Post by **Oxleyrd** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:50 am

Does anyone know the web auto detection program or something like that (e.g. "Detect BIOS verison", auto get the warranty information of your machine, etc.) provided directly on the IBM web page require the IBM Service Partition? If I remove the hidden Service Partition, will those programs still work?

Thanks
..hyf

Stingray72 · #2 Post by **Stingray72** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:56 am

Yes it will work.. I have removed the service partition and done a clean installation of XP and i dont have any problems regarding this.

mtbiac · #3 Post by **mtbiac** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:29 am

I did a clean install of XP and it WONT work. I tried both IE and Firefox, and I have all the IBM drivers installed along with a few of the useful utilities.

any idea?

Paul Unger · #4 Post by **Paul Unger** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:00 pm

stingray72--how'd you do it?! The remove service partition/clean install, that is. I tried yesterday with my restore CDs and got into an endless loop with 'rescue & recovery' . . . no matter what I did I always got invited to 'insert disc 1 of the recovery cds'. I finally got everything installed again (after many hours), but IBM still claimed a 4GB chunk of my HD . . . How do you just install Windows WITHOUT the hidden IBM partition, and set your own partitions, from the recovery CDs? Thanks,

Paul

byron · #5 Post by **byron** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:03 pm

fdisk has never failed me. first i think you have to go into the BIOS and "unhide" the service partition.

Paul Unger · #6 Post by **Paul Unger** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:48 pm

I had the service partition 'disabled' in the BIOS and I think that's what sent me into the loop. Only when I set it back to 'normal' was I able to proceed . . . I've read a number of threads in this forum on the steps to take, but they all seem to deal with those who do not have the IBM rescue disks and outline how to build your own. Maybe that's the only way to go; i.e, the IBM disks won't allow a simple XP only installation. Any more help would be great!

byron · #7 Post by **byron** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:36 pm

maybe im just not sure what it is you're trying to do......

if you're trying to delete the hidden partition AND reinstall windows its more of a lengthy process.

you'll need to burn your i386 directory to a CD along with the other related windows files and make it bootable (there are tons of how to's on this board on how to do this).

make sure and back up your drivers for all hardware and software that came preinstalled on you machine (keep in mind some software (dvd software for example) cannot be downloaded from the web site.

next im assuming you want to get rid of that IBM partition.. and i can't give you exact and definite instructions on how to do that b/c i haven't done it. if i were you, at this point i would boot to my newly created Windows XP disk and see if it recognizes the IBM partition and delete it from there (assuming you disable the hide option in the BIOS).

then repartition as you like and proceed with your windows install.

i know these aren't step by step explanations but im just trying to give you some direction.

is this what you are looking for?

Paul Unger · #8 Post by **Paul Unger** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 9:45 am

Yeah, Byron, this is what I've seen before--burn a bootable cd of the I386 folder, etc., etc. I was just hoping that I'd be able to make a clean install of Windows XP (WITHOUT the IBM 'rescue and recovery' service partition) from the IBM support CDs and not have to build my own . . .

byron · #9 Post by **byron** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:01 am

Paul Unger wrote:. I was just hoping that I'd be able to make a clean install of Windows XP (WITHOUT the IBM 'rescue and recovery' service partition) from the IBM support CDs and not have to build my own . . .

sorry but you're SOL.... i agree its kinda lame that ibm doesn't give us a copy of the OS that we pay for. oh well. if you need some help putting together your cd shoot me a PM.

Stingray72 · #10 Post by **Stingray72** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 12:32 pm

Paul, what i did is that i created my own bootable Win XP cd from the i386 folder just like bryon mentioned. Then i disabled the predesktop area in bios (default enabled). Once that is done, u should be able to see the hidden partion in windows (disk management console). I then proceeded with installing xp from the bootable cd i just created. The trick here is at the initial xp setup page, u should delete all the partitions (should see c:/ and the hidden partition) and create a partition occupying the whole drive or divide into as many partitiond as u like and do a format (this is all done during the windows setup process) then continue with ur windows inatallation as normal.

The other option is u use fdisk to wipe out the partion b4 installing windows but using windows cd to do so is faster and more striaght forward.

After XP was installed i restroed the IBM tools folder that i backed up with all the drivers and ONLY the IBM apps that i would like to have. Everthing worked perfectly with no problems.

Next week i'm intending to do the same thing again when SP2 is out. I will slipstream it to my XP cd and do a clean format...hopefully there wouldn't be any problems

Does the web auto detection require the Service Partition?

Does the web auto detection require the Service Partition?

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