T41 Hard drive

[06F150]

I just got a T41 (2373) from my girlfriends uncle who said it will not boot up anymore. So i took a look at it and its comes up with missing files and will not boot. I then tried to recover it with the access ibm at start up. While its recovering it freezes, now im stuck. I called ibm and they said i needed the recovery disks (for $50) But i figured that now would be the best time to replace the hard drive, when i replace it will the recovery cds work with reinstalling windows? Can i get the Cd's anywhere else? and whats a good hard drive upgrade (cheap) ?

Thanks
Alex

[agarza]

It's possible the HDD the laptop has is still in good condition. One thing you could do is to remove the laptop HDD and recovery the I386 folder which is the install folder of Windows XP, that way you wouldn't have to buy or wait to get the recovery CD's

Original recovery cd's will work on any HDD of your Thinkpad.

[06F150]

im not to sure i understand what ur saying. Take out the hard drive and run it? sorry...

[DaveMackenzie]

This may sound technical but its not, if you have a windows xp cd, put it in the cd drive, boot up the laptop, now you will be in the menu, select ''recover operating system'' this will then go into dos style commands, you will need to enter any admin password and select number 1 as your default operating system, now 5 mins later and you will be at the command prompt enter ''chkdsk/r'' it will take a good hour or so, but it will fix any problems, if this doesnt work, then do the same process but enter either ''fixboot'' or ''fixmbr'' use these commands last though as it will create a whole new boot sector

[GomJabbar]

I called ibm and they said i needed the recovery disks (for $50) But i figured that now would be the best time to replace the hard drive, when i replace it will the recovery cds work with reinstalling windows? Can i get the Cd's anywhere else? and whats a good hard drive upgrade (cheap) ?

The Product Recovery Disc set (for $50) will restore Windows and all the IBM software and drivers to a brand new hard drive. No need to enter the Product Key or Activate Windows when using this set.

I bought a brand new 40 Gb, 5400 rpm Fujitsu drive (model MHV2040AH) from Newegg last year for $50. I am sure you could do as well or better.

[t41user]

When I used my recovery CDs to restore to factory image after my PC Doctor problem, I had to contact Microsoft a bunch of times (by phone) for re-authentication purposes. The first time was for XP itself. I still have the authentication sticker key on the underside of my T41, but who knows how many different ways Micrsoft tries to imbed or tie your key to particular parts of your system (that may change for whatever reason) in an attempt not to support unpaid copies of their OS. I think I recall they had to give me a new authentication product key - different from the one that IBM shipped to me with the T41 - in order to pass MS authentication sites and retrieve XP updates, for instance.

The second time I had to contact Micrsoft for authentication purposes was for MS Office. I had the original box I purchased that the CD came in with an authentication sticker on the box, the original CD that was in the box with my own product key, and I never tried to install the copy of MS Office on this CD on any computer other than my one T41. Nonetheless, for whatever reason, after using my recovery CDs to restore factory image after my PC Doctor fiasco, the MS Office website would not give me any of the MS Office updates because all of the automated MS authentication tools/websites were convinced that my copy of MS Office or XP was counterfeit. It took several phone calls and emails to convince MS support people that I was not using anything counterfeit, and eventually they gave me new authentication keys that made everything work.

[GomJabbar]

When I used the Product Recovery Disc set, I did not have to enter the Product Key or Activate after the installation. Some users have reported that this has happened to them. It has also been reported that when this happens, the install did not go properly. Sometimes this happens.

With the proper recovery CD's (from IBM or made from newer Laptops), the recovery will not ask you for activation. The restore process from CD will build the Pre Desktop Area (F11 recovery), built the OS and the IBM software, and activate silently. If it wants to activate, the recovery has gone bad and needs to be redone (been there, done that) ... JD Hurst

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=56051#56051

[t41user]

GomJabbar,

Thank you for the info. IBM sent me a new set of recovery CDs, but I never used them. Do you know whether there are any further problems I might expect other than the initial need to obtain new authentication/product keys? Everything seems to be working fine now, but my recovery definitely seems to have gone badly as indicated. Do you recommend that I do another recovery to avoid additional problems? Are no additional problems currently known by you or others?

[GomJabbar]

To avoid problems when using the Product Recovery Disc set on a used hard drive, I would recommend the following: First set the Security for the Predesktop Area in the BIOS to Disabled. Next boot up a partitioning utility such as fdisk, and delete all partitions on the hard drive. Go back into the BIOS setup again and set the Security for the Predesktop Area back to Normal. Now, after rebooting, you should be ready to use the Product Recovery Discs.

If you still run into problems, or if you want to make sure the hard drive is fully prepared, then do the following: First set the Security for the Predesktop Area in the BIOS to Disabled. Next run a utility from your hard drive manufacturer to low level format or erase your hard drive. You can also check your hard drive for errors with these utilities. Once you are done with that, go back into the BIOS setup again and set the Security for the Predesktop Area back to Normal. Now, after rebooting, you should be ready to use the Product Recovery Discs.

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test

Fujitsu Diagnostic Tool and Erase Utility