T41 How to do a full Recovery

[colfrank]

I was given a T41.. that is all
On boot up it wants a password for an old User, which of course I do not know.
Is there a way to bypass normal bootup and tell the system to totally reinstall everything..... Just like it came out of the original box.

[JaneL]

Password cracking is not what we're about here.

[colfrank]

I am not asking to crack a password..... just would like to know if I can restore the system to it's original factory state. Many brands have a Function key to enter a recovery mode.... is there on on this T41?

[KristianJ]

Welcome to the forum!

First thing to establish is what type of password is, so that we can stop presuming it's either a BIOS password or a Windows password. If it's a Windows password, then there should be no trouble in accessing the hidden Recovery partition (that is, if the hard drive has one). Simply press the Access IBM button when you see the boot splash screen and it should take you to an interface where you can select to restore factory contents.

If it doesn't have a hidden partition, you can acquire recovery CDs for a T41 and reinstall Windows that way. You can post a thread in the Marketplace asking for a copy, and a member should be able to provide a copy of them at a nominal fee.

If it's a BIOS password though, we can't help you out here because of the obvious issues associated with it.

[colfrank]

Thank you.
This is the Windows password..... wish me luck on the rest.