t41 crash

[fjs08]

Hi,
My son has a t41 that froze up upon start. He called IBM help and they had him utilize the install of the rescue disk that basically took the computer back to day 1. Everything seems to work well, but two of the programs that have always installed are giving us error messages. Office 2003 and Norton System works. With both we get error messages and the programs won't install. I find it hard to believe that suddenly both disks have gone bad at the same time?? Any thoughts??

Frank

[jdhurst]

A couple of thoughts.

First (does not seem to apply, but here goes) my first set of Office 2003 disks was bad. I called Microsoft and they quickly sent me replacements that work.

Second - maybe the recovery didn't go well. Consider using F11 to re-image the machine. Is that what you did and I just don't understand "rescue disk"? If you do re-image, you may have to call Microsoft to re-activate Office.

... JD Hurst

[fjs08]

This is really getting strange.
I tried to do install Office again and this time I can't even get to the page to input the 25 digit code. I get an error message right off the bat.

I can see Norton AntiVirus on my desktop, but when I try to load the program, nothing happens. I even went to the Start/Programs and nothing. However, when I input my System Works cd, it says that it sees NAV??? When I try to reinstall SystemWorks, I get another error message 1335 about a cabinet file nsw1.cab that can't be found or is corrupt??? So now Office and System Works won't install. A program that says it is there isn't. Now my son had saved items onto cd's for safe keeping before he crash and he can reinstall those files from the cd. So I guess it isn't the cd itself?

It was the reimage, I guess. He did F11 to get to diagnostics and used a program from there which reimaged the hard drive. It took a while too. Almost 45 minutes to be completely through.
Thanks in advance.

Frank

[jdhurst]

Your T41 uses the "Predesktop Area". It is pretty difficult to damage that area, and I doubt that you have. So try re-imageing again. Use F11 right after start. It does take a while (over an hour IIRC) so don't rush it. Let it completely finish. Then, don't install System Works. I don't like that program because (a) it fiddles with things it shouldn't fiddle with and (b) I have never actually seen it work well. YMMV. If Norton A/V does not work (having only re-imaged and done nothing else), then the re-image is probably bad. Call IBM and tell them you need recovery CD's. If Norton A/V does work, try installing Office without System Works. If that doesn't work, request new Office CD's from Microsoft. If it does work, consider not using System Works.
... JD Hurst

[fjs08]

Hi,
thanks again. I printed out your note. A thought that just occurred to me. His unit is one that has the potential incompatibility between the Hard drive and the "airbag." My daughter had the problem and her computer's hard drive just died. My son "disabled" the air bag, and to date hasn't had any problems. He does run some anti-spyware which the IBM tech my son talked to said may cause problems. But once you reimage, shouldn't everything just be like new, or are there "scars" left to deal with??

Frank

[jdhurst]

There are two issues in that last question.
(a) On a proper re-image, there are no scars of any kind. I recommend ordering the recovery CD's because you can use FDISK off those CD's and delete any and all partitions and master boot record. A re-image after that usually succeeds well.
(b) On the airbag issue. Update the drive firmware and the airbag software and then use it. I have it on all the time with no problems.
... JD Hurst