Difference between T42 and T41 preloads

[Terrahawk]

Hi everyone,

I've been running my T42p off a T41 recovery image because the T42p did not come with a hard drive and I had to get one separately. I've been reading around on here and have now found that the T42p may do things differently, i.e. boot into R&R when you press the Access IBM button on startup, etc. What are the main differences between the T42 and T41 preload images, and is it worth me trying to find a proper T42 one anywhere?

[sktn77a]

The T41 recovery CDs will load the OS just fine on the T42. You may need to download some drivers for new hardware that wasn't availoable on the T41 and some supplemental programs (such as the ThinkVantage software).

[Terrahawk]

Yup, I've been running my T42p off the T41 preload just fine. I installed the T41's recovery partition onto the T42p, and restored it to factory condition. What I'm interested in, is whether the T42's recovery partition installs anything new and interesting, and whether it would be worth me tracking down a copy of the T42 recovery partition to get these new and interesting details. For instance, I heard that the T42 upon pressing Access IBM at startup goes into Rescue and Recovery and has a neat little setup with network connectivity and a browser, while the T41 is similar to the R40, X31 and T40 in that it goes into the Access IBM menu where you can enter the BIOS setup, recover to factory contents or run PC Doctor, or even go to Rescue and Recovery.

[richk]

There is a technical difference between the T41 and most T42 preloads. T40,T41 and early T42 machines came with recovery stuff stored in a Hidden protected area (HPA). The software modified the drive firmware to change the size of the drive so that the size was reported back smaller than the actual size. The recovery stuff was stored in the part of the drive you couldn't see. It was almost impossible to reuse the drive in a different model/machine and get the full space back. T42 went back to the earlier (and later) process where the recovery was stored in another "real" partition. For those interested in the technical description, search the internet for "hidden protected area white paper"

[Terrahawk]

I have a copy of the white paper somewhere. I found it really useful. It allowed me to develop a method to back up my R40's HPA, when I had one. I re-used that method to restore the HPA on my X31 (which didn't come with one) and to move my T41's HPA to my T42p which didn't come with a hard drive. The date on the bottom of my T42p is January 2005 and according to the warranty information on Lenovo's website, it ran out on Jan 09, 2008 which seems to line up with a 3 year warranty.

Would my T42p have been before or after the preloads changed from the HPA to the newer type? If it is supposed to have the newer style preload with the visible partition and all, how would I see if I could find one, and re-install it? I am very familiar with adding and removing the HPA style of preload but have never dealt with the newer sort. Is it as simple as adding/removing a partition and changing the boot structure to match?

[richk]

If it had the newer preload, it would just be another partition. I'm not sure how yours would have come. The only T42 recovery disks I have are the newer style, so that's all I ever dealt with. I wasn't working on Thinkpads in 2005.

[Terrahawk]

I guess my best bet then is to track down a set of recovery disks. The T41 HPA has drivers for everything and so works brilliantly so I'm not in a hug hurry because I'll probably have to wipe everything to install it. Still, I'd be interested to find out if anyone has an early T42 and what sort of preload it came with so I can get an idea of where mine fits in the scheme of things.

Thanks for the info, richk

Late breaking news (i.e. edit): it appears that my T42p is an early model since according to ltwbook.pdf it was introduced in May 2004 and withdrawn in May 2006, with mine being of Jan 05 vintage. My T41 appears to be quite a late model one, being from Sep 2004.