T30 XP Pro reinstall

[videonerd]

I have a T30 that my dad has used for a while. The OS is now bogged down and it's slooooow. It's time to wipe the HD and reinstall. I don't have the original XP install and the HPA is gone.

I want to use the XP key on the COA under the Thinkpad but I only have a retail XP CD. Obviously that doesn't work. I've tried changing the setupp.ini but that still doesn't work.

Buying the $70 recovery disks from IBM just gives me all the XP bloat plus more OEM junk... and I might as well spend a few $ more and buy a version of Vista. (please, no XP vs Vista here!)

I'd like to install a legit version of XP that the T30 is licensed for! Is anyone else in this same situation or point me in the right direction?

[Harryc]

How does $38 for the original recovery CD's shipped sound?
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=56674

[videonerd]

sounds about right! thanks!

[jwriter]

hi, first post here.
Just to chime in, I just loaded XP Pro from factory recovery disks (3 needed). Get ready for a long snooze. I didn't time it, but I think it was about an hour and a half. Bloatware is right. You can sit and watch everything get loaded in each of 20 languages. That's why more and more I am just booting off of a Puppy Linux CD, which takes about 2 1/2 minutes. It runs really sweet and has tons of apps.

But back to XP Pro, here is a question: Does anyone know how to get the "My Computer" icon to show up on the desktop? Sounds simple, but all I can do is to get an alias to show up. Just doesn't look like the old familiar Windows with that alias in the corner. Thanks.

[Harryc]

Start, right click on 'My Computer', select 'add to desktop'.

[videonerd]

Right-click on the start menu, properties... select "classic start menu" all your icons will reappear on the desktop (My Computer, My Documents, Network Places, etc.) and your start menu will go back to looking like the W2K style.