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Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

T60/T61 Series
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BigCatAndy
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Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

#1 Post by BigCatAndy » Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:39 pm

Hello,
I have one T61 with "Windows Vista" licence key sticker and Windows 7 running on it. I started laptop with Linux Live CD and I can see, there are 2 partitons on the HDD:
- ServiceV002 with approximately 5 GB
- SW_preinstall with approx. 152 GB

I searched in the Internet and could find that "ServiceV002" would be a recovery partition of Vista. But when I press "thinkvantage" button, there is no reaction, Windows 7 starts. I suppose, R&R should start, shouldn't it? If yes - is there any way to "bind" Thinkvantage button again to recovery partition?

Regards,
Andrey
- in use -
(1) TP R61i Frankepad - 4 GB / C2D T9500 / 180 GB SSD / UXGA display
(2) Lenovo 3000 N200 - 2 GB / C2D T7300 / 160 GB
(3) TP T450s
- in museum -
IBM 600x, IBM TP T43p, Lenovo TP Z61t, Lenovo TP X60 Tablet

dr_st
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Re: Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

#2 Post by dr_st » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:53 pm

I think the Recovery partition needs to be marked as "Active". You can check which partition is currently active in the Disk Management interface (diskmgmt.msc).

I believe that if you download and install the R&R software, it will do this thing for you. No idea if it does anything else other than setting the partition as active.

Note that if you set an "active" partition, which does not have a bootable OS image (for instance, if something is wrong with the R&R partition), then your PC will not boot at all and you will have to run a recovery environment from a CD/USB to change those bits back.
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BigCatAndy
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Re: Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

#3 Post by BigCatAndy » Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:06 am

Hello dr_st
dr_st wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:53 pm
I think the Recovery partition needs to be marked as "Active". You can check which partition is currently active in the Disk Management interface (diskmgmt.msc).

I believe that if you download and install the R&R software, it will do this thing for you. No idea if it does anything else other than setting the partition as active.

Note that if you set an "active" partition, which does not have a bootable OS image (for instance, if something is wrong with the R&R partition), then your PC will not boot at all and you will have to run a recovery environment from a CD/USB to change those bits back.
thanks for the hint. I think, I will start Linux LIve CD and use GParted to mark that partition as active.

Regards,
Andrey
- in use -
(1) TP R61i Frankepad - 4 GB / C2D T9500 / 180 GB SSD / UXGA display
(2) Lenovo 3000 N200 - 2 GB / C2D T7300 / 160 GB
(3) TP T450s
- in museum -
IBM 600x, IBM TP T43p, Lenovo TP Z61t, Lenovo TP X60 Tablet

BigCatAndy
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Re: Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

#4 Post by BigCatAndy » Tue Dec 22, 2020 7:49 am

Update:
I started Live CD, changed partition flags to "boot", restarted laptop - and got error message "BOOTMGR missed, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart". Next step is to install Linux to get GRUB.

But! I saw that partition SERVICEV002 had only 57 MB occupied. I suppose, it is too small for the real recovery partition. But I will try with GRUB...
- in use -
(1) TP R61i Frankepad - 4 GB / C2D T9500 / 180 GB SSD / UXGA display
(2) Lenovo 3000 N200 - 2 GB / C2D T7300 / 160 GB
(3) TP T450s
- in museum -
IBM 600x, IBM TP T43p, Lenovo TP Z61t, Lenovo TP X60 Tablet

DL_Xeon2007
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Re: Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

#5 Post by DL_Xeon2007 » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:59 am

Did you use Lenovo recovery media of Windows 7 to install Windows 7 on your drive? Also, the ThinkPad T61 does not have official Lenovo Windows 7 recovery media however the recovery media for the ThinkPad T540p, T450 of Windows 7 Pro SP1 will successfully install on the ThinkPad T61.

But, you will have to manually activate Windows 7 unless you have the Middleton's Bios for the ThinkPad T61 that enables SLIC 2.1 in the Bios. On the native bios (without the Middleton's bios) the ThinkPad T61 does not have SLIC 2.1 enabled which is required for automatic activation in Windows 7 and onwards when you use Lenovo recovery media.

I have used the Lenovo Recovery media for the ThinkPad T61 with Windows XP SP2 32 - bit and Windows Vista Business 32 - bit and the ThinkVantage button operates normally to boot into the Rescue & Recovery environment. However, the ThinkVantage button does do anything or boot into the Rescue & Recovery environment when I used Lenovo Windows 7 recovery media for the ThinkPad T540p and the ThinkPad T450 to install Windows 7 Pro 64 - bit on my ThinkPad T61.

This is most likely due to the removal of the ThinkVantage button from the ThinkPad T430, T530, W530, X230, and other ThinkPad models released from 2012 and onwards. So, the installation of Windows 7 most likely does not have the files to use or map the ThinkVantage button on newer Lenovo Windows 7 recovery media.

Nevertheless, I haven't yet tried the Windows 7 recovery media for the ThinkPad T400, T500, W500, T410, T510, W510, T420, T520, and W520 which will most likely utilize the ThinkVantage button on the ThinkPad T61 because these lineup of ThinkPads were the last ThinkPads to still have a ThinkVantage button and the ThinkVantage button served the purpose of the ThinkVantage Tool box in Windows 7 which is the successor to ThinkVantage productivity center for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Also, pressing the ThinkVantage on these lineup of ThinkPads before the machine boots into Windows 7 will launch the Rescue & Recovery environment.

Without a doubt, I would recommend getting a second drive and use the Lenovo Windows 7 Pro Recovery Media for the ThinkPad T420 to install Windows 7. Then, the drivers for the keymapping of the ThinkVantage button as well as the files for Rescue & Recovery will automatically be installed without user intervention and pressing the ThinkVantage Button on your ThinkPad T61 should boot to the Rescue & Recovery environment.

As always, best of luck on restoring the functionality of the ThinkVantage Button on your ThinkPad T61 and keeping ThinkVantage Technologies alive for many years to come!

Lister
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Re: Is it possible to "bind" Thinkvantage-button back to recovery partition?

#6 Post by Lister » Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:05 am

I recommend using the Lenovo Recovery Disk T400 / T500 to restore the system. Technically, they are closest. All you have to do is install the sound and graphics card drivers and SP1.
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