T61 R&R fresh installation

[scareya]

I had a problem with my Windows Vista Ultimate installation (one of the core files was corrupt or something) so I decided to back up my data and try to use R&R to bring my T61 back to factory default (clean wipe). Anyway, it turns out that the R&R had an issue and couldn't "reset" Windows Vista on my hard drive.

Lenovo sent me 4 recovery disks (1 bootup, 1 OS, 2 other discs). I boot from the bootup disc and it asks me to load the os disc, which all works fine until it says it can't find the service partition.

I called Lenovo up again and they said that they would send me another set of recovery disks as a courtesy since my warranty ends today.

Do you think that the new set of discs will actually let me start fresh all over again? Should I just get myself a Vista or XP cd/dvd and install the operating system myself - removing the R&R partition? If so, does Windows XP support the 1 GB of Intel Turbo cache I have? And if not, is it worth having 2 GB of ram on Windows XP Pro SP3 or 3 GB of ram (1 GB turbo cache) on Windows Vista Ultimate SP1?

[hellosailor]

AFAIK the recovery discs are supposed to nuke the hard drive and RECREATE the recovery partition, and if they can't do that the problem may be a bad hard drive. At that point, i'd call up Lenovo, tell them the problem is documented and predated the warranty end, and ask to send in the computer to have them replace or rebrick the hard drive at their facilitiy.

As long as it MIGHT be a bad drive, why not have them take a shot, and possibly replace it?