Reformatting Z60M

[HowardL]

I had previously written about reformatting my wife's Z60M. The over heating problem was just repaired by Lenovo and I would like to use a copy of XP/Pro and not have all the miscellaneous software running that slows the machine down to a crawl. Fred showed me how to get the drivers but I have a few more questions.

1. Can I use a fress copy of XP Pro and still use the IBM XP software code?
2. Do I need anything other than the drivers before reformatting?
3. Not having doen this before, is there anything special about doing this?
Thanks in advance

[HowardL]

Another question. Is there a special order to follow in installing drivers and software?
Thanks

[rek]

Here are instructions on how to make a clean XP install CD from what's on the Lenovo preload.

http://web.archive.org/web/200511182249 ... /index.htm

I rarely pay attention to the order in which I install drivers after a clean Windows install, though usually I do the "main" ones first (video, sound, ethernet, etc.) and then all the added features later.

Don't forget to look at the "unattend.txt" file on your computer BEFORE you do all this, to make sure you write down the correct CD key. (The one on the COA sticker isn't factory preactivated.)

Also, you don't need to remove the recovery partition like it says in those docs. It is fine just sitting there.

[HowardL]

Thanks Rek. I ended up just installing XP Pro and then taking the drivers off the IBM website for this computer and simply installing them 1 at a time. It worked out fine except IBM disconnected my SD card slot from the system board when they put in a new board during the repair. I appreciate the feedback.