Thinkpads Forum

Hi guys, i'm new here... so I hope i'm doing this right.. but I bought a 600E on ebay about 2 years ago.... after those few years of using it.... i figured I was just gonna buy a new laptop and give this one to a friend or something.... but I ran into a little dilemma... I want to restore it to factory settings... but since I got it off of ebay it didnt come with any special disks or what not... I know it's possible to reinstall Windows 2000 by formatting etc etc... but I am afraid of losing function of things, not downloading all the right drivers etc... and especially re-using the serial number that came with my laptop's windows.... I am afraid of it not accepting the windows 2000 serial number that is liscensed to me.... I am not sure if I have the right windows 2000 cd.... so yeah I am confused as to what to do.... could anyone help me out? Thanks so much

BY THE WAY: Windows Came preloaded on the laptop... I did not install windows.

Hey, If you be kind enough to let me take it off your hands, (i'll pay shipping paypal), Our church kneeds a computer, and I'm aiming to find one for cheap, (Gulp) or fr...ee.
I'd install XP on it, just remove any personal information (ect)
Email me @ joelmc@outdrs.net

well I already promised a few friends they can fight over it.... I dont think XP would run that good on mine because it's only 366MHz.... but all I was really wondering was how to restore it back to factory settings?

I had Xp on the 366MHz and ran really well.
well thankyou for your consideration, Let me know if anything comes up.
Reguards

The 600E never came with W2K installed.

To get it back to the factory pre-load, you would need the restore CD's.

Lacking that, another OEM copy of Windows would work as well, but then you would have to load the drivers from IBM/Lenovo's site.

Or, you could sell it with the drive formatted, and either blank or with a free OS, like FreeDOS or Linux installed. Hey, Microsoft will even let you download the last version of Word for DOS! (OK, so maybe I'm not being very helpful with that last bit. Sorry.)

actually that was pretty helpful... I didnt know it never came with 2000 installed?? Finding drivers for it is gonna be a pain..... how could I get the restore cds?


P.S. mine doesnt have a floppy drive.... do I need this if I reinstall windows 2000?

You would have to buy originals from someone (which is against Microsoft's license agreement), or make copies (guess what?).

You could also use any copy of Windows that you might buy. An OEM version will work, and is cheaper than retail.

I have bought 600E's and put on my own copy of Win98 or W2K from an OEM copy, purchased locally (also against EULA, but there you go).

I hear there's a new version of Windows XP coming that's meant for older machines. Maybe that will have a nice price, and maybe it will arrive before the machine isn't too useless.

IBM's website is so confusing.... can't it list the drivers needed JUST for the 600E?? It's like really different and confusing.

GoldenKnight05 wrote:IBM's website is so confusing.... can't it list the drivers needed JUST for the 600E?? It's like really different and confusing.

You mean these?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... SHY-3TLQ2L

Easily located by using item #2 in the FAQ.

sorry i'm new to the forum and didnt know about those.... thanks.... thats what I was looking for.