Trouble with recovery options

[Choad Namath]

I just bought an x60 on eBay, and I'd like to use the service partition to recover it to factory shape. I'm having a couple of problems though. I can see the SERVICE partition when I check compmgmt.msc, but I can't boot into the recovery mode. Apparently the previous owner installed a GRUB loader to boot Windows XP from, so I only have the options of going into the BIOS, choosing a drive to boot from, or just booting into the GRUB loader at startup.

I also tried to create recovery media through the Thinkvantage software, but when I start the process, it gives me an error message stating that "The files required for creating the rescue media cannot be found."

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I spent some time searching around this site, and it sounds like something messed with the MBR so that it's not giving the option to boot into recovery mode. If anyone has any insight into this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[GomJabbar]

This should work for you if the service partition has not be damaged. First verify that the Security for the Predesktop Area in the BIOS setup menu is set to Normal. There are (2) download links on the following page. Be sure and select the correct one for your operating system.

Rescue and Recovery - Recovery repair diskette

[Choad Namath]

Thanks for the link. Do you know if I can use a CD instead of a floppy disk? I don't have a floppy drive on the laptop or any other PC.

[GomJabbar]

To my knowledge, no one has done this with a CD, but I might have missed a post where someone accomplished that.