T30 - IBM Product Recovery Program Problem

[robert213]

When I first purchased my used IBM T30 two years ago, I used my IBM Product Recovery CD's to install WIN XP PRO on my brand-new Hitachi 7K100 100GB HD.

As I was (am) a novice, I took very good notes of every step during the process.

The first heading is...
"IBM Product Recovery Program ver 5.7"

The very first question during the recovery process was...

"Reinstall Product Recovery Program into hidden area (hidden partition) 1.7 GB?"

Two years ago, I chose - [NO]


Now that I am more knowledable, I've decided that having the Product Recovery Program available (in hidden partition) while I am on the road would be a very good idea.

I installed my old 40GB IBM Travelstar HDD. The previous owner installed a retail box version of WIN XP PRO without hidden partition. I used FDISK to delete C: Primary Partition. I used FDISK to create a fresh C: Primary Partition.

Today, I ran the exact same recovery CD's...
"IBM Product Recovery Program ver 5.7"

However, I noticed that the program did NOT ask...

"Reinstall Product Recovery Program into hidden area (hidden partition) 1.7 GB?"

The recovery program went straight to the...
-Microsoft license agreement
-WARNING - Delete all data files
-WARNING - Reformat Hard Disk


Next piece of information...

I entered BIOS setup and observed...

"IBM Product Recovery Program Prompt (F11 key message)" appears in light grey, instead of dark black.

I am not able to change [Enabled] setting. The cursor skips right over it onto the next setting.

What did I do wrong? How can I reinstall my Product Recovery hidden partition?

[RealBlackStuff]

AFAIK you should let R&R do the partitioning/formatting.
You could try and reset your BIOS by loading the Default settings.

[Peter_Peril]

AFAIK you should let R&R do the partitioning/formatting.

So you're saying that R&R would restore the pre-load area even if it was deleted? I ask because I haven't been able to decide on the most effective means to back-up and restore. Did Robert213's experiment fail because he pre-empted the process that R&R would have performed?

=====================5 Minutes Later!======================================
Belay that! I found my answer in the following post: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=33820

Thanks DSVOCHAK! (where ever you are)

[robert213]

I used FDISK to create a fresh C: Primary Partition.

Just a few moments ago, I used FDISK to delete the C:Primary Partition.

Guess what?

The message asking to install hidden partition came back...

"Reinstall Product Recovery Program into hidden area (hidden partition) 1.7 GB?"

My interpretation is...

When using Product Recovery Program CD's with HDD already partitioned (e.g. already has Windows installed or created via FDISK) -- a person is NOT able to reinstall Product Recovery Program in hidden partition.

When using Product Recovery Program CD's with HDD with no partitions (e.g. brand new HD or all partitions deleted via FDISK) -- a person is able to reinstall Product Recovery Program in hidden partition.

Thanks Guys for pointing out my mistake.