R50e Rescue & Recovery failed (or not?)

[gumiflex]

I wanted to reinstall Windows XP on my R50e as they became slow and bugged, so I retrieved the computer to factory settings. However, now there's no Windows!!! Computer boots to IBM Rescue and Recovery, and doesn't start Windows installation. Before retrieving to factory settings there were two partitions: C: with Windows XP, and hidden partition called IBMSERVICE (only 4 GB in size). I supposed there's Windows instalation on that hidden partition. After retrieving to factory settings, there are 3 partitions now. And partition labels changed too. So now there are:
E:\ (the new partition) named IBMPSP, only 400MB in size
F:\ (former C: partition) called IBM PRELOAD
C:\ (former "hidden partition") named IBM SERVICE, 4 GB in size

So, is there a way to start Windows installation? Thanks for the anwers!

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, let me say that I *love* your user name. Brought me back to the laughs of my (much) younger years...

I presume that you tried to recover the system by pressing F11 on initial boot, correct?

It sounds like your ThinkPad's recovery partition might be corrupted. I'd give it another shot, and if that doesn't work just wipe the drive, borrow an XP disk and install the OS from scratch...

Good luck.