T410 recovery problem

[adityeah]

Hello

I have a 2010 T410 Laptop which was bought in the US. The warranty has passed now and I am based in India.

When I had bought it, I partitioned my laptop and used Fedora Linux as dual boot for 5 years without any issue. Before doing the partition, i did not create any recovery media. I did so *after* I had done the Fedora install.

Recently I had the need to reset the laptop to the original factory settings. I am unable to do so, predictably, because of my earlier mistake. I went to the Lenovo service center here, who told me somewhat rudely that since I had purchased this laptop in USA, they wont be able to provide software support for it in India. I do not know if there is such a policy but Lenovo support has blatantly refused to help me here.

I tried reinstalling the image from the R&R I had created but it further messed up the situation. Now I can't boot. I reach a GRUB prompt after trying to boot from the hard drive. I also notice that the Lenovo recovery partition is empty (with only 72 MB used). How and what happened there, I have no idea.

One option I am thinking is to install the OS from a new DVD source and then use the product key I have to activate it. Is it a good idea?

Will appreciate any help I can get here. I am stuck on this big time.

[theterminator93]

You can install the particular OS your COA specifies from any Windows 7 installer of that flavor When the time comes to activate, the key under the battery should work.

It will NOT create a new recovery partition for you and most of the drivers will be missing, so you'll need a way to get the appropriate drivers/software installed on the laptop via USB or optical media.

[adityeah]

You can install the particular OS your COA specifies from any Windows 7 installer of that flavor When the time comes to activate, the key under the battery should work.

Thank you for your reply theterminator93. Just to confirm I can install the specified windows version that my laptop came with from any DVD source (non-Lenovo) and then use the product key under my battery to activate it.

That will work? Also - If I do this, the only problem is that I will not be having any IBM/Lenovo software that comes pre-bundled with thinkpad. It will be great if someone can really confirm this so that I can go ahead.

Thanks!

[theterminator93]

Correct on both counts. Not using an OEM Windows installer disc has the downside of your needing to provide the product key for activation. OEM Widows installers have a key built in that activates automatically once it verifies it's installed on a licensed machine by reading special code in the BIOS.

You can download just about all the Lenovo programs and utilities from the Lenovo support site. The trickiest part will be getting the wireless/Ethernet drivers so you can get the machine online and easily locate most other required hardware drivers via Windows Update. A USB flash drive comes in most handy for this.

On a side note, I do have recovery disks for a T410 in x86 and x64 flavors I can host as .iso for you if you'd like to use them instead.

[adityeah]

On a side note, I do have recovery disks for a T410 in x86 and x64 flavors I can host as .iso for you if you'd like to use them instead.

Thank you again, theterminator93 for your reply and your (generous!) offer. I am more than tempted to say yes to you if that is not too much trouble for you. A couple of points though:

1- this recovery disk will need IBM R&R, right? or can I directly burn a bootable disk and boot it like a normal Windows Bootable install disk?
2- Even the T410 configurations vary, right? Would that matter?

If you think it is OK, maybe you can host the iso and let me know a link? That would be a great help.

Thanks again,
a

[theterminator93]

This is a set of two recovery disks, one is the OS (bootable) and the other is the applications and drivers. You don't need anything else to restore the system to factory.

There are MTMs listed on the drivers disc; what's your machine type? I can verify yours is listed.

[adityeah]

There are MTMs listed on the drivers disc; what's your machine type? I can verify yours is listed.

Found mine. It is: 2516-CTO

[RealBlackStuff]

What does it say on the PRODUCT ID line under it?
CTO = Configured To Order, and could mean any variety of components.
We need CPU and GPU details

[adityeah]

Hi,

The product ID is the same too, i.e, 2516CTO.

A few details from the Device Manager though, if it helps:

CPU is i5 M520 @2.40GHz
Audio is Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD
Display is Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Network adapter:
11b/g/n wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II
Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network connection

I hope this is alright? Please do let me know if you need any more info.

Best,
a

[theterminator93]

Yup, the discs I have list 2516 as a supported model. 64 or 32 bit?

[adityeah]

Yup, the discs I have list 2516 as a supported model. 64 or 32 bit?

64-Bit. Based on the hardware I described (CPU/Display/Audio etc), this should work right? Will it be possible for you to share the ISO? I will be really grateful!

[XCLN]

Fastest and easiest way is to use a standard Windows 7 Pro 64 bit (easy to find, they are legit), use the product key as mentioned earlier; and get a USB nic card ( the one I got from B&H see below, it is pretty good, has support for Linux etc).
Then download the Lenovo Thinkvantage System update software from Lenovo
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/tvsu-update

You'll need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4 before that in order for the System update to work
http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download ... x?id=17718

Then sit back and let Lenovo do the job of installing anything you want. I don't install their Advantage Access, online sync clouds, or Rescue and restore programs. (R&R works great IF you take plenty of time to organize it, in particular with an external drive for recovery etc. but after a few months i gave up on it, it is too finicky).


(*) StarTech USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter NIC with USB Port -and passthru so you don't lose a port $35
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... gabit.html

PS. Also while I am at it, *if* you still rely on a free mail account (gmail, hotmail, etc.) I'd also suggest you just plunk $25 *per year* and get a real email service that will guarantee against loss of data and provide you with tech support if you need it (good luck with the Google forums and all the free Google/ msoft etc "forced" updates. Check it out at
http://www.fastmail.us/?STKI=600745