Fresh Install Of XP From CD...

[lutami]

Rather long..sorry...

Recently reformatted ( had the machine a year so preload not used to reformat before) and the preload didn't install properly..things missing and some just not working...tried the back up copies i made when i first had the machine...same problems...

I phoned IBM and though i'm just a couple of weeks out of warranty i will have to buy the discs to be able to reformat....no way!

I have an XP disc licenced to me that was installed on a previous PC...sold PC with original OS on it and kept the XP.

Questions...
Can i use this to do a fresh install of XP then just download all the IBM apps i need from IBM...is there anything i'll not be able to retrieve.

I've read through how to fresh install without a recovery CD but i'm not that confident of being able to do it that way...( Couldn't find the IBMSHARE folder but the Intervideo WinDVD was there though )...and with things seemingly missing from the preload i'm not too sure it will work for me anyway.

I've tried booting from the CD but even though i set the boot order to boot from CD the machine just starts normally and the CD loads giving me the option to install XP...first screens are different to what's shown on UCI_MECHs guide...am i selecting the correct option i wonder....anything to do with computers that's not in 'childspeak' i have difficulty in understanding and can see myself really messing things up.

Took me over two hours to find info on why i was getting the message that it couldn't install XP on my machine because i already had a newer version installed...was because i had sp2 installed...i removed sp2 and no longer had the message...

I've searched here to find some info on a fresh install with an XP disc but apart from pointers to IBM website that gives instructions for Windows XP - Thinkpad R51 that requires booting from the CD....and mine just wont do it! ... i cant find any thing else.

Any pointers to any info...anything i mustn't miss doing etc...

Really would be grateful for some advice on this.

[brettgri]

Hi I may have a few things that might help from my personal experience.

I have had problems with the preload not working properly as well.

The best thing to do is to FDISK or delete all the partion infomation on the drive. You can use either a floppy or your self booting WINXP OEM CD. If you use the CD from the start choose install XP not repair, then after it seaches for previous versions of windows it will show you your partition. Select D for delete, it will then as you some other questions I think you press L at the last menu to finally delete the partition. Do this for all the partitions on your drive so you end up with one area with unpartitioned space.

Then reboot enter the BIOS and change the boot priority so that CD is first. (this is where I have had many problems with restoring thinkpads if you do not select this I have often found the recovery partion and install is missing things.)

Boot with the IBM recovery CD's and let it do its thing. (I suspect that they will work properly this time.)

I hope this helps,

Brett

[bill bolton]

Can i use this to do a fresh install of XP then just download all the IBM apps i need from IBM.

Yes!

However, given your comment about 'childspeak', you really would be better off paying IBM the $$ and getting the proper recovery set, as it is guaranteed to do what you want, whereas with a more generic XP Windows install there is a fair amount of stuff you will need to figure-out/do for yourself.

Cheers,

Bill