Rescue and Recovery confusion...

[toothandnail]

I recently bought a second hand T40 (2373-2CU). Its been somewhat modified (1.6 GHz Dothan CPU, memory upgrade, upgraded wireless card, plus the orginal 40 GB drive has been replaced by an 80 GB Samsung).

Generally, I'm very pleased with it. However, I am also a bit confused (:) not a new expereince, unfortunately). From reading here and on various IBM sites, I was expecting the machine to have around 4-5 Gb of software in the predesktop area. However, the drive in this machine has two partitions, a 70+ Gb NTFS partition for XP and a second, hidden primary, around 1 Gb in size, FAT32.

Using the Access IBM key seems to access that partition. I've also been able to create a recovery CD from it. But my reading here suggests that there should be more than just the one CD?

Is this setup normal for an old T40, or has the former owner lost some of the original software when migrating to the new drive?

I want to shrink the NTFS partition to allow me to install OS/2 and Zenwalk Linux. In typical NTFS fashion, there is data all over the drive, even after multiple defrag runs. As a result, I'm considering doing a fresh install, but I'm reluctant to wipe the drive until I'm reasonably sure I can get back what is currently on it. Apart from XP itself, there is a DVD player and a good deal of IBM software, none of which seems to be on the single recovery CD.

My questions are 1), is the single rescue CD normal for an older T40?, 2) is it possible to get media with the rest of the initial software load, and 3), are there any pitfalls to watch out for before I wipe the drive and repartition it for my other operating systems?

paul.

[Kyocera]

Sounds like you don't have the recovery partition anymore . You can ask in the marketplace if anyone will help you obtain them or order them from ibm. There is software that will shrink the partition to allow you to install additional os's, I use Partition Commander.

Aren't you the guy who bought a t30 a while back? Did you get it squared away or get your money back.

[toothandnail]

Sounds like you don't have the recovery partition anymore . You can ask in the marketplace if anyone will help you obtain them or order them from ibm. There is software that will shrink the partition to allow you to install additional os's, I use Partition Commander.

Hmm. I've got something there, but it doesn't seem to match what I was expecting.

I've got Dfsee running on the machine - it shows two partitions, both primary, one NTFS (75319.4 MiB), the other FAT32, 996.6 MiB (with a volume label of IBM_Service. Interestingly, Dfsee doesn't recognize the MBR bootcode, which is presumably because it is specific to the IBM rescue stuff. But the second partition seems much smaller than it should be.

Disk Management from XP reports the IBM_SERVICE partition as being healthy, and EISA Configuration, whatever that may mean.

I also saw a number of messages about changing the status of the hidden partition from the BIOS, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of it in my BIOS settings. I have the most recent BIOS and Embedded Controller code (3.21 and 3.04 respectively).

Sounds as though attempting to get copies of original rescue CDs may be my only hope... I guess I'll be visiting the marketplace in a little while

In some respects, I would prefer to do a clean install rather than try shrinking the existing partition, if only because a clean install would allow me to remove any remaining traces of the original owner. The Recovery CD that I was able to generate seems to have all that I need for an XP install, but I don't see any of the extra software at all.

Aren't you the guy who bought a t30 a while back? Did you get it squared away or get your money back.

Yeah, that was me. I ended up having to return it in the end. After much research, it seems that the wired LAN for the T30 is on the motherboard, and it was dead on the one I had. While I could have lived with the US keyboard (Oz uses that layout), having adjusted to the UK layout since my return here, I wasn't too keen on doing that. And the final straw was that when I attempted to update XP from the MS site, the wonderful 'Guenuine Advantage' thing decided that I didn't have a legitimate copy of XP. From reading the forums, I think I now know why, since I think the sellers had used a standard XP Pro install CD with the COA key from the bottom of the machine. From my reading here, it sounds as though that could cause problems with IBM's modified OEM copy.

Anyhow, it did cost me money (had to cover shipping it back), but the people I bought it from were pretty good, so I got my original investment back. Pity - its was a nice machine.

paul.