Help. How do I format and use the recovery CDs?

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XyKo · #1 Post by **XyKo** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 9:45 am

Well, my laptop was formated into one drive. I don' thave the push button recovery program. So I called IBM and they sent me a the recovery CDs. I try to install it and nothing show up. All I got is 2 folders with MFG and RECOVERY in each CDs. The files are AOD.

Anyone know how to set it back to factory?

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:01 am

Set your machine to boot from CD, and then boot from the recovery CD (first one). That should restore. If not, break out of recovery at the first available menu, run FDISK to delete all partitions, then run FDISK /mbr, then try to recover again. ... JD Hurst

XyKo · #3 Post by **XyKo** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:08 am

Thanks. Just realized that I have 8 CDs instead of 7. One of them was the rescue and recovery program.

#4 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 1:12 pm

Yes, You put in 1 of 1 and boot to it. Tell it to restore to factory. Then when it tells you to, put in 1 of 7, 2 of 7 and so on. When it is done it will boot into Rescue and recovery again.
Tell it to restore to factory again and then let it go until it is totally finished. It will reboot many times before it is completed. If you still see the grassy knoll desktop, it is not finished. When done it will have the black IBM desktop background.

christopher_wolf · #5 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:49 pm

Just to note, it is pretty much the same if you decide to burn 1 CD and 1 DVD instead. It needs to boot from the first CD, then pull the data and other information of the rest of the media.

#6 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:36 pm

In this case he is using the factory pressed cd's but he can make a DVD set when he is done. I have both sets and I prefer the dvd, less disc swapping.
The recovery set IBM sends covers a few different models while the ones you make yourself only cover your model. That is the difference between the 7 disc set and the 8 disc set.

#7 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:03 pm

carbon_unit wrote:The recovery set IBM sends covers a few different models while the ones you make yourself only cover your model. That is the difference between the 7 disc set and the 8 disc set.

I was wondering why some users were reporting a different number of Product Recovery Discs for what was basically the same model of ThinkPad. Interesting information.

agarza · #8 Post by **agarza** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:15 am

I've also my 'T42p' 8 CD's. They're not original though. Received them free buying my T42p with T41p motherboard (long story) from an ex-IBM employee.

I was wondering if the T41p Recovery CD's are the same to those of the T42p. I noticed my modem (which is an Agere Systems AC'97 Modem) was not installed the moment I started using the preinstalled config.

When I deleted all the partitions and decided to go back to Windows (also deleted the predesktop area), tried recovering the system with the 8 CD's. After finishing copying the contents of all the disks, IBM Rescue & Recovery starts doing the recovery but then after 5 min a message pop-up: "IBM failed to restore your system"

I deleted all the partitions but didn't do the FDISK /MBR command. Guess that was my bad.

any suggestions as I'm thinking on replacing my E7K100 (set as primary) and swapping it to the OEM HDD which do not generate a lot of heat)

#9 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:51 am

The T42 recovery set I have covers: Thinkpad R51, T42, T42p. Type 1829, 1830, 1831, 1836, 1840, 1841, 2373, 2378, 2379.
I tried ithem on a R51 but a different type number and they did not have all the drivers and it did not work well.

agarza · #10 Post by **agarza** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:58 am

carbon_unit wrote:The T42 recovery set I have covers: Thinkpad R51, T42, T42p. Type 1829, 1830, 1831, 1836, 1840, 1841, 2373, 2378, 2379.
I tried ithem on a R51 but a different type number and they did not have all the drivers and it did not work well.

So theoretically a T42 set of CD's couldn't recover my T41p branded as T42p on the outside?

Website · #11 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:10 am

benottomex wrote:So theoretically a T42 set of CD's couldn't recover my T41p branded as T42p on the outside?

They could be used to recover the system, you would just need to download additional drivers to get it to 100%.

The reason they list specific models, is so that they include the specific drivers for that model.

Now, for the record, using a different set os recovery disks isn't exactly legitimate, but it would recover it nonetheless.

#12 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:20 am

tfflivemb2 wrote:They could be used to recover the system, you would just need to download additional drivers to get it to 100%.

True, If the recovery completes. Sometimes it will hang when it encounters hardware it does not have drivers for.

JHEM · #13 Post by **JHEM** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 12:26 pm

tfflivemb2 wrote:Now, for the record, using a different set os recovery disks isn't exactly legitimate, but it would recover it nonetheless.

You can use ANY set of recovery CDs that matches the COA on the bottom of your laptop.

E.g., XP COA can use any XP recovery CD.

Using XP recovery CDs on a Thinkpad with a W2K COA is a no-no! It will work, but it's illegal.

After installing the OS, go online and get all the correct drivers for your specific model.

T42P recovery CDs work just fine on a T41P. In fact, due to unspecified "problems" with the T41P recovery CDs, there was a period when IBM/Lenovo sent T42P recovery CDs out to T41P owners in lieu of the T41P set.

James

agarza · #14 Post by **agarza** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:20 pm

JHEM wrote: T42P recovery CDs work just fine on a T41P. In fact, due to unspecified "problems" with the T41P recovery CDs, there was a period when IBM/Lenovo sent T42P recovery CDs out to T41P owners in lieu of the T41P set.

James

Like what problems??

The error I mentioned above: "IBM Rescue & Recovery failed to restore your system". Is that error related to R&R being unable to create the C partition?
I heard about a IBM exclusive utility called bootkil2, which erases all the HDD and prepares the HDD for the recovery process.

Cany anybody confirm it? (I've the ISO but I've not tested it)

Help. How do I format and use the recovery CDs?

Help. How do I format and use the recovery CDs?

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