Reformatting a R51 Thinkpad

[mpj31]

My thinkpad has been running awfully slow. I've decided to wipe it to see if that fixes the problem. I can no longer tolerate it taking 5 seconds to open firefox.

I have a question on what steps I should take to completely wipe my computer and reinstall windows xp prof. I do NOT have a disc because the computer obviously did not come with one. I do however have the product-id sticker on the bottom. After doing some research I found the folder C:/I386 has an image of the XP CD. Is this correct, what do I need to do with it. I have an external hard drive and a cd writer. What is the next step?


Thanks.

[agarza]

Google for make windows xp bootable cd. You should find the info. Basically what you do is use Nero to make a Bootable CD, copy the entire folder I386 and download the .IMG bootable file Microsoft Corporation.img. Burn and test. Remember to keep your Thinkpad drivers on a CD or external drive so you could install those later.

[Puppy]

http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=59

[bontistic]

Is your recovery partition still intact? If so then maybe you do not need to do clean installation from i386.

[carbon_unit]

Try pressing F11 at the IBM boot screen. See if you can restore to factory condition.