Activation: If only it was that simple?

[dd]

Maybe its just me:

Ultimately I would like to have a dual boot XP /Linux thinkpad.

I am a little paranoid about botching my system up............so I bought another Hitachi 60 gig 7200 spin 7k60.

So, temporarily (I am waiting for a caddy to arrive from one of the EXTREMELY helpful members on this list), I replaced the original drive with the New!

Unfortunatley, I went through the lengthy process of IBM Product Recovery (5.80) , only to be greeted with the

"Windows Product Activation - This copy of windows must be activated with microsoft before you can log on. Do you want to activate windows now?"

At this point I havent been able to install any drivers etc, so I have no internet connection. Thus I type in the serila number (COA) on the bottom of the thinkpad. No luck. Then I try the other "Unattend" serial number and still have no luck?

Any help would be gratefull (Glad I didnt try this on the original drive !).

Also, I am on xtra ADSL. What driver (If I can get into windows), would I require?

Many Thanks

[jdhurst]

That happened to me a while back on a T30. It means that the recovery failed. In my case, I applied the proper firmware update to the new hard drive, and the recovery worked fine. I would have thought new hard drives would be at the proper firmware level, so there may be another reason. The recovery CD's you used may be defective.

Try calling IBM Support and get them to walk you through the recovery steps while they are on the phone with you. Get a case number. If at the end (they may not wait for the recovery to complete) it fails, they may replace the CD's if they cannot offer another reason.

Windows does not ever require activation on a ThinkPad that is recovered to the preload state. That, at least, is my experience on a T23, T30, and a T41.

One thing I learned on my T41: Up to Service Pack 1, I could recover two hard drives (the main drive and the one in the caddy) with the same license and boot from either. This made sense because (1) I was only using one drive at a time, and (2) it was temporary in that the spare drive got formatted after I was done. After Service Pack 2, booting from the hard drive in the caddy caused license and/or activation problems. I think Service Pack 2 is a little more fussing about licensing. I didn't much care, because the situation was tempory, I only have the Windows license installed once, and everything works fine.
... JDHurst

[Zeitgeist]

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Unfortunatley, I went through the lengthy process of IBM Product Recovery (5.80) , only to be greeted with the

"Windows Product Activation - This copy of windows must be activated with microsoft before you can log on. Do you want to activate windows now?"

At this point I havent been able to install any drivers etc, so I have no internet connection. Thus I type in the serila number (COA) on the bottom of the thinkpad. No luck. Then I try the other "Unattend" serial number and still have no luck?

You did not read the flyer which came with the recovery CDs. You MUST change the boot order (CD first) before you run the recovery CDs. If not the pc will boot after the first CD from the hdd resulting in a winxp version to be activated. If you follow the correct way you will never have to activate winxp

[dd]

Hi

EXCELLANT!
I have given it a go as you suggested....................and it works fine.
I didnt receive a flyer with my disks, so I wasnt ware of this fact.
Many thanks\