Restoring T42 R&R CD's to a blank disk

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Paul Pennington · #1 Post by **Paul Pennington** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:40 pm

Can anyone tell me how to start loading the 6 recovery CD's that were created from the recovery partition on a T42? Please don't suggest pressing the Access IBM button during bootup. There's no choice to do the recovery, because the new hard disk is blank. If I had a recovery partition, I wouldn't need to restore the CD's! There are also no instructions. There's no printed user manual, and no PDF manual on the web site, only the familiar "press the Access IBM button".

So, does anybody know the magic trick?

#2 Post by **richk** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 9:04 pm

Put the first CD in the drive. Hit F12 at startup and boot from the CD drive.

Paul Pennington · #3 Post by **Paul Pennington** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 9:16 pm

Nope, the first CD is not bootable. As I said, these were the CD's created from the recovery partition, not the recovery set from IBM.

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:14 pm

Create a Rescue Media CD and boot up from it. AFAIK, you need to have Rescue and Recovery installed (I believe of the same version of your Recovery CD's) to do this. Go to Start > All Programs > Access IBM > Create Rescue Media or Start > All Programs > ThinkVantage > Create Recovery Media.

Paul Pennington · #5 Post by **Paul Pennington** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:34 pm

Ah so -- that's why I only have 6 CD's instead of the 7 mentioned elsewhere. My son either forgot to send that one or didn't realize he needed to create it. Since I have a blank hard disk, there's no way to make one now.

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:11 am

Normally, that first bootable disc is created when you burn a set of Product Recovery Discs. Which model of ThinkPad are you talking about? Do you know if Rescue and Recovery was ever updated before the Product Recovery Discs were made, or are these the factory pressed CD's from IBM?

Someone could probably email you the ISO of the Rescue Media CD (perhaps in split ZIP files) so that you could burn it yourself. I am not sure how big a file it is because I do not have a copy at my present location.

#7 Post by **richk** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 11:59 am

I just checked and a zip file of the first disk is 580MB, which is big for an email.

Paul Pennington · #8 Post by **Paul Pennington** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 12:50 pm

It's a T42 as the subject says: 2373-3UU. I don't know if Rescue and Recovery was updated before these six CDR's were made. Why do you ask? Are there big changes in the versions?

I've never made backups from the R&R program. Does it make that bootable Rescue Media CD automatically, or do you have to make it separately from the other six backups? Perhaps my son just forgot to include it.

These are not the factory pressed CD's from IBM. Speaking of which: I called IBM Tech Support last night to ask about how to load these CD's. (The warranty has not yet expired.) I spoke with an actual live person in Atlanta who was easily understandable! Very unusual these days. They're sending a set of recovery CD's.

sktn77a · #9 Post by **sktn77a** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:18 pm

The T40 had 4 disks, the T41 had 5 or 6 and the T42 had 7. You're lucky - they usually charge $30 to $40 for a set of recovery CDs if you don't request them in the first month of ownership.

#10 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:36 pm

richk wrote:I just checked and a zip file of the first disk is 580MB, which is big for an email.

Whew! I definitely would not want to attempt send anything that big via email. I guess I should have known better. Since the OP is getting the real deal from IBM the issue is now mute, otherwise the only practical method would have been for someone to burn a CD and send it via the USPS.

Paul Pennington · #11 Post by **Paul Pennington** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:52 pm

I thought I would wind up this thread by posting my results. I received the recovery CD's from IBM. There are 8 now -- one bootable Rescue and Recovery CD and 7 data disks. The set I received for Windows XP Pro does include Service Pack 2.

I had to call IBM tech support again to figure out how to run the recovery once the first disk booted. You pick an item from a long list on a very busy page. That loads the CD's onto the hidden recovery partition on the hard disk. Then, you select the SAME ITEM AGAIN to load the C: drive. Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result. In this case it works. There were also a couple of unanswerable questions to get past.

I plugged in a network cable to my router and it basically did the 82 Windows updates by itself.

Then I ran:

1. IBM Update Connector which didn't work (couldn't find server).

2. Thinkvantage System Update, which had a conflict with #1, so I uninstalled #1, downloaded the latest version of #2 manually and installed it. It then worked flawlessly to update all the drivers.

3. I did not try ThinkPad Software Installer.

So I'm up and working at last. I think I'll make a backup image at this point before I screw it up. I also want to try making my own reload set on a DVD. There is a separate menu choice to make the bootable CD, another trap for the unwary/job security for tech support.

I'd have to say this T42 has been the most difficult of the reloads I've done on a half-dozen or so different model ThinkPads.

Restoring T42 R&R CD's to a blank disk

Restoring T42 R&R CD's to a blank disk

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