T23 new OS....Generic XP pro or Recovery CD?

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Wingnut · #1 Post by **Wingnut** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:18 am

I have a recovery CD and a regular copy of XP Pro for my T23. I want to reinstal the OS from fresh, but want to know the pros & cons of a fresh instal with an off the shelf XP or if I should use the recovery CD.

I know I can install a regular XP and then update all the drivers after at Lenovo.com. I actually have most of them on a memory stick anyway, so that is not an issue. I guess what I am asking is will all the extra bits of software on the recovery CD slow down the laptop and are they all really necessary? Or would a simple basic install of XP be better?

Thanks for your time.

mpcook · #2 Post by **mpcook** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:35 am

This is really up to your own preference. I prefer to have my laptop as from the factory, then I make changes and updates from there. I don't find that the machine is slowed down by the IBM disk image. Bigger time issue might be having to install SP2 and 3 plus any late arriving driver updates over original install.

Mike

madkat · #3 Post by **madkat** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:17 am

on my T30 i have a diy install of XP SP2 , without the ibm software
it runs way better than the original xp it had on it when i bought it (with all the gizmos)
only thing i'm missing is the OSD

btw - for the T23 with under 1G of RAM, XP SP2 is a little too much memory-consumer - it will use the swap a lot...

Wingnut · #4 Post by **Wingnut** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:21 am

Thanks for the replies. I just finished the install using the recovery CD. I'll try it out for a while and if I see it is too slugish, I can always format & instal regular XP. I guess I should also update my sig, the T23 is now running with 1GB or RAM. Should I instal SP3 now?

madkat · #5 Post by **madkat** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:27 am

SP2 is ok on a P3 with 1G - SP3, dunno, never tried it below P4...

Purcy · #6 Post by **Purcy** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:24 am

I also wiped the HD on my old T22 so that I could sell it. I installed a generic XP Pro onto it and downloaded the IBM drivers (that I had on thumb drive) and updated Windows; the entire process took a bit over an hour. I found that the T22 ran very much faster than when I ever used it. I did not have the recovery disks for the T22.

#7 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:56 pm

I run my T23s all with 1GB RAM and have XP-Pro/SP3 installed.
I used a corporate XP-Pro CD with SP2 and SP3 slipstreamed into it.
Then I installed DotNetFx2.0/SP1, installed System Update, and ran that. Then took an image with Acronis.

Anytime I need to (re)load a T23, I use that image which is stored on my PC (takes about 5 minutes, using a USB enclosure), then add AV and FW in the flavors of the day, followed by whatever else is required.

You can also set up your own install by using nLite for stripping Windows of its bloatware like Messenger, Outlook Express, crummy games etc.
Plenty instructions on the web.

Wingnut · #8 Post by **Wingnut** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:41 pm

Yeah, I have a copy of XP Pro that I slipstreamed SP3 into with NLite. I haven't tried stripping things out yet with Nlite. Too afraid to remove somthing I might need.

Thanks for the tips.

kerozene · #9 Post by **kerozene** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:09 pm

My T23 came with Win2k but no restore disks (got it used). Reformatted with WinXP Pro retail version, installed all DotNet stuff, SP3, all hardware drivers I could find on the Lenovo site and all is working great, I even have OSD - I think it was one driver from Lenovo that did.

Rick the Green · #10 Post by **Rick the Green** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:28 pm

Here's what i done :

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 7&start=30

Rick

Purcy · #11 Post by **Purcy** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:32 pm

kerozene wrote: I even have OSD - I think it was one driver from Lenovo that did.

Yep, that OSD comes in the IBM Hotkey driver package from Lenovo.

T23 new OS....Generic XP pro or Recovery CD?

T23 new OS....Generic XP pro or Recovery CD?

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