restoring factory setting on t42p

[gesly]

Hi,
I have a thinkpad t42, on which i had installed linux, then deleted it, resized my partition (c:\) using partition magic 8.0. After all this playing around, I want to restore my laptop to original factory settings. So, for the first time I pressed on Access IBM during startup, but I dont get ant "Recovery optios". All I get is the IBM BIOS utility.

Please help. Need to get my laptop set right, so that I can go back to doing some useful work!

I searched the forum for a relevant q, but couldnt find one. Sorry, if this q had been posted here before.

Please help!
Thank you

Ges

[gesly]

hi,
btw, i do not have recovery cds with me, but i have not deleted the backup partition!

Ges

[cchsiao]

As I know, the rescue and recovery software is needed if you wanna access the recovery partition. I think you can try something like:
1. Fresh install Windows XP. Only fresh install, don't need to install all the drivers.
2. Install the software "Rescue & Recovery". So you'd better backup this into a CD.
3. Reboot, and then press Access IBM during the rebooting process.

[Conmee]

Most likely, you've deleted the MBR that points to the recovery partition. To reinstall it, go to this link http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... &loc=en_US and download the IBM MBR Recovery Repair floppy image. You'll need a USB floppy or bootable USB Memory key, but this will restore the necessary MBR that allows you to "Press F11" to get to the factory service partition.

Daniel

[gesly]

hey thanks a lot...thats exactly what i wanted..gonna try it now....

any idea in how i can still preserve that after I install fc3, anyway to ensure that I cna still use it?

Thanks a million!

Gesly

[gesly]

Hi ,
I was able to downlaod the recovery image, but when I tried to extract it onto my USB thumb drive, I got a message window that said trying to access harddisk directly, operation not supported and then I got a message from the extractor that says diskette error!

I am not sure what to do. I am so handicapped without my laptop!

Hopefully one of you guys out there can give me a solution!

Gesly

[Conmee]

Gesly,

If you have an email or ftp site I can use, I'll zip up the contents of the floppy and send them to you. Once you receive the files, simply extract them and copy them to your BOOTABLE USB Key. Keep in mind, you'll want to overwrite the config.sys and autoexec.bat on your USB Key, but DON'T overwrite COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS (or if it has IBM PC DOS on it, COMMAND.COM, IBMBIO.COM, and IBMDOS.COM--this is the DOS used on the floppy image.)

Daniel