There's got to be a way to sort this!!

[kodackamera]

Hello Forum,

I recently bought a ThinkPad T42 2373-F1G.

It is running well, the guy has taken good care of it, using it for his business and nothing else, run's very cleanly.

For my own purposes I wish to restore the T42 as to when it was first made. A clean slate.

I received no recovery disc or any such thing. The hard drive, I am assuming is the stock one, it is a Hitachi HTS541680J9AT00 80gb.

I decided that since I do not have any recovery disc, to restore back to factory settings, I could perhaps make one by using the "CREATE RECOVERY DISCS" function.

I open the program, begin to use it and am then told "The files required for creating the rescue media cannot be found"

Please, how to proceed, I've been 10 hours on this so far, and the caffiene is wearing off!

On the assumption that the recovery partition IS on the HD, and IS safe. Can it be unlocked, written to a bootable cd, and then Booted? Or is sophisticated software required to make use of the raw data.

Kodack.

[underclocker]

Welcome to the forum!

FYI, for a T42, there should be a recovery partition that you can access at boot up (IBM splashscreen) by pressing either the blue ThinkVantage key or the F11 key. If the option for factory recovery does not appear, then that partition is missing or damaged (not so uncommon for a six year old machine).

The create recovery media can only be run one time after each factory recovery, so if the previous owner has created disks, you can not until the factory recovery is run (procedure above, if it works).

If you post a looking for (LF) ad in the forum marketplace for the recovery media, you should get a quick response and some help.

The only real benefit to using the recovery media is that you don't need to enter a Win XP serial number. You'll have over 200 updates to do between Windows and Lenovo to bring it up to current. It's better to just use an XP install disk with SP3 slipstreamed, then download the Lenovo updater software and away you go.

Slimstreaming info --> http://lifehacker.com/386526/slipstream ... llation-cd

[kodackamera]

Thank's for responding so soon Overclocker.

What you mention sounds very interesting. It seems this is the way to go considering the circumstances.

At startup I don't get a recovery option with the IBM access button, perhaps this is indeed indicative of a damaged partition etc.

So is the idea like this, xp sp3 installed and then lenovo updater.

But what about all the drivers for the hardware and the factory installed software ie IBM software, I don't wish to lose any of that. How does the lenovo updater work, where can I obtain it and what can it accomplish?

I love the laptop already, it's highly functional design, quality materials and yet light weight, it's going to serve me well for low power browsing and word processing while my dell handles all the heavy stuff like Audio.

Thanks for the help.

[underclocker]

All the hardware drivers will download automatically via the Microsoft and Lenovo update tools. If you happen to see something in the device manager that doesn't look right, you can manually download the driver from Lenovo.

Regarding the extra applications, the Lenovo updater will offer you more than you really need, like the toolbox, migration assistant, access connections, etc. The less you install of this stuff, probably, the better.

The only one that's useful that you'll be missing, that I can think of, is the CD burning software. However, there are many better freeware products available. Perhaps another forum member can comment on any software I'm leaving out.

Good luck.

[kodackamera]

I do not have a Windows disc, I recieved no discs with the computer, the OS is XP professional service pack 3.

The original disc supplied with the computer when it was originally bought (not me), I imagine would be different to a disc of the OS bought at a shop, as in, it would have all the IBM software, drivers etc because it was supplied with the computer. The copy of XP bought off the shelf would have nothing for IBM.

What I don't want to happen is this; Reinstall a non IBM supplied copy of windows> Power up, no drivers working whatsoever, for keyboard/screen let alone wifi or any software. Computer unsalvageable.

I absolutely do not want that to happen. What shall I do?

[RealBlackStuff]

What to do?

If you post a looking for (LF) ad in the forum marketplace for the recovery media, you should get a quick response and some help.

PS: your city is Belfast, not Belftast.

[ajkula66]

Any version of XP will include generic drivers for screen, keyboard etc.

You'll get the machine up, and then you can download the proper drivers from Lenovo's website.

[Harryc]

To add to what George said, even if the Ethernet and/or wireless drivers are not installed by the vanilla XP disc ( I believe at least Ethernet would be), you can download them on another PC and put them on a thumb drive or other removable media then transfer the install files to the T42 and run them to get online. Then download and run system update.

[kodackamera]

I do have a copy of XP Home Edition lying around from another computer.

Does anyone know for a certainty, that installing this would allow even a normal startup with screen, keyboard drivers etc? As in they have done it before, not a guess or assumption.

I am not extremely knowledgeable on computer systems, I want to get this right first time without wasting time.

The alternative is, I leave the system as it is. It was the business computer of the guy who sold it to me, all he did before selling was remove personal files. It has XP Pro SP3, all the IBM software, no bloatware etc. Would it be too great of a risk to just de-frag, clean out the computer of anything I don't want and perform multiple, rigourus virus and spyware scans?

XP Pro has a remote desktop option, is there anyway when signing on to the internet, this guy could (In theory if he was a psycho) access the current state of the computer with remote desktop which he may have configured, if so, how could I disable all of that?

Thanks for the advice thus far. And btw I am not using the comp to write on this forum, using a Pavilion Notebook.

[Harryc]

I've installed all versions of XP on T4X machines and they all booted up to Windows. If you're looking for 'certainty', then the death and taxation bureau is two doors down to the right. .

[kodackamera]

Is this the system update function you are talking about? Reportedly discontinued about 2 years ago.

http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/04/02/len ... em-update/

The Laptop currently has XP Pro, but I will be installing a new hard drive and then installing XP home edition. Will the drivers and software, now having to be downloaded from the Lenovo site manually, work with an OS for which the Laptop wasn't originally using? For example, the IBM software, perhaps was never intended for XP Home OS.

[Neil]

System Update 3.14 on this page is what you want. The discontinued one won't work anymore. Should work fine with XP home. Just make sure you meet these requirements:

Code: Select all

Software requirements
=====================
The following operating systems are supported: 

- Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 
- Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit) and its Service Pack 1, 2 and 3
- Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) and its Service Pack 1, 2

Currently the following operating systems are NOT supported:
- Microsoft Windows 7 Beta

Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1 with Service Pack 1 or Microsoft
.NET Framework version 2.0 is required for System Update to work
correctly. Use Microsoft Windows Update to ensure that Microsoft .NET
Framework 1.1 or 2.0 is installed on your system.

[kodackamera]

Thankyou Niel, that's a very useful resource.

Once again, thank you to all contributors I am working on the T42 today I shall post later to let you know how it all works. So far it has been very successful.

Kodack.

[kodackamera]

The computer is now up and running, I've connected a cable to the laptop from my router, The new connection wizard comes up, but I cannot get any of the logical options to get a connection to the internet.

A fresh install of xp was used without any drivers whatsoever, I installed a wireless driver, it turned out to be bluetooth driver.

Help please?

[Neil]

If connecting a ethernet cable doesn't get you on-line, the driver must not be installed (check in "Device Manager" to see what's missing). Download the driver from this page:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/researc ... MIGR-55386

[kodackamera]

I've managed to connect to the net and perform all the extensive windows and net framework updates etc etc, working great now. Thankyou to all for your help! If you ever need any help on 4 stroke or 2 stroke petrol engines, PM me.

I think there may be a collection of dust inside, and am going to carefully take it out. Have service manual and have done this for some laptops before.

One other thing. Windows "network connections" governs all WLAN activity, I cannot get "Access Connections" to work as the governing software, to control the connection or to search for any Wireless networks. Can anyone shed light on this?

[RealBlackStuff]

Have a look at this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 64&start=0
If you are not connecting to different networks all the time, you are better off with having Windows managing wifi, and uninstalling AC. YMMV.

[kodackamera]

Thanks RealBlackStuff, I'll check that out.

Does anyone know how I can get the software " Power Manager " Lenovo support only seems to have the driver, not the software.

I used it before the reformat, it was fantastic! Would be great to have again.

Now that the computers working practically, It really has come into its own as light and portable for internet and word processing/work.

[Neil]

Battery Maximizer and Power Management drivers are on this page:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/researc ... MIGR-55386

Didn't System Update install the Power Management software?

[kodackamera]

No it didn't, I'm going to check the page you have posted though, thanks alot Niel

[kodackamera]

Niel, I checked the link and again it took me to a place to get a driver, not software itself. I install this driver but nothing happens.

I enter ThinkVantage toolbox and it alerts me that I don't have Power Manager installed, and prompts me with a link, which reveals itself to be the same old support page with a driver not software.

Any way I can get Power Manager? It would be great for keeping these batteries in check accurately.

[Neil]

Sure thing! The page I linked above has what you are looking for, a little more than halfway down the page, there is a bold heading "Power management", among other things under that heading is "Battery MaxiMiser and Power Management Features". Download that package and run the .exe which will create a folder in C;/Drivers, open the BMMPM (or something like that) folder that was created there and install the software.

[RealBlackStuff]

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... IGR-4GXPEG
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... MIGR-44226
You need both. READ the installation instructions!

[kodackamera]

Guys, I now have the software up and all working thanks to you! I didn't check the page carefully before and you guys are right it's all there.

T42 is now really awesome, thanks guys. Nothing left to do with it except thinkvantage connections would be icing on the cake but isn't really neccesary.

Thanks!!