T60 - fresh XP install?

Hmm, just got my new T60. Trying to start with a fresh XP Pro install (image on CDR). Never had a problem before with any other laptops doing s similar fresh install. Here, I reboot the laptop with CDR in a drive, WinXP install starts and gives me a message "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in gour computer". I went even farther and run hard drive disk util from BIOS and it couldn't diagnose the hard drive (like it doesn't exist). Of course, I can boot up the new system without any problems, no issues with hard drive. I just want to nuke the hidden Lenovo/IBM partition and reformat the hard drive for a fresh XP Pro install. Can anybody suggest what's happening?

 

Set your HDD to compatibility mode (as opposed to SATA) in the BIOS. That should fix your problem.

 

Oatman, you are da man!!! ... and I learned something new today Thank you buddy!!!

 

Just remember to set it back to SATA once you download the correct drivers after installing XP :-D

 

FWIW, you can reinstall without most of the crap using r&r. On the version they are shipping now it has a custom restore option when you do a factory restore. You can choose not to install pretty much all of the thinkvantage apps and the software (symantec, diskeeper, and pc-doctor come to mind). You still don't get back the 5GB of space, but I think it's nice having an easy way to nuke the whole thing and start fresh without swapping out a bunch of cds.

 

Two things I still can't fix / restore. If anyone can give a hint, much would be obliged!

1. screen text size under SXGA+. With the preload, everything looks great with size set to default. With a fresh install, all that customization is gone. Currenly I can only increase the dpi to 125% to compensate. But that's not the 'optimized solution'


2. the thinkvantage button at bootup does not function correctly. With the preload, pressing the Thinkvantage button would boot up to Rescue and Recover 3 software using a Lenovo preload environment. Now when I press the button, it gives me two selections: F1 to configure BIOS, or F12 to pick a boot device. No longer can it boot to RnR. I have read that you can fix this by repair the master boot record (MBR) but that requires a usb floppy which I don't have. I tried using a bootable CD, then executed the mbrfix downloaded from lenovo's website. the file refuses to execute because "safeguard not found." But I still clearly have the HPA not touched. Hmmm.

 

These are two questions that I would very much like to know the answer to as well.

 

1. I am not sure about font size. The T60 I had before showed stuff on screen the same before and after a fresh install.

2. If you did a fresh install, you wiped your R&R are clean off your HD. There is no coming back for it unless you reinstall that software. You can find that package here, but be warned that it is a huge download. 460 meg

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4Q2QAK

 

I have not done anything yet. I will not even get to play with my new system until tomorrow because I am out of town right now. I wonder if the larger fonts are some sort of custom theme / windows style.

It seems that wiping clean is more of a pain than it is worth. I will try the special option 3 for a custom restore from R&R if it is available on my system, I will then restore without the google or norton software. If that does not work I will probably just uninstall these manually, wading through the registry for an hour to get rid of all traces of norton...

 

Let me clarify. You can clean install by wiping out either all the partitions (preload and service), or just the preload partition. I did the latter. So service partition (around 4gig) is still. But somehow installing XP Pro onto the preload partition tampered the boot loader (or the master boot record?) and pressing the thinkvantage button at bootup can no longer boot into the service partition. This is my problem.

I imagine this will be a problem as well when people start to upgrade to Vista.

This is what I suspect. The thing is, on Lenovo's website I cannot find any thinkpad themes or desktop goodies. I don't understand why they wouldn't put them on there since it's free advertising.

 

Update (for future T60 owners): I am doing the custom factory settings restore and excluding the following applications:

Acrobat Reader (I will be installing Adobe CS2 Suite)
Away Manager 2.0
Diskeeper Lite (I love this program but I have the pro version)
Google Desktop
Google Picasa
Google Toolbar
Message Center for Thinkpad
PC Doctor for Windows
Presentation Director
Productivity Center Supplement for Thinkpad
All Symantec
Thinkvantage Productivity Center
Wallpaper
Welcome Message Applet

The thinkvantage apps can always be installed easily later.

Anyway, it is not immediately clear that you have the option to do a custom restore from the R&R system. In the help files it explains that you have to select Factory Restore, let it warn you that it will wipe everything and restore it just like from the factory, and only then will it give you the option to do a custom restore and choose your components. I am doing this right now.

 

I also excluded a similar list of apps yesterday using RnR.
However, I am still itching to do a full reload. I got a retail CD I had working with the included OEM key (tested it on vmware), now I just need to dedicate 4 hours to the rebuild effort.

 

I finally found the solution to fix this problem, without the need of a usb floppy. Here's a link to an cd image iso from which you can burn a bootable CD. Then I follow the instructions, selected "replace" and then option "A". Reboot, press thinkvantage, press F11 (now enabled) to boot into RnR3. The second time you reboot, pressing F11 is not needed. Pressing thinkvantage button alone will boot you into RnR, just like out of factory.

NB** this works if you left the original service partition intact. At least that's what the support webpage says.

 

i tried doing this on my R60, unfortunately no 'custom install' options came up, and now it's restoring to factory contents. oh well, guess R60's don't ship with that version of R&R which is kind of weird to me.

is there any way to check the key of win XP it's running so i can reinstall XP off a friend's CD?

 

Hi, bestisfree, could you give tell me the link for this iso file and the instruction. I got the same problem. Now the thinkvantage button lost its function. I tried several ways but didn't work.
Thanks a lot.

 

pardon the "bump," found this thread via search...just got my t60p and I would like to do a clean-install as described by the Oatman (seems like the simplest route)...a few questions though: one utilizes this method via the R&R discs that are created by the "Create Recovery Media" tool, correct? Does one then initiate the process by booting from the "Startup Disc"? Finally, I would imagine that this process doesn't disturb the service partition and create any issues with the ThinkVantage button, correct?

THANKS for any assistance.

 

Interesting and very helpful thread.

I also do not like Norton Anti-virus. Do you guys think AVG Free is suffice?

Have you guys noticed any lag caused by ThinkPad's Client Security Solution?

 

I am also interested in removing some programs, so I ask, once I have made the 'R&R' disk, do I reformat, then pop that in? Do I get a choice of what programs to use? Or should I simply 'uninstall' some programs and take that route?

 

I just created the first R&R CD and used a DVD-R. Now, after it created the disk, it said "Label the CD Rescue and Recovery Startup Disk" > click Okay > then it said "make sure there is a blank CD in the drive" and it seems to be doing the process over again. Do you think it is recording it regular CD-R style, where more than one disk will be needed, not putting it all on the DVD disk? I only purchased 2 DVD disks so I am unsure if it will ask me to put in another disk, in which case I only have blank CD-Rs.

 

I never made my own R&R discs. Is there any benefit in doing that?


When I called and asked Lenovo support if they can send me a Windows XP cd in case I wanted to replace mine to a 7200rpm one in the future, they told me that I have to buy the hdd from them and then they would send me an XP cd. If I buy the hdd from a third party like newegg, they won't send the cd to me.

 

Thanks a lot!!!

I just got a second hand T60p (not even a hour ago) and I was really nervous to see what caused the warning about the hard disk.