Help!!! Uninstalling vista and trying to recover xp

I just freshly installed a vista busines 32bit version on my T43 but it is slow as hell, taking over 6 minutes to startup a desktop, so I decided I should unintall vista from my pc.

Before I installed windows vista, I reformated the whole system by using an IBM rescue and recovery from the hidden patition on T43 so that no virus will be trasnfered, HOWEVER after the vista installation my T43 is not working as it should be; so I thought "oh well forget about vista then I want my windows xp back".
I tried to reformat again by using a IBM rescue and recovery so that my T43 will be back to a factory condition, but there is no where I can find my hidden partiton for windows xp. I turned on the pc and hit the key F11 but nothing shows up, and the vista starts. Does this mean that I lost my xp partiton on a hard drive? I really want to go back to a factory condition as is vista sucks so badly. I didn't make any recovery CDs cuz I thought I can always recover by a hidden partiton, Please help now I am stuck with a vista that is not functioning correctly. I want my xp back.

 

Unless you have the XP disk I think your out of luck unless you buy another copy of XP.

 

Looks like Vista may have nuked your recovery partition. You could try and contact IBM, get them to send you out an XP disk.

But - I may be mistaken here, but you have the XP license sticker on the bottom of your notebook? I'm sure you could borrow an XP disk off a mate and just use your key. You'd have to install your hardware drivers afterwards though, but you'd still get XP back.

 

I have the xp sticker at the bottom but I don't know the key though. IBM will not provide any recovery disks(when you purchase) since their most of products have hidden partition on hard drive to recover to the factory condition, but when I called lenovo(IBM), he said that I can order a recovery disk for $45 and the system will be restored to the original factory condition. I really don't like vista on my T43, so I'm gonna order a recovery disk and instead I will install vista on T60.

 

I mean stick on the very bottom of your notebook. If IBM shipped the T43 with XP, they have to provide you with the license sticker, even if they don't give yo the CDs.

 

Oh yeah I see the sticker on the back of a pc. yes I do have the key. so I can borrow a xp disk off someone and use the key then I can have the xp back on my T43? But one question, even if I could have my xp back, i will still lose everything that it(T43) came with from the factory, right? I mean any programs that T43 come from the IBM factory, I would not have them, right? Because my friend has a retail xp disk, so it would have anything on it.

 

Hm, no you cannot borrow the disk from someone else, at least not legally. Further it will work only if the Windows is OEM version. The retail version won't work with your windows key, which is locked to the hardware of the laptop and is for OEM Windows only.

 

Are you sure you don't have the recovery partition. It's not something you can see just by looking in My Computer - because it's a hidden partition.

Go into Control Panel
Then Administrative Tools
Then Computer Management
Then Storage
Then Disk management

You should see all of your partitions, including any hidden ones.

Even if you do have it, you still need the manufacturer's pre-installed recovery software to run the recovery. I don't see why it wouldn't still be on your computer, unless you uninstalled it at some point.