Formatting an IBM Thinkpad without Drivers?
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at
6:50 pm
So I want to format the harddrive of my Thinkpad T41p and re-install Windows XP. Only problem is I don’t have any support discs from IBM for drivers and such (only the XP installation disc). I’ve copied everything in a folder marked IBMTOOLS on the C: drive onto a CD in the hopes that I just need to put them back in C: after I format.
I’ve found the Lenovo website with the drivers available as well but that just seems tedious to install each driver seperately (considering how many there must be: touch pad, trackball thingy, wireless networks, monitors, keyboard, speakers, etc etc etc.) Am I good to go or is there any reason I should not format my laptop (like will it be hard for me to make it useable again?) Thanks in advance.
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Tags:
c drive,
harddrive,
installation disc,
keyboard,
laptop,
monitors,
speakers,
thanks in advance,
thinkpad t41p,
touch pad,
windows xp,
wireless networks
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Tagged with: c drive • harddrive • installation disc • keyboard • laptop • monitors • speakers • thanks in advance • thinkpad t41p • touch pad • windows xp • wireless networks
Filed under:
Wireless Keyboard Trackball
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If you own this laptop, and can prove it, you may be able to get a restore disk from IBM to put your laptop back to it’s original programing. This disk would have all the drivers on it.
If you are wanting to do this because you have spyware and virus problems. It is FAR easier to fix the spyware issue, than to reprogram the laptop with an Xp install disk. Remember that you will only have Xp when the disk is finished running. And even that will be a woefully out of date Xp, that will require between 30 and 120 updates to be downloaded from the Microsoft site, before your Xp will be up to date. Then there comes the issue of your programs, all of which are now gone. So you will have to reload an anti-virus, anti-spyware, alternate browsers, dvd burning software if you have the burner in yours, dvd playback software, an Office type suite, on and on and on.
If the issue is spyware and virus – then first try to clean your machine. Here are the steps you would follow. They will work 99% of the time and make it unnecessary to re-install the OS.
Download Spybot: Search & Destroy.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirro...
Install with all updates. Do not run yet.
Download and install AVG Free anti-virus.
http://free.avg.com/ww.download?prd=afe
(Warning: Do not install more than one anti-virus program at a time. That can have very bad results, as they will fight each other.) Again, install with all updates, but do not run the program yet.
Re-boot your machine into Safe Mode.
Do this by re-starting the computer, and hit the F8 key once every second while the machine boots. You will see the boot menu load. Select the option of Safe Mode with Networking.
Wait for Safe Mode to load. It will take a long time, and will look very different from what your are used to seeing in windows.
Once in safe mode – open and run the scan in Spybot. Fix any problems found. I have seen an unprotected computer have as many as 6000 detections, so this could take several hours to run.
When the first scan in finished and you have Fixed any problems. Run the scan again, to make sure it comes up clean. In some cases, you will hit new problems that were not detected the first time through. In most cases you will get a clean scan.
Now open and run your anti-virus. Either AVG or the one you already had installed. Again, fix any problems you find.
Re-boot your machine into normal Windows. Open Spybot again. This time run the Immunize program on the left hand side of the control panel. This program will protect your computer from about 75000 bad programs that can try to load onto your machine.
When done with this. Open and run the disk defragmenter program. Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Disk Defragmenter. This will combine all the small free space sections from the deleted spyware into larger usable sections for windows. Making your programs load faster. This program can take several hours, or overnight to run, depending on the size of the hard drive, and how badly it is fragmented.
You now should have solved all your problems, including removing all the spyware that has been driving your crazy.
The secret is to scan in safe mode any time you suspect that there is an actual infection, or any time you detect a problem that will not fix. In safe mode, the malware program can not load itself, so it can not prevent you from finding and removing it.
Good luck – and don’t surf without Spybot and your Anti-virus programs running.