PLEASE HELP: using the recovery CDs for IBM Product Recovery Version 5.7 on Thinkpad T30

[ASpen]

I have Vista Ultimate on my T30 and would like to get back to XP Pro, but the 9 discs (3 sets of 3) that came with it won't  restore it to factory settings. 

After inserting and completing discs 1 & 2, disc 3 says "Remove any diskettes or CDs from the drives and press Enter to restart your computer", but it restarts with the same Vista not XP. 

I have tried F11 and Vista's error recovery screen appears.  I've tried keeping disc 3 in and pressing enter, but no success.

I've tried keeping the CD drive open and pressing enter, but no success.

I've tried using boot from "CD drive" and "hard drive" options for disc 3, but no success. 

Can anyone help me get by this disc 3 problem PLEASE?

Thank you!

[ajkula66 Guru]

You've got to wipe the drive clean and start fresh.

Erase the contents of the hard drive with dBan or something along those lines (PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD offers this option as well).

Choose media drive as a temporary booting device and start fresh.

Good luck.

[ASpen]

Hi George

Excellent tip!  Can I format my C drive without  using 3rd party software?  If so, could you walk me through it, please?

I thought by creating a partition, could then format the C drive.

Thx

[ajkula66 Guru]

I always format my drives using the third party software...free software, that is...