t61 not able to restore to factory settings

[mithun]

Hi,

I have a t61, im trying to restore it from think vantage button as well as recovery cd, when i click on restore factory settings , it says cannot find E:/preboot/utilis/convert.cmd , i understood that the utility is not found, but this is happening with my recovery cd as well as the thinkvantage button, i need to format the hdd and do a fresh install, can u please help 

[MarkATL]

If you are having problems using Rescue and Recovery to reload Windows and you see this error:

X:/preboot/utilis/convert.cmd

Here are some steps you can try to resolve your issue

1) Download the Secure Data Disposal (SDD) * Tool. You can find it on this website:

 http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=TVAN-SDD

* You will need to download this program on another machine, then open the application (It will be created under Start -> Programs -> ThinkVantage) and click on "File", then ISO. You will need to burn this file on a blank CD to create the ISO image. It is important to scrub the HDD in order for the Recovery CDs to create the recovery partition on your HDD correctly. 

2) After burning the ISO image on the CD, insert the CD into the laptop, then power off/power on the laptop to boot from the CD

3) Follow the instructions on the screen to format your HDD

4) Now restart the laptop using the Rescue and Recovery CD. The CD should already inserted in the CD-R drive! (Make sure the recovery cd reads "Rescue and Recovery" - this is the boot CD)

5) Once Rescue and Recovery loads up, click on the "Launch Advanced Rescue and Recovery" link on the bottom left of the screen. You should see a menu in the left pane.

6) Under "Rescue and Restore" click on "Restore Your System"

7) If you see the warning about attaching a USB device just click "OK" and process

8) On the next screen select "I do not want to save any files." Click Next

9) Follow the rest of the steps screen by screen. Accept the terms and on the last screen be sure to select "Full Factory"

Follow the guide on this link for detailed step-by-step instructions on installing Windows with Rescue and Recovery

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-70803

You should be able to install windows without a problem at this point.

*** NOTE: Please remember that the Rescue and Recovery CDs are designed to only create the recovery partition directly on the HDD itself!! Once all the RCDs are finished copying the files over to the HDD, the system will reboot and you will see the "Rescue and Recovery" screen again for a second time. This is because the recovery files are NOW AVAILABLE on the HDD itself!! ***

What to do if problems persist:

If problems persist,

1) Contact tech support to obtain another copy of the recovery cds

2) Make sure you reformat the HDD again before loading Windows with the new set of RCDs

3) If another set of RCDs doesnt resolve the issue, the problem is usually with either the HDD itself or the optical drive. Tech support should be able to assist with either HDD or optical drive replacement (that is, if you are covered by the warranty!!)

Most of the time, another set of RCDs would fix this, but the HDD has to be formatted with SDD first to ensure the the partition is created correctly!

If you still have problems after doing all steps above, feel free to post me another message.

I hope this resolves your problem.

Best,

Mark

[larieke]

---

MarkATL wrote:

* You will need to download this program on another machine, then open the application (It will be created under Start -> Programs -> ThinkVantage) and click on "File", then ISO. You will need to burn this file on a blank CD to create the ISO image.

---

For those of us without a functioning windows xp/2000 machine, is that image available as a separate download?

--

Michael

[howagood]

Mark,

I clicked on the first link you referenced in your forum append. It turns out to be a hard drive scrubbing tool, built on diskettes, not an ISO image to be burned to CD. So I am confused. While attempting to create a set of R&R CDs on my ThinkCentre S50, I encountered the "X:/preboot/utilis/convert.cmd" error message.

My S50 does not have a floppy drive, so I can't use the diskettes to scrub the hard drive. I'm assuming the point here is to wipe the current service partition from the HDD and rebuild it using a set of R&R CDs. Please advise. Thanks.

howagood

IBM Pensioner; Lenovo-Dad

[Eudoxus]

Yuo should better follow Mark's advice and not to btoher about floppy thing. Or so it seems to me.

Message Edited by Eudoxus on 07-23-2009 04:28 PM

[howagood]

Exodus,

I think Mark's point is that in order to avoid the "X:\preboot\utils\convert.cmd missing" error message, you have to completely wipe the hard drive before attempting to restore the service partition. The Lenovo utility he refenences appears to produce only a set of floppys, not a CD. I cannot use floppies on my ThinkCentre S50 because it doesn't have a floppy drive. I would need an alternate method to wipe clean the service partition.

howagood

IBM Pensioner; Lenovo-Dad

[cpaul73]

hello cpaul73 have you formated the hard drive?

if you have what program was used

[Eudoxus]

My point was that it may just happen that the referred utility works without floppies. I have not checked that for myself but that is what I gathered from what I red there.

[howagood]

Thanks again, Exodus. I just downloaded Sesure Data Disposal and will give it a try this evening, with the hope that it has a CD media option.

Regards,

howagood

IBM Pensioner; Lenovo-Dad

[Eudoxus]

I hope it will work.

Good luck!