I have 2 spare drives with old backup images on them. I can re-purpose one of those. Do you mean that I should take one of the spare drives (160GB), reformat it back to the original ibm image and build from there? It'll be a pain, but if that's what I must do to have a reliable machine, so be it. I have 5 restore disks not 7, am I missing something? I'm a tad paranoid about malware now that I've been hit - it seems to have jumped through the holes in a failed .Net update, opened back doors and quickly made the system unbootable (overwrote boot sector, etc). It also created enough heat as a by-product to toast a wifi card, fortunately I had a spare for that. MSE etc - I thought one can't have >1 antivirus app loading at boot, and generally not more than one running at once? - LS
From: Ray Bay <[email protected]> >To: Laurence <[email protected]> >Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 8:14 PM >Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] How to rebuild environment after generic reinstall? > > >Can you afford to obtain a new hard drive? That would be our choice... >replace the hard drive, then connect the old drive in an external usb drive... > >This way you could protect the "new drive" with Microsoft Security Essentials, >Avast or Avira, Super Antispyware, and Malware bytes, resulting in little risk >to another infestation. > >New hard drives for the T40 have gone up in price, but you can still get 160 >GB for under $50 at Directron and NewEgg ... and they would be useful forever >after > >An external USB drive can be had for $12. > >You may be worrying too much about risk... based upon our shop experience. > > >Rb > > > > >On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 5:43 PM, Laurence <[email protected]> wrote: > >It is a T40p, model 2373-G3U >>I have an old set of original Thinkpad recovery disks, I have 5 not 7. >>(Didn't have these available when the virus hit, everything was in storage.) >> >>I'm not sure how to proceed. I do want to have a properly running, fuss and >>goof free system. But I am hesitant to go the route of starting from >>the recovery disks (or the partition, if it's still there) as I'd need to >>somehow get SP3 and all the MS updates on it. My understanding is that the >>unpatched WXP will be immediately infected w malware, faster than I could >>downoald SP3. Beyond that, merely dealing with Windows update was a headache >>- with the image I got from the fixit shop there were roughly 100 updates >>due. That required a call to MS support, as they will not self install -- one >>or another obscure windows component is an old ver and blocks other >>updates, but Windows update doesn't detect and correct that. >> >>I haven't put too much time into configuring the current install. If it's >>never going to be right, then I'll start over. >>I now have the recent data and one of my backup 2.5" drives accessible so >>I have options, one of them being add the last few months of data to an old >>backup (cloned drive), scan it for virii and hope I find whatever was lurking >>- prolly some rootkit - and pop the backup in place as my current drive. The >>backup has the advantage of being 160GB rather than 60. The orginial would >>then become a backup, though too small to clone 100% onto. >>I'm bouncing around doing house sitting and don't have a good workspace, so >>10-20 hours fussin with this isn't possible, even if I were willing. >> >>The only upside is this gave me an occassion to intall a spare, faster cpu >>which has been waiting a while; I had to get spares out of storage put some >>time into the machine in any case. This is the1st time I've had anything more >>than the keyboard off; I was a bit surprised when it booted up and operated >>normally on the 1st try. >> >>So it seems like you're telling me I have to start from the original ibm >>image - Lenovo System Update won't auto-install the right stuff? Is the >>Thinkpad OS substantially different from whatever is installed now? >> >>Thanks for your voice of experience on this. >> >>-- Larry >> >>From: Ray Bay <[email protected]> >>>To: Laurence <[email protected]> >>>Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 9:24 AM >>>Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] How to rebuild environment after generic reinstall? >>> >>> >>>Best way is to buy or borrow the Lenovoa Windows XP Professional install set >>>for your type number, and start over. It costs $52 with shipping and will >>>fix everything... from the Atlanta office of Thinkpad. >>> >>>Otherwise, install Windows XP Professional from CD in Repair mode... which >>>will give you a good install, then download all the drivers from the Lenovo >>>site for your type number. >>> >>>I doubt you will be able to get what you feel you need in any other way... >>>though you could come close if you had more experience with the Thinkpad >>>version of WXP Pro. >>> >>>If you go to the Lenovo site for your type number and download ALL the >>>drivers and updates listed, and install them one at a time, you can come >>>close, or get lucky... But it will take you somewhere between 11 and 19 >>>hours to do the updates correctly. >>> >>> >>>A clean install is the smart way to go... Repair shops use a standard WXP >>>they buy from IBM for the purpose of making quick and easy repairs... and, >>>as you know, that generic version is not adequate for a Thinkpad. >>> >>>I am on the road. If you can wait for 10 days, I can send you a seven disk >>>install set for some models... but you didn't state which version of >>>Thinkpad you have. >>> >>>RB >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 6:06 AM, Laurence <[email protected]> >>>wrote: >>> >>>I have a t-pad which had a stealthy bit of malware attack while I was away >>>from backups and means to recover. After commercial fixit service (cleaned >>>and saved my data, but could not fully scrub the OS/installed programs) it >>>now has a generic windows install and a minimal kit of device-specific >>>drivers. >>>> >>>>Thus it doesn't have an ibm windows image. Some functions work, e.g. the >>>>keyboard light, but most thinkpad functions don't - fn-keys, battery >>>>maximizer, ect. The ibm utilities (Access ibm, Battery/power, Access >>>>Connection etc) were (obviously) not part of the generic install. I also >>>>noted that F8 does not bring up the boot menu options. >>>> >>>>In theory I could back up my recovered data, restore the machine with >>>>original recovery disks and proceed with a lengthy reinstall. But I've >>>>found that using Windows update to bring such a system up to date is not a >>>>reliable process - even with SP3 intalled it was neccessary to call >>>>Microsoft to straighten out the update chain. In addition my backups are a >>>>few months old and apparrantly have a stealthy bit of malware hiding in >>>>them, so I'd have some fussing should I restore from one. >>>> >>>>How can I add the various thinkpad function to the generic XP I have now? >>>>Should I install ibm system update and allow it to add what it chooses, or >>>>should I take specific packages only from the lenovo site? >>>>Can I restore the F8 boot menu options and Access IBM functions? >>>>The machine is a T40p, XP pro. >>>> >>>>-- LS >>>>_______________________________________________ >>>>Thinkpad mailing list >>>>[email protected] >>>>http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad >>>> >>> >>> >>>-- >>> >>>You've got to be very careful if you don't know where >>>you're going, because you might not get there. >>> >>>.... .... ..... ...... ........ Yogi Berra >>> >>> >>> >>> > > >-- > >You've got to be very careful if you don't know where >you're going, because you might not get there. > >.... .... ..... ...... ........ Yogi Berra > > > > _______________________________________________ Thinkpad mailing list [email protected] http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
