Grant’s Computer Redo: 2010
So, my nephew Grant complained on Friday that his IBM ThinkPad (Lenovo R60) laptop computer runs too slowly, and he asked if I could restore it to normal operation for him. So, I took on the project; starting work on it this morning.
11:20 AM: Verified that the ThinkPad does run quite slow; I observed nearly constant hard disk activity and slow screen drawing of windows and text. Also, several warning messages popped up, saying that the machine has multiple viruses. Yep, a drive-reformatting and complete re install of Windows XP should fix things up for him.
11:30 AM: The computer would not boot from the first copy of the XP CD ROM I inserted. So I played with the device boot order in the BIOS settings, placing the CD ROM drive as the first boot device. Still though it wouldn’t boot from the CD ROM.
11:40 AM: So I tried a different copy of the XP CD ROM. This solved the boot issue, and booting from CD finally worked.
11:45 AM: I chose to delete the existing drive partition (there was only one, so no recovery partition to utilize). Then, I created a new partition out of the entire free space available on the drive (roughly 38 GB).
11:49 AM: The computer is now formatting the new partition to NTFS. I did not choose the quick formatting option. So this could take a little while.
12:02 PM: Reformatting just finished. It’s now copying the installation files to the freshly partitioned hard drive from the CD ROM.
12:06 PM: The file copying just finished and the ThinkPad is now rebooting.
12:07 PM: Now, it’s preparing the installation.
12:08 PM: Now, it’s installing windows.
12:11 PM: Now it’s asking for Regional and Language Options.
12:12 PM: Entering the product key.
12:15 PM: It’s installing the network software now.
12:18 PM: It’s installing the start menu items.
12:19 PM: Now, it’s registering components.
12:21 PM: Saving settings.
12:24 PM: Rebooting.
12:26 PM: Created two users on this machine (Grant and his mother).
12:28 PM: Windows XP installation complete. Next, I need to install the drivers for sound and Ethernet access. But I’ll do that after lunch. Stand by…
12:50 PM: Located the drivers on the Lenovo site. Burning them to CD ROM now.
01:15 PM: Installed the Ethernet driver and network connectivity has been successfully established. Now, I’m applying all XP service packs and updates, becuase the wireless driver will not install without a later XP service pack installed first.
01:20 PM: Windows update, latest components just installed. Now rebooting…
01:24 PM: Now installing the XP Service Pack 2 update…
02:25 PM: XP Service Pack 2 just finished installing successfully. Now installing XP Service Pack 3…
03:30 PM: XP Service Pack 3 just finished installing successfully. Now, I’m applying the remaining updates…
06:10 PM: All updates applied successfully.
06:20 PM: Installed the WiFi adapter driver software.
06:25 PM: Successfully installed the audio driver (this is the one that failed before upgrading to XP Service Pack 3).
06:40 PM: Successfully installed the Intel chip set drivers and programs from the Lenovo web site.
07:00 PM: All work on this project is complete, and everything seems to be functioning properly except one Unknown Device that’s showing up in the Device Manager under Other Devices. This may be normal for this particular machine, and since the Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, HDD, video device, CD ROM, keyboard, and pointing device (all the important devices) are all working properly, I’m not going to bother tracking down this unknown device.
I’ll let this computer run all night to “burn it in,” and if no problems surface, sister Christine will pick it up either tomorrow or Tuesday.