Reformat

judie200 · 02-07-2007, 10:34 AM

How would i reformat a ibm laptop?

**Bartender** · 02-07-2007, 08:45 PM

Do you mean wiping the drive clean or re-installing Windows?

Wiping the drive could be done with dban or GPLCD or several other methods.

Reinstalling Windows? Did the lappy come with a Recovery CD? Is there a recovery partition on the HDD? If not, you'll probly need a genuine Windows CD and key code.

How old is the IBM lappy? If it's pretty old and doesn't have much RAM (say, 256 or less) you won't be happy with XP or Vista. It'll run poorly.

If it's somewhat old and you're willing to pack more RAM under the hood then you could probly run XP OK.

Vista's likely to be unworkable unless it's pretty powerful.

judie200 · 02-12-2007, 12:26 PM

It is a older ibm laptop and with windows98,we do have a recovery disk with the windows nt. The problem is it is locked and my friend don't remember the password to it.

I don't know if it is possible to put the windows nt into it without it being unlocked.

talldude123 · 02-12-2007, 10:28 PM

I'm not sure how to do this on a notebook, but with a desktop, you would remove the case and look for a watch battery, take it out for about a few minutes, and place it back in. That would remove any BIOS settings, including passwords.

judie200 · 02-15-2007, 10:00 AM

Thanks talldude for your help,we will try that.

judie200 · 02-15-2007, 10:04 AM

It is a 99 laptop

polishvito · 02-16-2007, 10:55 PM

A simple reinstalliation of the operating system won't solve the problem if you're locked out due to a BIOS password. You probably won't be able to get that far. I'd suggest what talldude said up there. Removing the CMOS battery would cause the BIOS settings to reset to default, but its more complicated to do that in a laptop.

You could always contact IBM tech support and ask them.

02-07-2007, 10:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
judie200 Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 140 OS: xp	Reformat How would i reformat a ibm laptop?

02-12-2007, 12:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
judie200 Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 140 OS: xp	Recovery It is a older ibm laptop and with windows98,we do have a recovery disk with the windows nt. The problem is it is locked and my friend don't remember the password to it. I don't know if it is possible to put the windows nt into it without it being unlocked.

02-15-2007, 10:00 AM	#5 (permalink)
judie200 Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 140 OS: xp	Thanks Thanks talldude for your help,we will try that.

02-15-2007, 10:04 AM	#6 (permalink)
judie200 Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 140 OS: xp	Bartener It is a 99 laptop

02-07-2007, 08:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
Bartender Mentally divergent Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Chehalis, WA, USA Posts: 1,285 OS: W2K, Ubuntu 8.04	Do you mean wiping the drive clean or re-installing Windows? Wiping the drive could be done with dban or GPLCD or several other methods. Reinstalling Windows? Did the lappy come with a Recovery CD? Is there a recovery partition on the HDD? If not, you'll probly need a genuine Windows CD and key code. How old is the IBM lappy? If it's pretty old and doesn't have much RAM (say, 256 or less) you won't be happy with XP or Vista. It'll run poorly. If it's somewhat old and you're willing to pack more RAM under the hood then you could probly run XP OK. Vista's likely to be unworkable unless it's pretty powerful.

02-12-2007, 10:28 PM	#4 (permalink)
talldude123 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Victoria, BC, Canada Posts: 23 OS: Windows XP Home SP2	I'm not sure how to do this on a notebook, but with a desktop, you would remove the case and look for a watch battery, take it out for about a few minutes, and place it back in. That would remove any BIOS settings, including passwords.

02-16-2007, 10:55 PM	#7 (permalink)
polishvito Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 36 OS: Windows XP	A simple reinstalliation of the operating system won't solve the problem if you're locked out due to a BIOS password. You probably won't be able to get that far. I'd suggest what talldude said up there. Removing the CMOS battery would cause the BIOS settings to reset to default, but its more complicated to do that in a laptop. You could always contact IBM tech support and ask them.