uci-mech,

thanks for taking the time to write the article- it was really useful and my reinstallation went without a problem (even slipstreaming with SP2).

my thinkpad now runs much more smoothly!

cheers!

You are welcome

I guess I'm going to add SP2 support to the guide since many readers are reporting successful installation with SP2 following the same method that is intended for SP1.

Thank you all for your feedback.

anyone receiving T42/T42p, or T42s[Finger-Scanner] with SP2 pre-installed, and recovery CD's including SP2?

many other notebook makers are now advertising their laptops come with SP2 pre-installed (not sure if their Recovery CD comes with SP2, though).


i've heard that T42s with Finger Scanner definitely comes pre-installed with SP2.

the T42/T42p not so sure, due to old stock at hand in many re-sellers.

I have the same problem. I was following the instruction but it did not burn into a CD nor did it make an imagefile somewhere.
What am I doing wrong here????

what old .dll file do i have to download???

EDIT: Never mind. Being stupid I am I put the .dll file in the wrong folder... Now it is working..

I was able to clean install WIN XP..

The link to download chpsup1o.exe for Intel chipset support is broken.

Where could I download this?

I just finished clean install my thinkpad w/ SP2.
I must say it seem to be running faster and smoother. I have few more drivers that I have update from IBM website but so far I am very pleased with the result.

Thanks again to UCI_MECH for the helpful hints.

the 2373Q1U i have here has SP2 and so does the 2373N1U..
both of these are fingerprint reader models..
and are new.. well, ok, open box..
but both have the thai keyboard..

i figured out my question.

I like SP2! It's useful!

UCI_MECH, you're an Allah-send!

created the xp cd for a clean install after the system became sluggish.. worked great!

Hi. Does anyone know what "SM Bus Controller" is? That is the only device left in Device Manager with a question mark. If I knew what it is, I could probably find the correct driver. I've reinstalled all other devices after creating a Win XP SP1a CD per UCI_MECH's instructions (worked perfectly by the way). Thanks.

Kevin

I think the Intel Speedstep applet installs the driver for the SM bus controller.

Oh, is that what it is? Where are those drivers - in the IBMTOOLS\DRIVERS\XPSPDSTP folder? Or somewhere else? Thanks.

Kevin

Ah - why don't we all just make wild guesses? (The SpeedStep Applet is for pre-WinXP and not for WinXP which already includes support. The GV3 driver in the XPSPDSTP folder is a patch/update for pre-XPSP2. It should not be installed after SP2 is installed)

SMB = System Management Bus

The IBM Client Security Software provides a driver for it. The security chip is located on the SM Bus (and requires its own driver as well).

If you don't want to use IBM Embedded Security System then you don't need this.

You can find the latest software at http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-46391. Previous versions provided the two drivers and Client Security Software separately. This version provides a single installer for them all.

Wrong, Einstein.

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/inf/sb/CS-009270.htm

my first post in this forum

question: my t42 came preinstalled with xp pro and sp1, so can i just follow the guide and skipping the steps regarding integration of sp1 into /i386? or do i still have to integrate it assuming that it is not integrated?

just want to do a clean install to speed up my black beauty, not interested in sp2 cos there's some issues with it and my school's IT people...

This link brings me to the Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility, which isn't related to this discussion (as relevent to the ThinkPad).

Are you just trying to confuse the issue? If not then please provide relevant and pertinent information. Specifically, what purpose does the SMBus provide on a ThinkPad?

SMB is an industry standard, but each platform may provide its own drivers as needed.

The ThinkPad requires the SMB for controlling its security chip (so you don't need to do it through the BIOS). If you install the CSS software you'll see it includes the SMBus drivers required. Previously you would install the SMBus drivers, Atmel drivers, then client security applications.

Installing the latest Intel infs does not provide a driver for the SMBus.

Once again - if you don't use the Embedded Security System you don't need to worry about the SMBus driver.

Also - If you check the ThinkPad Driver Matrix (T40, T41 at http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-46258, T42 at http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-55386) and scroll down to the "Intel SpeedStep Applet" section you will see that NO DRIVER is needed for XP as it is included with the OS.

The SpeedStep Applet allows mobile-technology Intel CPUs to run at multiple speeds for optimal battery lifetime without sacrificing performance.

Funny, this mentions nothing about SMBus controller being necessary only for the ESS

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-46058

Again - What are you talking about?

Yet again you are referring to Intel Chipset Support (inf installation utility). Yet again I will say this has nothing to do with SMBus.

Please - before posting the same irrelevant references please go back and reread my post. Please follow the link and read the details.

If you find something else on a ThinkPad that uses/requires SMBus please point it out. (My ThinkPad certainly doesn't have any other SMBus devices but others may be different)

If not please do not continue to post meaningless confusing links. Just for your convenience I'll repost the link to IBM Embedded Security Subsystem and Client Security Software: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-46391

This is my professional field. I worked for IBM for a while. I've done research into this. I've rebuilt my T41 many times. I've used the recovery partition, recovery cds, vanilla XP, slipstreamed XPSP2, and Linux. I've verified the drivers and devices each time. I've used the IBM ESS and CSS and I've done research on it.

In your first post you stated "[You] think. . ." indicating that you don't know. If you don't know then why continue? If you do know then why not provide evidence?

Can we be done with this, Please?

Hi all,

I have a question regarding the "Step 9: Get the Product Key". After I created the XP cd (slipstreamed with SP2), I tried to install it in the vmware to ensure my CD is working fine. I followed the tips in Step9 to use the product key given in "unattend.txt" instead of the key given in the back-sticker during the installation. At end, I had my XP up and running under vmware, however, XP still prompts to active the system within 30 days.

My question are:
1. I used the "unattend.txt" file which comes along with my original ThinkPad (under C:\I386), not the one in the final CD I created. Am I correct?

2. Is the problem of using vmware? Does it mean I must install the CD on the real ThinkPad machine so that the XP can recognize the hardware and bypass the activation?

3. Does any one successfully use the product key in "unattend.txt" to install the XP and bypass the annoying activation prompts? How?

Thank you for all reply on these.

I think you need to use the key on the final SP2 CD created with the slipstream process.

Thanks for the quick reply.



I remembered I tried the key from the "unattend.txt" on the final slipstreamed SP2 CD and during the installation it said the key is invalid. That's why I used the original key take from the very orginal "unattend.txt" to try. Do you know why?

Well, I haven't actually tried installing the SP2 slipstreamed CD, only the SP1a CD (which worked fine).

I also created SP1a and SP2 CDs from another XP Pro CD (no service pack) that I have for my workstation. The key in UNATTEND.TXT is the same for the original CD and the new SP1a CD, but different for the new SP2 CD. Perhaps it's some funky SP2 security feature that prevents you from creating a slipstreamed SP2 CD with a valid key. Another reason to avoid SP2? Who knows.

Kevin

There could be two reasons for this problem (the key from unattend.txt not bypass the activation):

1- Win XP is installed on a different machine, i.e. not the same ThinkPad that it came with.

2- The key product form "unattend.txt" in the i386 folder would bypass the activation only for SP1 (or what ever service pack your machine is originally came with).

Hope this helps.

if that's true (#2), then maybe it's better to slipstream SP1, activate, then update to SP2 later.... anyone have knowledge on this?

no the key in the unattend.txt file will bypass activation for both SP1 and SP2.

To make it simpler you could make a WINNT.SIF file. From the older threads, I found this site. Oh yea, you need the original key from the unattend.txt file in your I386 folder. It's the bigger of the two unattend.txt files.

http://unattended.msfn.org/

Example

so, then why do we think Oxleyrd was having a problem?

Yes, I indeed used the key given in the original unattend.txt. But no luck. I can pass the installation by using the key but the activation prompt was still there.

The exception was I installed the slipstreamed XP (with SP2) in vmware rather than on the real T42 machine. As mentioned above, maybe that's the problem. I am not so sure.

use a WINNT.SIF file.