[ltp] T41p: get rid of predesktop/host protected area?

[Andreas Ntaflos]

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Hello people,=20

I have a T41p (2373-GEG) running Gentoo and Windows 2000 (dual booting=20
with GRUB) and, until a few days ago, had a working Rescue and Recovery=20
predesktop area with all kinds of nice stuff from the Thinkvantage=20
Rescue and Recovery 3.0 thingy. Not that I really needed it but it was=20
nice to have it since it worked.

This was, as said, until a few days ago when the Thinkvantage Software=20
Installer was to install an update for RnR. Somehow this has disabled=20
the predesktop area or at least now prevents me from entering it via=20
the Access IBM button during boot. When I press it nothing happens, I=20
just end up in GRUB. The button press is interpreted as an Enter key=20
stroke and boots the default entry in GRUB.

I've tried reinstalling Rescue and Recovery with the BIOS predesktop=20
setting both to normal and secure, as well as disabled, but to no=20
avail. I can't access the predesktop area anymore.=20

So here's my first question: does anyone know of a way to get it back,=20
other than creating recovery CDs, wiping the whole disk and starting=20
from scratch?

As I don't think so and don't really need it anyway I'd like to reclaim=20
the disk space it uses, but how? I've set the predesktop setting to=20
disabled in the BIOS so at least Partition Magic in Windows can see it=20
as a fifth primary partition of unallocated space (that's a bit odd,=20
isnt' it?) but it can't move it, delete it or do anything with it.

Linux's fdisk doesn't even see the partition, just /dev/hda1=20
through /dev/hda4. No /dev/sd[a|b|c|...] either as far as I can tell.=20
I've read that on various Thinkpad models see the predesktop partition=20
as a Compaq service partition, but there seems to be no such thing.

So what should I do? Are there any tricks I should try or does anyone=20
with a T41p successfully deleted the RnR 3.0 predesktop area and=20
reclaimed the space?

Any input would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance and sorry for the lengthy post!

Andreas
=2D-=20
Andreas "daff" Ntaflos=20
daff AT dword DOT org
Vienna, Austria=20

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