Are you absolutely sure about that model number? P40 doesn't sound right for an IBM laptop model number.

I agree. It does not sound right

IBM did Thinkpad laptops with the a variety of model numbers, but none starting with 'P'

They did, however, do a T40 and a T40P models.

Possibly one of these??

But where did the drivers that were supposedly downloaded come from if the P40 model never existed?

Just had a look on several laptop screen replacement vendors sites; can find no reference to a P40 model on any of them.

I believe there was a Samsung P40, but drivers for that wouldn't work on an IBM. Also many laptops (the Thinkpad T40 being a case) can come with different wireless network cards, so the model number alone may not be enough information.

Many Thinkpads have a built-in ethernet port, in addition to wireless networking. If that was the case it would be the easiest way to get updates.

Thanks Ken I'll pass that on.

Are you absolutely sure about that model number?

Not really, I'll ask again. Apparently the drivers were obtained from the IBM website where model number and serial number are entered and it gives a list of required drivers, so I assume he has the right ones.

EDIt: To add, the ethernet card won't work, probably also needs drivers. The machine was fully functioning prior to this format and reinstall.

Edited by wingco1 (Tue 23-Mar-10 10:54:52)

It is a T40.

Edited by wingco1 (Tue 23-Mar-10 12:01:04)

As there were a number of different ethernet/wireless cards used in that model it may just be a question of picking the correct one, but the video shouldn't be a problem as they all used the same chipset.

I suspect that Kenneth's suggestion to first install SP3 is the best course of action. It may even be that SP3 contains the correct drivers, but at least it should allow you to install the other software. Proprietary laptops are a bit of a pain with most OSs!

SP3 has been installed, but the problems remain the same. No internet access, no access to the video display, no LAN it's all rather baffling. Apparently there are other driver problems, but the Ethernet card driver and video resolution are more pressing.

Thanks for your input.

If everything else fails, it might be worth risking a tenner on this disk.

This may sound like a silly comment, but it can catch people out. I believe that with these drivers you download them and run the file (by double-clicking on it). This does not install the driver but extracts it to a directory on the hard disk (should be a subdirectory in the directory C:\drivers\win); you then have to run setup.exe from within this directory to actually install the driver.

Thanks, will pass that on. It seems like the last resort.

Thanks to everyone for your input and suggestions.