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W520 locked somehow
W520 locked somehow
I am trying to buy a W520 and the seller indicates that it has some kind of lock (supervisor in bios?) and cannot boot from hard drive - anyway there is not one - but boots only from usb. Read some information about the eeprom chip and wanted to ask what are the odds in my case. The price is low enough to buy it for parts, excluding the mb, but i want to make use of the laptop.
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
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- Admin Emeritus
- Posts: 23876
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: W520 locked somehow
If there should be a BIOS password on that W520, it's easy enough to remove.
Watch this.
Watch this.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Re: W520 locked somehow
yea i seen it - is that all or is there a worse scenario?RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 12:23 pmIf there should be a BIOS password on that W520, it's easy enough to remove.
Watch this.
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
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- ThinkPadder
- Posts: 1470
- Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 7:45 pm
- Location: North Ridgeville, Ohio, United States
- Contact:
Re: W520 locked somehow
Could also be an encrypted HDD that requires a password prior to booting. If it boots to USB it's probably not a BIOS or SVP.
The recovery sets guy
X13Y G3 | T480 with T25 keyboard | T25 | W520 | T601F | T420 | X220
T61p·T61·43·42p|X13 Yoga G3·220T·301·41T·24·23·22|G41|A31p·22m|i1200|TransNote
600|770Z|770|760XD|760EL|701C|755C
X13Y G3 | T480 with T25 keyboard | T25 | W520 | T601F | T420 | X220
T61p·T61·43·42p|X13 Yoga G3·220T·301·41T·24·23·22|G41|A31p·22m|i1200|TransNote
600|770Z|770|760XD|760EL|701C|755C
Re: W520 locked somehow
yes it is possible -theterminator93 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 3:00 pmCould also be an encrypted HDD that requires a password prior to booting. If it boots to USB it's probably not a BIOS or SVP.
what happens if the encrypted hdd is missing ? (the seller says there is no disk)
means you cannot use ANY disk with this mb?
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
-
- ThinkPadder
- Posts: 1470
- Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 7:45 pm
- Location: North Ridgeville, Ohio, United States
- Contact:
Re: W520 locked somehow
If the HDD was password protected you could get around it by swapping it out.
The recovery sets guy
X13Y G3 | T480 with T25 keyboard | T25 | W520 | T601F | T420 | X220
T61p·T61·43·42p|X13 Yoga G3·220T·301·41T·24·23·22|G41|A31p·22m|i1200|TransNote
600|770Z|770|760XD|760EL|701C|755C
X13Y G3 | T480 with T25 keyboard | T25 | W520 | T601F | T420 | X220
T61p·T61·43·42p|X13 Yoga G3·220T·301·41T·24·23·22|G41|A31p·22m|i1200|TransNote
600|770Z|770|760XD|760EL|701C|755C
Re: W520 locked somehow
Seller says there is no disk included, there is a photo of the bios.theterminator93 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 3:08 pmIf the HDD was password protected you could get around it by swapping it out.
He mentions bios is locked and this laptop only booted from usb -
what do you get from all that?
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
-
- Admin Emeritus
- Posts: 23876
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: W520 locked somehow
There is a BIOS password.
All you need is that link I gave you before.
Once that is removed, go into BIOS, press F9 to set everything at Default, then press F10 to save it.
After that, you can use any HDD/SSD you want.
All you need is that link I gave you before.
Once that is removed, go into BIOS, press F9 to set everything at Default, then press F10 to save it.
After that, you can use any HDD/SSD you want.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Re: W520 locked somehow
just got the laptop - it is exactly as in these videos "supervisor locked"
no value can be altered in bios
i managed to boot with linux from usb and everything works ok
i will provide updates
no value can be altered in bios
i managed to boot with linux from usb and everything works ok
i will provide updates
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
Re: W520 locked somehow
Since never used a bios locked computer before i have a question - can i put a drive and install an OS or are there any restrictions and possible problems?
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
-
- Admin Emeritus
- Posts: 23876
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: W520 locked somehow
I strongly advise you to unlock that BIOS first.
Get the W520 manual from the HMM link at the top of this page.
BIOS chip location here.
But while still PW-locked, you can put a SSD in it.
Then boot from USB and install the OS from another USB-drive or CD/DVD.
When done try to boot from that SSD.
If that does not work, restart and press F12 to (hopefully) get the boot-menu and select the SSD (ATA HDD0 xxxxx) there.
If that does not work, see my advice above.
Get the W520 manual from the HMM link at the top of this page.
BIOS chip location here.
But while still PW-locked, you can put a SSD in it.
Then boot from USB and install the OS from another USB-drive or CD/DVD.
When done try to boot from that SSD.
If that does not work, restart and press F12 to (hopefully) get the boot-menu and select the SSD (ATA HDD0 xxxxx) there.
If that does not work, see my advice above.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Re: W520 locked somehow
bios is set to nvidia optimus which is something i don't need and suspect power hungry as wellRealBlackStuff wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:03 am
Then boot from USB and install the OS from another USB-drive or CD/DVD.
When done try to boot from that SSD.
If that does not work, restart and press F12 to (hopefully) get the boot-menu and select the SSD (ATA HDD0 xxxxx) there.
f12 works - that is how i booted to voyager linux
why boot from one usb and install from another?
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
-
- Admin Emeritus
- Posts: 23876
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: W520 locked somehow
Because normally stuff like that is not stored on the same stick...
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Re: W520 locked somehow
why should an ssd with a new OS not work in a locked bios - is there something i should know ?RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:03 am
But while still PW-locked, you can put a SSD in it.
When done try to boot from that SSD.
If that does not work, restart and press F12 to (hopefully) get the boot-menu and select the SSD (ATA HDD0 xxxxx) there.
If that does not work, see my advice above.
is this bios paired with a specific user's OS?
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
Re: W520 locked somehow
Update. I had a msata ssd with an older version of ubuntu in a T420 - took it put it in a sata3 adapter and installed it as primary disk in the w520 - it boots and works ok.
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
T420 - 2450M, 8g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 8g ram, 1920x1080
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