hi,
>
> ibm 600 laptop. after putting in a new backup battery a supervisor
> password appeared. How to remove?
>
> thank you

There are only a few companies out there capable of removing the password and it costs more than a new system board.

thank you
sounds encouraging
but why there is this f.... password?
and why is it so diffuclt to remove

thanks in advance

serge

Normally, the supervisor password has no effect on a system, until you try to make changes, like the amount of RAM, or a new drive, or just getting into the BIOS.

Then you need to enter that password.

On most ThinkPads, that password will also be put into the hard disk, so that disk cannot be used in another machine without entering the password. So, if you cannot recover the password, both the system board and the hard drive are likely useless.

However, if you are lucky, there was no master password set on the drive, and you can use the drive again, once it is erased.

So in case some as.h.le steals the laptop, or some loser buys a stolen laptop, all they get is a paperweight.

The way it's supposed to work is you set the Startup and HDD passwords the same, and Supervisor passowrd to something different. The startup and HDD passwords protect the machine from being turned on without the password. The Supervisor password allows the startup and HDD passwords to be overridden or removed without knowing them (but you have to know the Supervisor password), and it also protects the BIOS settings.

So in a corporate environment the company can set the Supervisor passwords on all their machines the same, and let users set the startup and HDD passwords to whatever they want. If a user dies or leaves the company, the company can remove the user's passwords with the Supervisor password.

If someone steals the machine, they can remove the startup password by pulling the CMOS battery out for a few seconds, which clears the CMOS. But after clearing the CMOS you have to go into the BIOS to set the date and time and confirm the settings. If the Supervisor password is set you can't, and it can't be cleared without special equipment.

Unfortunately, sometimes used machines are sold without BIOS or HDD passwords, but with an unknown Supervisor password lurking inside them. If some event (such as pulling the CMOS battery) triggers a need for the Supervisor password, you're screwed.

Replace the system board or pay someone with the right equipment to remove it - but as the previous poster said, a system board for a 600 is probably way cheaper than the recovery services.

Ed Gibbs

unsolder AT24C01A, read it with eeprom reader, decrypt it, solder AT24C01A back, swicth pover on and type password.

Sorry i ment 24rf08 chip, at24c01a is for tp770

I am wondering if the Thinkpad I have has a supervisor password set on it. Is there some way to find out without causing the computer to become unusable?

Also, are supervisor passwords set for specific hard disks? Can one replace the hard disk and get around the problem?

Sudevan

Go into BIOS (F1 at startup) and look.

HDD passwords are different than the machine (BIOS, Supervisor) passwords, although a HDD Supervisor password can be used to over-ride the HDD User password. Normally the machine and HDD Supervisor passwords are set the same by the BIOS.

The HDD passwords protect the contents of the disk, not the computer it is in. If a disk is password locked you can't access it in any machine - the passwords go with the disk.

If you have a machine with no passwords on it but a locked disk you can replace the disk and the machine will be usable.

But if you have a locked machine, replacing the HDD will not unlock the machine - the machine passwords are stored on the motherboard.

Ed Gibbs

http://www.nortek.on.ca/

Just one option .. but you can't fault IBM for making a secure system secure heh.

Thanks egibbs and MobileGuru.

Well, I checked BIOS on the T40 ( a little nervous because it seemed possible that it might ask me for a password and then lock me out ). Happy days, all the passwords were disabled! So I suppose I am safe. The seller had written to me saying that there were no passwords that he had set, so that fits.

When my 600 arrives ( it's on its way, the seller said no passwords ), the first thing I will do is check BIOS to make sure nothing has been set. After I load an OS on it, that is. Or should I check beforehand? Can I?

Thanks for great advice. This is such a smashing group!

Sudevan

Definitely check for passwords first. Then run the built-in tests, even the memory test that takes an age.

Then download and run memtest86, which will test your memory VERY thoroughly. Let it run overnight, if you can stand to. (I know how it is to get even an old ThinkPad and just want to tweak and use it instantly.)

You might also get Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software, which will put the hard drive through its paces. Again, a very thorough test.

Once those say the machine is OK, you can be pretty sure your system is ready for your OS(es) of choice.

Thanks, whizkid. I have another related question ( again, I'm new to OS installation, so this may be obvious to experienced folks ). My apologies if this is a little off-topic for this thread.

Before I install the OS ( in my case Windows 95 ), do I need to download the latest drivers for the 600 from the IBM site? Should I be using Software Installer for this purpose ( and can I use it without an OS )?

I don't need anything more than having Win 95 functioning on this machine, at least for now. So I probably don't need the latest drivers -- can I find out if the machine I am getting has all the drivers needed for Win 95 already on it?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Sudevan

Not sure about Win95, but even with 98SE, you need to have the drivers ready for the display, modem, audio, etc.

I would assume that since Win98SE doesn't have these drivers built in, Win95 won't either. To my knowledge, these machines were made for Windows 98.

I generally go to IBM's site and download everything onto one disk, then after installing the OS I just go one by one through each of the drivers.

Windows95 is not secure. I would not trust such a machine to be on my home network, and I would never connect one to the internet without a firewall or router protecting it. Linux may be a much better choice.

But if that's what you'll be doing... tfflivemb2 has it right. You cannot run software installer without an OS. And the IBM updater has had no updates for so long that it's really not useful any more.

And here's an article you might want to read. It's called Installing Windows 95 and its device drivers - ThinkPad 600

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=ibm&lndocid=LWIK-3RUQSR

The retail version, upgrade version, and OSR1 do not have USB support, so you won't be able to use any USB devices with those versions of Win95.

Whizkid...I believe that the reason he wanted to use Windows 95 was because of special drivers/options for an old printer. He said that the option that he wanted (I can't remember what) wasn't available in later versions of Windows....specifically XP, only 95. He posted this in another thread as well.

I agree, I wouldn't use Windows 95 without some type of firewall...been there done that.

Thanks, whizkid and tfflivemb2. The latter is correct. The only reason I want Win 95 on this 600 is to control a Minolta Pageworks 20 printer, which has a custom page size setting feature in its Win 95 driver, but not in later drivers for later Windows versions, as far as I know. I need that feature because I design large stamp album pages for my specialized and extensive stamp collections. The USB problem I know about and again I will not be attaching USB devices to it. I do have a newer Dell ( 2004 vintage) that has many USB ports and Win XP -- my primary desktop machine.

whizkid is bang on target. I most certainly would not use this OS to connect to the Net. It would be an isolated system controlling the printer and doing a few standalone things like album page design. And thanks for the reference. I will take a look at it.

Sudevan