PROBLEM:
You have entered a wrong supervisor password (SVP) three times and thus presented with the following error during boot-up:
Code: Select all
ERROR 0199: System Security – Security password retry count exceeded.
SOLUTION:
If you have completely lost your SVP, there is no official way to regain access to your system without replacing the system board.
If, however, you do manage to regain your SVP, but are unable to get rid of the "ERROR 0199" message, try this:
1) Enter BIOS setup utility with your SVP
2) Press F9 to restore default settings
3) Press F10 to save settings and reboot
BACKGROUND:
Even if you regain access to BIOS, you may not be able to get rid of the 0199 error.
In the public X220 maintenance manual, the only instructions are to enter BIOS setup and press F10 to save the settings, which did not work in my case. Changing security settings, disabling/changing passwords, clearing the security chip, removing the CMOS battery - nothing seemed to work on my X220.
I called Lenovo support and after half an hour was instructed to restore the default settings. While it really doesn't make logic sense, restoring the settings somehow triggered the error to go away.
I think this is a bug in the BIOS. The error should have gone away after entering the correct SVP and saving the settings with F10.