Thinkpads Forum

Hi there,

I have a user here who set the hard disk password on his HDD (he says he thinks he set it using some ThinkVantage software) a long time ago. Since then we gave him a new laptop (T60 Core Duo to T60 Core 2 Duo) and used the same drive. The problem is that now he's got a T61 and I need to remove the password so that I can repurpose the machine for another user. Thats not such a big problem until you realise that the password is 13 characters and that the BIOS will only let you type in 12! So I'm looking for a way to change the password that will let me type in the 13 character password and/or remove it. I can get into the machine because I have the password, but I cant change it essentially.

I've just upgraded the BIOS to the latest v2.21 now but will gladly downgrade the BIOS if i need to. It still only accepts 12 chars. I'm going to install the Client Security Solution also and see if theres anything in there. Otherwise, I'm stuck with a harddisk password on this drive.

Can anyone help?

My (very limited) experience is that you have to put the drive back into the original machine to remove the password. I do not know how to deal with the length problem. ... JDH

I seem to remember a post, but can't find it, where the member had the same or very similar problem. I believe he solved it by entering the password missing out a different letter or number on each attempt. Might be worth the 12 attempts

andy I think that post was about a guy who had a password with numbers on the end. He tried and tried to make the password work but alas, he couldn't . Then one day he left the numbers off and it worked!!. I love that story


"I love that story" quote from Pee Wee Herman.

If the password doesnt match then it wont go to the next field which is the 'confirm new password' field. After 2 attempts the System Halts. This is when putting in 12 of the 13 characters.

I've tried using the ATA Password app on the Universal Boot CD and I get a system halt upon attempting to start the program.

I've installed the CSS and theres no option to change the password. There is an option to do an Audit and it tells you that you _have_ a hard disk password but thats it.

I've tried downgrading the BIOS, but it wouldnt let me go back very far. The latest is 2.21 and i couldnt get back to even v2.10 which im guessing has got the same 12 char limit. I think I need to find the original T60 Core Duo and downgrade the BIOS on it to v1.x and see if that has a 12 char limit.

In the meantime, has anyone got a T60 with a v1.x bios if they could check and see if its got the 12 char limit? I'm at the end of my imagination in trying to find a solution.

You need to switch the BIOS from Password mode to Passphrase mode.

Ed Gibbs

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try on Monday. my working day is almost over and im on the train on the way home.

I didnt see a reference to a pasphrase but the summary of changes in the T60 and T60p BIOSes page: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 64462.html refers to it in version 1.07

"(Fix) When the Password reset service of BIOS Setup is enabled (BIOS Setup->Security->Password->Password Reset Service) and Passphrase is disabled (BIOS Setup->Security->Password->Using Passphrase), Power On Password POP or Hard Disk
Password (HDP) may not be unlocked with a registered password by the Password reset service. (BIOS)"

i'll inform the forum of my results after the weekend.

Okay, well I didnt get that far.

Today, another user showed up with a T60 Core Duo that kept shutting down when it was put into the docking station. I put the hard disk into it, and lo and behold, the limit on the BIOS for the password was a whopping 64 characters. The BIOS version was 2.16 and the laptop was a T2400. The machine was a 2007-FSG. I suspect, the same BIOS used to make the original 13 char one that has given me these problems.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions anyway!

Are you talking passWORD (12 char) or passPHRASE (64 char)?

Lenove says, if you want to change the password, type it in, press the spacebar once, then press enter.
The extra character, that you can't find, could be the spacebar.