T42 - how to get in supervisor mode

[fschwep]

I'm trying to get into the supervisor mode of my T42. It happily recognizes the system password I set when I got it (new) about 18 months ago, it happily recognizes the password for the recovery program, but it refuses to go into supervisor mode to let me change anything in the BIOS. It never asks for a supervisor password, though (at startup). Now when I first got the machine and set it up, I had it synchronize the system and Windows passwords, then later decided the Windows pw was too much hassle and I changed that (i.e. to just 'Enter'). The system pw remained active. I suspect something must have gone awry at that moment. The machine is happily chugging away so there is no immediate need to change anything, but it worries me as I may need to get into supervisor mode if I want to change the harddisk and need to change the boot sequence, for instance.
Is there any way to force the machine to ask for the supervisor password, and is there a limit on the number of tries? It has been a long time and there are three or four pws or phrases I have always used for my machines over the years (I did not write it down at the time, as I was replacing a dead machine in a hurry with a new one), but I don't want the machine to freeze up if I pick the wrong one and there are, say, only three tries...
If I understand it correctly, the system should start up when one types in either the normal system password or the supervisor password, if both have been set and it displays the little symbol for 'system password' (the lock). if only a supervisor pw had been set that lock should look differently or not appear at all at normal startup but only when I try to get into the BIOS, correct?

[egibbs]

I don't think the SP prompt looks any different than the normal lock.

When you access BIOS, the PW you enter determines whether you can make changes. If you enter the user PW, you can't. If you enter the SP, you can.

If you are not sure if you actually set the SP, it may be blank. Try hitting F1 at startup to get into BIOS, then just hit enter at the PW prompt. You may get a pleaseant surprise. If you do, you might want to set a SP while you are there.

If not, I think you get 3 tries before it locks up and you need to cycle power to try again. As far as I now there is no maximum number of lockup/power cycles - you can try passwords until you get tired of it.

Ed Gibbs

[GomJabbar]

Beware:

Message: 0199: System Security - IBM Security password retry count exceeded.

Solution: This message is displayed if you enter a wrong supervisor password more than three times. Confirm the supervisor password and try again. To clear the error, enter the IBM BIOS Setup Utility.

[fschwep]

Thanks guys; I'll try again. I already tried just hitting Enter, but no show. My guess is that during my initial setup the password combo/synchro with Windows XP may have screwed up the supervisor password.
Years ago I had another TP (a 340, really stone age) that suddenly decided to forget its master password. It remembered that a pw had been set, but not what it was (I did!). The day before I had been working happily with it, and it just went dead, did not get further than the bios pw screen. I took in it to an IBM repair center where they managed to reset it by pulling out each and every battery and leaving it overnight without any power. I'm not going to try that now, though - the machine works fine as it is, I just don't feel totally at easy without the possibility to get into the BIOS to change settings if the need ever arises.

[fredstev]

Thanks guys; I'll try again. I already tried just hitting Enter, but no show. My guess is that during my initial setup the password combo/synchro with Windows XP may have screwed up the supervisor password.
Years ago I had another TP (a 340, really stone age) that suddenly decided to forget its master password. It remembered that a pw had been set, but not what it was (I did!). The day before I had been working happily with it, and it just went dead, did not get further than the bios pw screen. I took in it to an IBM repair center where they managed to reset it by pulling out each and every battery and leaving it overnight without any power. I'm not going to try that now, though - the machine works fine as it is, I just don't feel totally at easy without the possibility to get into the BIOS to change settings if the need ever arises.

The one other thing you can try is hitting the space bar once while in the enter the password field. This happened to me twice when removing the password and hitting "enter" to clear it. I'm thinking that maybe I drag my thumb on the space bar, but who knows?

[usual]

Actually I met the same problem with you, mine may be more complicated. all of my PWs including power on pw, hard disk pw, supervisor pw and windows system pw are all the same one. When I turn on the laptop and press F1, it shows me the pw entry and I input the ONLY ONE pw (I'm not sure what is the pw for, because they are same). I cannot modify any bios information, it shows that "All the items on the menu cannot be modified in user mode....".

I installed ThinkVantage Client Security Solution yesterday by which you can disable the security chip, but a bios supervisor pw is needed. I input the ONLY ONE pw which I have, and it responed that it's a wrong pw. But I can 100% confirm that it is the right pw I have set. Actually all my PWs are the same, even the pw for the account of this forum is the same one. So I guess maybe it must be a bug.

Although I can use the laptop happily now, what if I need to modify some bios information some day?

[usual]

hi fschwep,

I met the same problem with you yesterday, after a lot searching I found out the reason may be that the max length of supervisor pwd is 7. When you set your supervisor pwd, you must have input more than 7 characters twice (one input, one confirm), but the system only recognize the first 7 characters.

So if your supervisor is more than 7 characters, try the first 7 characters when your laptop starup.

Wish this would be useful to you.