Password not working...I know I'm screwed...what can I do?

[mybellyisempty]

I was removing my passwords in my T43, as they had been set to passphrases. I wanted to get rid of all of them, and got rid of the supervisor password.


the power on password has not been changed, but it's not working.

I know what it should have been...but nothing's happening.


What, if any, solutions are there to this issue, other than [censored] the system or buying another T43 and doing a part swap?

[jdhurst]

One way has been to remove the CMOS battery (remove the keyboard) and the main battery and let the TP sit overnight. That should remove BIOS passwords. If you have proof of ownership, a repair shop should be able to do it if need be. .. JD Hurst

[mybellyisempty]

where's the CMOS battery?

[christopher_wolf]

There should be a section in the HMM for your model that describes how to access and remove/replace it.

[mybellyisempty]

HMM?

[mybellyisempty]

disregard, found out what you meant.

[christopher_wolf]

Hardware Maintenance Manual; go to the IBM/Lenovo Support and Download site and enter your model number or auto-detect the model. After that, download the HMM; it gives in-depth information and operational info about the various components of the Thinkpad and aides greatly in field maintenance, such as replacing the CMOS battery.

[mybellyisempty]

CMOS battery is pulled...it's under the palmrest...

I thought pulling the CMOS battery didn't get rid of the passwords though?


I haven't enabled the security chip, just had the main 3 (sup, pow, hdd) passwords set...

[Tony's X60s]

If you have the supervisor password set, you have to change the board.

However, sometimes it's only the Power-on password (POP) that is the problem - it's happened to me and pulling the CMOS battery as per the HMM did the trick. The HDD password was then recognised and all was OK again.

[christopher_wolf]

Yeah, the CMOS pull won't clear the Supervisor or the HDD passwords, although it might get in the way of other passwords, such as the Supervisor password, being recognized for whatever reason.

[mybellyisempty]

Well, the hdd password is still messed up, but the laptop itself is back up and running properly.

If it's just the hdd, I can work with that, as I have 2nd 80gb 7200rpm I can make the primary while I wait for another drive.


Or, now I can work on clearing that drive out...


You guys have no idea how happy I am right now. I really didn't want to think about going to Dell for my mobility needs (M1210 would have given me Core 2 Duo, but at the loss of a nipple).



If anyone has any suggestions on wiping the drive out (I'm back in windows right now...so the fingerprint works, but textually speaking, the password is borked..), I'd love to hear it. not concerned with data wiping, as I have very recent ghost images...

[jdhurst]

If it is the hard drive that has the password, then it is scrap. There is no practical way to change / delete the password on a hard drive. That is the best security feature going. My HD has a password, and you can bet your socks it is committed irrecovably to memory plus backed up in other highly secure places. Nobody but me operates my ThinkPad JD Hurst

[mybellyisempty]

So is mine.

But that doesn't mean that it's working. Unless it's reverted to the passphrase, which it shouldn't have and I lost the info for after I re-converted to the 8 character format...I don't know.

I've just thought of one more password it could be, but I don't think I put it on that drive, I think it was on my T40.