Boot up Password on IBM T40

[akamarshall]

Hi everyone,

When I boot up my IBM T40, I get two error messages (0217 and 0176), then I'm taken to a password prompt. What I believe happened is; after installing Debian on it, I rebooted and was taken a password prompt. I have had the prompt on my X30, and I removed the backup battery, and I got past the password prompt. I tried that, and now I get those two error messages, and I have tried going into the boot up manager and the bios, and neither work. Any help in getting me past this password prompt would be most appreciated.

Thanks

[richk]

That is an odd combination of errors. The 0176, after removing the CMOS battery, means that your password is a supervisor password, which is stored in a chip that is not affected by pulling the battery. If you have that sort of password and pull the CMOS battery, you get the 0176 error saying that someone has unsuccessfully attemped to tamper with the security system. If you take it to IBM, they tell you you need to replace your motherboard. The chip can be read. Right now, I have stacks or T30s and T40s that I bought from a business that put passwords on all their laptops to control users making changes, but they lost control of the passwords. The 217 usually means a stuck key. Is it possible you were holding down a key when you powered up?