Forgotten BIOS Password won't reset

[sircorey]

Hi, I am a victim of the System Security Software virus that somehow changed my BIOS password.
I read the ThinkPad manual and followed the instructions to clear the password
I removed the battery pack
I removed the CR2032 Yellow Battery off the motherboard (backup battery I know
I even removed the Hard Drive

No success. I left this thing on all day while at work and came home to the same icon of the little PC next to the padlock.
I saw on the Lenovo Forums that the Administrator password will show an icon of a head/shoulders next to the padlock in the top left corner of the black screen. The HD password will show a storage can next to the padlock. So based on that I'm assuming the BIOS password is what I'm trying to clear and it won't work. Can someone help ?

The following instructions did not work, I left it on for 12 hours with no batteries and it still didn't reset

Forgotten Power-on password
If the Power-on password is forgotten and the Supervisor password is known, simply go into the ThinkPad BIOS setup utility and reset the Power-on password, otherwise try the following:
Turn off the computer.
Remove the battery pack.
Remove the backup battery.
Turn on the computer and wait until the POST ends. After the POST ends, the password prompt does not appear. The POP has been removed.
Reinstall the backup battery and the battery pack.

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Depending upon the model (and maybe even the BIOS revision?), the supervisor lock icon ("head/shoulders") can also show up as a "box"; a crude image of a monitor is my best guess of what it's supposed to mean. Given that you do have the head/shoulders icon, then yes, that's the supervisor password. I'm not aware of any virus which is able to install an unknown password, much less one which can figure out an existing one and modify it (what your statement, "somehow changed my BIOS password", seems to imply).

I'm sorry to say that due to the rules of this forum, any methods, techniques or assistance in circumventing security systems (i.e., password) is not allowed to be publicly discussed. The only recommended procedure we can suggest is to change out the motherboard; what the factory essentially tells you is the solution.

[RealBlackStuff]

Check your PM ("new messages" at the top of any forum page).

[sircorey]

Hi,

My first post was misleading.
The T43 was working fine and never had any CMOS, SUPV or HD password. When an idiot asked to use my computer I said fine (regretfully I should have had anti-virus but didn't). Then I got this system security virus that changed my wallpaper flashed this phony browser with gold shield/black stripes and said you have a virus. The next thing it shows was a screen of all the files it was "checking" for viruses. It corrupted cmd.exe and so no more executables would work, including taskmgr.exe rundll.exe etc.
The next thing I noticed was I powered the T43 down booted it up a couple days later and I see the monitor with padlock icon on the black screen. I wrote down on a sheet of paper E-v-e-r-y password I've ever used in my life caps non caps you name it. Nothing worked. From then I could only assume that the virus set the password. I never had a startup password So then, I unplugged the hard drive on the off chance that things would get worse. So the night of this post I connected the CMOS battery and the hard drive and now I get the HD Password icon with the padlock, picture of a can with a #1 on top of it. The supervisor password icon is the head and shoulders next to the padlock and I've never seen that so I was hoping if there was a default supervisor password for IBM I would use that or find a way to read my bios password and or hd password. Although I hear now there is a user HD pw and a Master HD PW. I'm assuming the user HD pw is a #1 and the master must be a #2

Any ideas?. I know this forum has guidelines for discussing password resets and so forth. And I'm not encouraging breaking the rules but any advice within those parameters would be a big help. Thanks

[rkawakami]

Several things...

- your "idiot" that used your system could have installed one, two or all three passwords in the system (power-on, BIOS, HD); in other words, it may not have been malware, but a malicious human
- monitor with padlock screen can be power-on or BIOS password (at least for T41 systems and earlier - don't have a T43 to test)
- removing the CMOS battery for at least a minute or two will also remove the power-on password
- removal of the CMOS battery, subsequent re-install and then booting the system would have caused the BIOS password prompt to invoke itself if there was one set (missing CMOS battery would make the system lose date/time and you would then be forced into resetting it by entering BIOS)

[RealBlackStuff]

Unless you go to a forensic laboratory with specialized equipment (and their very specialized prices), it is not possible to remove a hard disk password.
If by chance you would find the Supervisor PW (SVP), you could be lucky in that the hard disk PW could be the same as the SVP PW. If not, go buy a new hard disk.

[fasterbybike]

Assuming you knew the "idiot" well enough to trust with your Thinkpad, why not ask him/her what they did ? If not, then you won't make that mistake again