Bios password

[superxfly]

Is there any way to tell which password is on my notebook?
Does the screen look the same for each?
Thank you.

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Pull the hard drive out. Boot the machine without it. If you're still getting the password promprt, there's a supervisor password on the machine...

Good luck

[superxfly]

I gave my T42 to my brother after years I owned it, without any problems. He calls me yesterday and says there is now a password required to boot. I'm thinking it's just a Windows XP password and can be easily fixed. Well, it turned out to be a bios password and I remove the CMOS battery to reset it. Bad move on my part. Anyway, it now has the 0176 error and I've done a lot of reading about it and I think I'll just have it shipped out to remove it. He says he didn't put any password on it and I believe him because I don't think he's capable.
My question is, can a password just randomly be required on the notebook? Can something like a voltage spike or anything similar cause it or does it have to be done by the user? I've owned it for years and it never required a password. Thanks for any suggestions.

[superxfly]

Thanks, I'll try that but it may be too late since I have the 0176 error. I should of come here first before I thought I knew what I was doing.

[Harryc]

I merged threads of the same topic. We don't allow duplicate/Cross posting on the forums. Thank-you.

[RealBlackStuff]

If there's a BIOS password on it, and you remove the CMOS battery, this turns into a Supervisor Password.
Normal procedure as per IBM is to replace the motherboard.

[rkawakami]

Getting back to the original question for a second....

This documentation at IBM: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... migr-59377

says that you will see two different lock icons for the power-on and BIOS (aka, supervisor) prompts. The power-on prompt is intended to look like a computer monitor (squarish representation of a computer monitor next to the padlock) and the supervisor prompt has an outline of a person beside the padlock. This may be true for the newer systems and/or BIOS revisions, but for my T41 (BIOS rev 3.23; the latest one according to the BIOS download page) and earlier systems, the BIOS password prompt looks identical to the power-on prompt. The hard drive password prompt can't be mistaken for either the power-on or BIOS password since it has a cylinder next to the padlock; the traditional symbol for a stack of hard drive platters.

Pulling out the hard drive will not make the power-on prompt go away, if that password has been enabled. If both the power-on and BIOS passwords have been set, then supplying either correct response will allow the system to continue booting. As long as the CMOS (backup) battery remains functional, the only way you will encounter the BIOS password is if you actively attempt to access the BIOS - pressing the F1 key at power-up. However, if there is a BIOS password set and the CMOS battery goes dead or is momentarily disconnected, then the BIOS password prompt will ALWAYS kick in. The reason for that is that the system date and time will have been lost and upon booting, the system will force the user into the BIOS to reset the time before continuing to boot the system. This is where systems have been "bricked" because a BIOS password was set, "forgotten" and the backup battery died (or was removed).

"Can a password spontaneously develop in a Thinkpad?". Without knowing exactly how the security system/BIOS works to store and validate the passwords, I can't say for sure. I do know that the information is stored in non-volatile memory; something that does not need any power source to maintain the data. That's why removing the batteries will NOT ever get rid of a BIOS password. However, cells in that type of memory can change state by themselves. On the bright side, those typical data retention times are estimated to be anywhere between 10 and 100 years (!) . That, in itself, says that a anomalous device may have a retention time much worse than typical. Then the question becomes, "Could a random bit flip somewhere in the memory cause the system to think it has a BIOS password?". Only the designers of the system can accurately answer that question. My opinion? It's more likely that somebody was fooling around with the system and accidentally enabled the password than the memory developing a case of amnesia.

[AIX]

If there's a BIOS password on it, and you remove the CMOS battery, this turns into a Supervisor Password.[..]

RealBlackStuff, could you please point me to some direction regarding this behavior? I never heard about this and.. it's good to know, I think, thank you.

[RealBlackStuff]

See rkawakamis's post just above yours!

[wild_bill]

do you have more time or money?

if you have more money than time, have the motherboard replaced by IBM

Mod edit - I have removed a reference to BIOS hacking. To the post originator, please read the forum rules. We do not allow discussion of BIOS or supervisor password hacking.