Thinkpads Forum

1. Can I add a fingerprint reader palmrest if the Thinkpad didn't come with it? Replacment looks simple in the HMM?

2. Can I peel off the Windows Vista sticker, or will it leave behind a permanent residue? Not sure why it says 'Windows Vista Basic' when I ordered (and it came with, as well as the bottom sticker says) Windows Vista Home Premium.

yeah you can... it's easy to do but you probably gotta buy it seperately.

The Vista sticker is easy to come off and yes it will leave some residue, you'll just have to use some WD-40 or something else to clean it off.

If you want to get rid of the residue left by the sticker try goo gone http://www.magicamerican.com/products_gg.aspx
I've never used it on a laptop but I have on other things and it's fantastic!

I was told by my Lenovo supplier that you can add the fingerprint palm rest but it needs an extra chip on the motherboard...

If anyone can verify that would help... I was also told you couldnt add bluetooth but I dont believe that either...

there is no "chip" on the motherboard, it's in the palmrest itself and shares the connector that goes from the UltraNAV to the motherboard.

The chip is acutally right where you swipe your finger and then it connects to the motherboard over a USB bus (same with the UltraNAV apparently) so that's all. The software will interface with the chip and that's all you need. I bought the fingerprint reader for mine (200766U DOESN'T come wit a Fingerprint reader) and it was a quick 2 min thing to unscrew and put in the new one.

How about the "security chip"?

Heck, if it's so easy to remove the palmrest with a fingerprint reader, wouldn't it be that much easier to circumvent the security features fingerprinting offers if the "security chip" resides in the plastic under the palmrest itself?

There's got to be more to it. I would surmise that the mobo itself contains some security chip, without which the fingerprint reader would only serve as window dressing.

you're confusing things. There's the TPM chip in the motherboard and that comes with all of them regardless of if you have fingerprint or not. The TPM can be used with Vista Ultimate and Enterprise to encrypt your HDD using bitlocker. That's a different thing.

If your BIOS is set to require fingerprint log in and you take it off then the system wont boot. In Windows, removing the palmrest will just make it say "Please connect fingerprint reader" and you'll be there till that. Taking it off doesn't disable it, just means you can't authenticate. You're thinking this info is stored in the chip.. it's not... the chip is just the reader, the BIOS or TPM (i think) is what actually stores the prints and all that. So i don't see how you can circumvent it if you mean by just removing it. Hacking the chip? Well if you are good enough for that then yeah... a windows password is much easier.