Thinkpads Forum

My T60p was working happily this morning until I pull it out of standby in the afternoon and the fingerprint/bio scanner, whatever its called, stopped working.

I tried going into BIOS to turn fingerprint off and re-enroll my prints but no luck. If I press Ctrl+Alt+Del to try alternative logon options, it says since the user is enrolled, it won't let me enter a password and can only scan my fingers. I remember being able to bypass scanning and typing in my passphrase and password before using this method.

Also, when I try the method above, it will show the "Swipe Finger" picture prompt and on the first swipe, it changes to "Processing" with a magnifying glass icon and after that it returns to the previous icon. I can't seem to get out of this cycle.

I tried going into Diagnostics to test the scanner and it just hangs, unless I'm looking at it wrong.

How can I fix this/is it an easy fix? If not, I may just have to dump it on ebay and regretfully buy another laptop.

Hit F1 after you turn it on. Go into the BIOS and then access config/security/fingerprint. Erase all fingerprints.

That was one of the first things I tried including disabling the security measures etc but once Windows boots, it shows the same logon prompt loop of Ctrl+Alt+Del or "Swipe your finger".

What would cause the computer to suddenly act this way? I haven't even been able to find many other instances of this issue via Google and very little to no info on how to remedy it.

A password should always be able to override fingerprints. There really is a scenario in which only a fingerprint logon is allowed?

That's what I thought too but when I try to get to the PW logon screen, it says only users who are not enrolled are allowed to do that or something to that effect.

The only other option I found was to un/reinstall the fingerprint software but I haven't had time to dive into it. The one thing that throws me off is going into ThinkVantage Diagnostics and having it hang at the Finger scanner diagnostics.

Anyone have another solution? I've tried going into BIOS, ThinkVantage and nothing seems to work.
The only thing I can think of doing is getting another fingerprint scanner installed since it hangs on the diagnostics screen.

I'm out of ideas and want my laptop back.

Not sure if this is any help: Fingerprint Reader tips - ThinkPad

Thanks but unfortunately, all that refers to settings within Windows. Right now, I can't get into Windows since I'm stuck at the logon screen. I did find this though. The last question addresses my problem but I'm still digging around for the actual solution.
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/security/fpr_faq.html

try booting into safe mode, and log into your account if possible, otherwise go into the administrator account and change the setting for "have to use a fingerprint" or whatever it is. You need to go into safe mode becasue in recent (post xpsp3) windows oses it is disabled at regular bootup.

Good luck.

How about removing the KB-palmrest and then logging in to set Windows any which way you want?
And modify BIOS as well, while you're at it.

RealBlackStuff wrote:How about removing the KB-palmrest and then logging in to set Windows any which way you want?
And modify BIOS as well, while you're at it.

This worked. Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, if no scanner is installed the software won't allow users to make any changes so I'll either have to get a new part or do a factory reset but for the time being, I can finally log in via pw again and use the laptop like normal.

I stopped using the fingerprint scanner myself so I haven't tried this, but I seem to recall seeing somewhere that you can hit the Esc key to enter the password manually.

jimbob83 wrote:I stopped using the fingerprint scanner myself so I haven't tried this, but I seem to recall seeing somewhere that you can hit the Esc key to enter the password manually.

+1