Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone,

I have an X200 which I'm using as a kind of "guinea pig" laptop for school (so if I accidentally break it, it won't matter too much) but there is a small problem. It has a hard drive password, which I know, and a power on password which I do not know. I followed the instructions on the lenovo website, and booted the laptop with the backup battery connected and disconnected, and both times it still asked for the power on password. I need to remove both passwords so I can completely wipe the hard drive and learn how to load an operating system onto it. Is there an alternate way to remove the power on password? Or do I need to buy a new motherboard? Thanks for your help and I hope this isn't against forum rules!!!

Power on and supervisor password is persistent and will still be there even after disconnecting all power sources.

Go to Lenovo's Website and download a maintenance manual for that machine. There is a section there that addresses passwords. Beyond that, Lenovo's official stance is that you have to replace the motherboard. It is against forum rules to discuss more than that.

http://support.lenovo.com/en_CA/guides- ... tor=expand

error651 wrote:... remove the power on password? Or do I need to buy a new motherboard?

The power-on password can be removed, even if you do not know what it is. You do not need a new motherboard to get around that one.

See Page 47 of the X200 Hardware Maintenance Manual, section titled "How to remove the power-on password":
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... 632_10.pdf

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

There are three passwords on the Thinkpad: 1) power on, 2) hard drive and 3) supervisor (aka, BIOS). Here's the way that the passwords work:

- if set, the power on password will be requested each time the laptop is powered up. It can be removed by removing ALL power sources (battery, AC and CMOS or backup battery) for at least a few seconds; however, see note on BIOS password.
- if set, the hard drive password will be requested each time the laptop is powered up (assuming the drive is connected). It can only be removed by accessing the BIOS menu and providing the correct HD password; removing the CMOS battery will not remove a hard drive password.
- if set, the supervisor password will normally be requested only when attempting to access the BIOS menu. It can only be removed by accessing the BIOS menu; removing the CMOS battery will not remove a supervisor password. WARNING: If this password is set, removing the CMOS battery will automatically invoke the supervisor password prompt each time the system is booted until the correct supervisor password is entered and the user resets the date/time information (lost when the CMOS battery was removed). You MUST be able the provide the correct supervisor password in order to continue using the laptop. If you do NOT know the supervisor password, you will not be able to boot any OS. The factory stance on this occurrance is to replace the motherboard.

I know in the older Thinkpads the power on and supervisor password icon prompts looked the same; a square representing a computer or monitor. The newer systems are supposed to use an outline of a head as the supervisor prompt to distinguish it from the power on prompt. I just checked my own X200s. I set both the power on and supervisor passwords separately. Both had the same square icon prompt. The hard drive prompt is a cylinder. If you have already removed ALL power sources and you are still getting a password prompt, then you have a supervisor password.

If you need to replace the motherboard, you may consider an X201 motherboard instead.
You could then also replace the X200-palmrest with an X201-palmrest with touchpad.