T500 Supervisor Locked BIOS, any fix or Get a new MOBO?

[Streetguru]

Picked up this T500 for $50 for doing coding mostly. It booted windows 7 just fine when I bought it, however I knew it was supervisor locked.

After taking it apart, mostly removing the CMOS battery in the process I got stuck in an endless loop of booting, it asking to set the time because of a dead battery, and then me being unable to since it's supervisor locked, I can't even get into the Read Only BIOS anymore, and it won't boot from USB at all.

So is there any way to clear the supervisor password that's simple? Tried letting it discharge, heard about shorting some pins to force it into that mode while it's booting, but I've no idea about doing that.

If there's no easy way out of this, what's the best way to go about getting a new motherboard? I've seen a bunch on amazon, but I don't know if there's a specific one I need, or what the chances are of those being supervisor locked as well. Thanks.

The image here looks like the one I need, but where do I find the specific part number on the motherboard?

https://www.amazon.com/60Y3771-T500-450 ... otherboard

https://imgur.com/a/T7EDO


Ended up buying this board, appears to be the correct one, so let's hope it's not locked as well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60Y3775-IBM-T50 ... Sw5cRZG1ni

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.
On the bottom is an MTM-label that says: TYPE xxxx-yyy
At the top of this page is an MTM link, click on there, fill in your MTM and you can see what type motherboard you have.
From the HMM link get the manual with instructions for working on your T500.
And if you've got a minute, check the website in my signature below.

[Streetguru]

Thanks! Except I totally missed your comment, ordered this on ebay, but I'm in the process of canceling it, appears to be about the same thing though....Would it still work? It's pretty cheap.

"Ended up buying this board, appears to be the correct one, so let's hope it's not locked as well."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60Y3775-IBM-T50 ... 25d6da7dd6


The number on my board ended up being "43Y9291"
Only 2 results for that on ebay, first one doesn't even have an image
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-43Y9291- ... SwV4BZxFoe

Has an image, but is like $20 more, the goal is to do this as cheaply as possible now...shoulda just bought a refurbished unit on newegg or something
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-T500-43Y ... Swg9dZ2D3U


*My model number was 2089 E1U

If the $26 motherboard isn't really an option, i'm seeing a lot of T500s for like $70+, I think I may just end up buying that and having a bunch of spare parts as well.

*They seem to be listed as BIOS locked

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... 0&_sacat=0

This one for $57 + $16 looks promising maybe, different model number
http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-5-Lenovo-Thi ... SwRuFZ46J8

Same price as well. Are the models generally interchangeable on parts?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LENOVO-THINKPAD ... SwXGtZoHDO

[RealBlackStuff]

Next time don't be in such a rush!

Your T500 has integrated Intel graphics.

The one you bought has both ATI and Intel graphics, which you can swap in BIOS or in Windows.
Not everybody's favorite though.

[Streetguru]

Next time don't be in such a rush!

Your T500 has integrated Intel graphics.

The one you bought has both ATI and Intel graphics, which you can swap in BIOS or in Windows.
Not everybody's favorite though.

Ya I know, I'm horribly impatient and undecided, figured that given the extra chip with paste on it.

I may end up just going with the buying another T500 at this point. At least then I have spare parts or something like that. Need some way to rationalize this.

[Streetguru]

Next time don't be in such a rush!

Your T500 has integrated Intel graphics.

The one you bought has both ATI and Intel graphics, which you can swap in BIOS or in Windows.
Not everybody's favorite though.

Oh wait but assuming that motherboard works, I could just put in the CPU right? Should be the same? I think I may end up building a wooden shell for this thing so It's more compact, I don't need the DVD or most of the peripherals.

The cooler on this thing would go over the chip just fine. well maybe not, but I already have pretty decent heatsinks I bought for a GPU mod that I could easily repurpose.

[RealBlackStuff]

The Intel-fan does NOT fit on an ATI motherboard (but ATI-fan does fit on Intel).
The rest is interchangeable.

[Streetguru]

The Intel-fan does NOT fit on an ATI motherboard (but ATI-fan does fit on Intel).
The rest is interchangeable.

Ya did some eyeballing, doesn't 100% cover that area.

But if the rest will work, then thanks a lot, I think I'll pick it up and see what I can do about building a more compact wooden case or something.

[Neil]

I may have a spare T500 base with Intel motherboard (no lid or LCD panel). PM if interested.

[TPFanatic]

The Intel-fan does NOT fit on an ATI motherboard (but ATI-fan does fit on Intel).
The rest is interchangeable.

To fit ATI heatsink in the Intel model you need to file away a little of the ATI block to avoid hitting the Modem connector. It then works much better than the Intel version.

[Streetguru]

I may have a spare T500 base with Intel motherboard (no lid or LCD panel). PM if interested.

If the new board doesn't work I'm just going to mount them to my wall and call it.

[Neil]

Wish I had thought of that solution 100 (or so) ThinkPads ago.

[TuuS]

If interested, I have an IBM refurbished W500 board, same as the T500 but with better graphics. It will cost more than these questionable ebay salvaged boards, but is the best board available for this series and I believe only one is left.

[ThinkRob]

If you have a T500 with a locked BIOS, there's always Coreboot... Might be the perfect opportunity to try something new!