Thinkpads Forum

Hi

I have a Thinkpad 770 ( 9548-31U ). When I put it away it was working.

Today I powered it up and it came up with the error codes 00161 and 00163 which I understood indicated a flat CMOS / BIOS battery.

I replaced the battery with a brand new one, but was unable to access the Easy Start Up menu by holding the F1 key down when the laptop was booting.

Every time I tried it, it simply went to the error page listing 00161 and 00163.

Am I doing something wrong or is the system / mother board faulty ?

Many thanks to anyone who can offer any help.

it has been years BUT have you tried hitting the esc key first, so as to bypass the error codes..?

Hi I just tried that, but it did not help ?

Is there anything else to try - I appreciate that it is an old machine.

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

If you replaced the CMOS (aka, backup) battery with a new one and you are still getting the 161 and 163 error codes, then you may be dealing with a Supervisor password.

Hi

Once the laptop boots past the Thinkpad logo it requests a single password.

At this point I hit return and the message "OK" appears.

Does this still sound like a Supervisor password issue ?

Sorry for the slight delay; I had to get one of my 600 systems out of the closet; it's about the same age as your 770 and I think it should act the same for this exercise. Yes, if there's a Supervisor password set, hitting just the Enter key at the lock prompt will display an OK message. When this is done immediately after replacing the CMOS battery, you should also get an error screen with codes 161 and 163, using the same graphical icons and colors as Easy Setup. Clicking on the OK button will show another error screen which again lists 161 and 163 and a suggestion to consult the manual. You won't be able to do anything except turn off the system. You must enter the correct Supervisor password at the prompt in order to obtain access to Easy Setup where you have to reset the date and time. Doing so will clear the 161 and 163 errors and finally allow you to boot an operating system.

If you are sure that you have never entered a Supervisor password and you have never previously attempted to access the Easy Setup menu, then did you purchase the system used? If so, the previous owner may have put one in the system and never told you. It is against forum rules to publicly discuss any method of bypassing Thinkpad security systems so the only suggestions I have at the moment follows:

- remove the CMOS battery for 10-15 seconds and replace it
- follow the procedure to remove a Power On password from the Hardware Maintenance Manual: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... FAN-3TSMGJ (Pages 25 and 116)

Hi

Many thanks for your reply - much appreciated.

When the laptop boots there is a little computer symbol which I believe is the symbol for the Power Up password.

I followed the instructions to try and re-set it using the jumper on the pins near the DIMM boards, but it did not reset.

There are 3 pairs of pins next to the DIMM boards - which pair should be shorted together or do all 3 pairs need to be shorted together ?

I look forward to hearing from you.

I'm away from my systems at the moment so I can't verify the exact sequence of events or icons. However, if you have downloaded the Hardware Maintenence Manual, then look at page 116 for the location of the pins you need to short.