Thinkpads Forum

Ive got an odd problem with my 365xd.

One day it stopped working and I narrowed it down to the harddrive. In the process I accidently broke the solder on the cmos battery so everytime I turn it on I need to enter the date. Before I can set the date it asks for the BIOS password, which is simply "enter". There isnt a password basically.

So I bought a new drive, a 2gb Toshiba one. When I plug it in I get to the bit where I need to enter the BIOS password but when I press enter I get a little "x" signalling it the wrong password.

Does anyone know why this might be happening?

Ive been messing with it a bit and when I boot up with the new drive I get the error 158 just before it asks me for the password.

So I plugged it into my desktop and booted into atapwd (harddrive password recovery tool) where I added a password to the drive. (well I simply pressed enter to match what the motherboard asks for)

Now when I boot I get the error 159 just before it asks for a password.

If I install no drive at all I still get asked for a password before I can entere the time and date and again its simply a matter of pressing enter.

The only thing I can think of is pulling the whole thing apart and trying to make the cmos battery contact the board but surely there is way around these 158 and 159 errors?

Maybe try this...??

Power off. Hold down F1 key. Power on. Hold down F1 key until you get the "Easy-Setup" screen. Pick Password icon, set the 3 passwords (for power on, HDD, and Supervisor) to the same or to "off." Hope this helps...?

Well I fixed my cmos battery today. I thought it would be a matter of touching the broken contact with the soldering iron! The bit which it apparently need soldering to looked like plastic, it must have been silicon I suppose.
I had to run a wire from the + end of the battery to the next solder point down the line. It was murder! But it saves the time and date so Im back to a simple "installing a new hard drive" problem


When I boot up with the new harddrive just before I expect it to boot from the floppy drive I get the 158 error. If I add a user passwaord to the drive I get a 159 error.

What is a supervisor password? Its something to do with the motherboard or BIOS but I dont know what it is for.

My primitive understand of this is that basically, the supervisor password "stays with" the motherboard. the HDD password "stays with" the hard drive.

I think if you can get into the BIOS Easy Setup program, and remove ALL the passwords, you might find the problem solved. I don't know if "enter" is the same as having NO password... ???

Good job on fixing the battery holder.

So its looks like I need to remove the supervisor password.

BIOS has the password and startup options shaded out (it always has been) and I still cant boot from floppies whether I have a hard drive installed or not. I thought about flashing BIOS so I could get into the password bit but it wont boot from the floppy.

I just dont understand how when I press enter when no drive is installed it will say the password is correct but if I add the hdd enter doesnt work, even though I have set and unset passwords on the hdd.

Wow laptops are tough!


Many Thanks guys, I feel im making some progress at least!

Here's info taken directly from my 365X/D owner's manual...

"The power-on password helps protect your computer from being used by unauthorized persons. If a power-on password is set, the password prompt (looks like a little padlock) appears on the screen whenever you turn on the computer, and it reminds you to enter the password. If you type in the passwork correctly, OK appears on the screen. If you enter it incorrectly, an "X" appears on the screen. After 3 incorrect tries, you must turn the power off, wait 5 sec, and try again.

To set the power-on password... enter Easy-Setup... select the Power-On icon, type in your desired power-on pasword, then press Enter.

Do Not Forget Your Power-On Password. If you forget it, you cannot reset it. You have to take the computer to an IBM authoried reseller.

Once you're set this password, you cannot change or remove it in Easy-Setup, you must change or remove the power-on password at the password prompt screen that appears when you turn on the computer.

To change the power-on password, turn on the computer, when the password prompt appears (padlock) enter you current power-on password, then press the spacebar. Use no more than 8 characters. Type the new password again to verify it, then press Enter.

The steps can be summarized as current (space) new (space) new (enter)."



See if this appears to apply to your situation. If not, post again, and I will post the instructions for the Hard Drive password.

I really think password stuff is the key to your computer's problems. Hopefully, we'll figure it out.