T43p: BIOS 1.25 corupted HD password

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kam_ · #1 Post by **kam_** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:57 pm

Yesterday i set an identical supervisor password, power on password, and hard drive password and linked them to a fingerprint .

All was working fine, and when i swiped my finger on power on it automaically entered the power on and HD passwords.

Last night i hibernated it and this morning when i swipe my finger it enters only the power on password and prompts me for the HD password.

I've tried the password i set last night and it doesn't work.

I'm 100% sure the passwords were the same as i had to retype them to link them to my fingerprint last night.

The only thing i can think is the v1.25 bios has some bug. It seems to have been withdrawn from the IBM site.

Anyone have any ideas? I called IBM today but after 50 minutes on hold they closed!

#2 Post by **draco2527** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:37 pm

I called IBM today but after 50 minutes on hold they closed!

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR PROFILE SO WE KNOW WERE YOU ARE LOCATED!

If you are in the USA, IBM support is open 24/7; you called Solectron that closes at 8PM EST!

The number is the same, depending on the prompt options that you pick; you will either end up with ThinkPad support in Atlanta Georgia (IBM/Lenovo) or Solectron......

If you are outside of the US, then I have no clue......

Good luck with your problem!

kam_ · #3 Post by **kam_** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:50 pm

Ahh ok will do. I'm in the UK, so here its only open till 6pm.
So far i'm not having much of a good time with IBM/Lenovo, i can't even seem to get a straight answer on how much it costs to upgrade my 3 year waranty to on site. Last person i spoke to didn't even know if it was possible. Maybe next time i'll call the US for general tech support.

egibbs · #4 Post by **egibbs** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:57 am

I had a similar situation when I used a disk that had a prior passphrase set in a system that was in password mode. If your passphrase contains spaces, special characters, or capitalization you won't be able to have it recognized in password mode.

Unfortunately the system won't let you change back while a password (or passphrase) is set - so Catch-22.

The solution is to power down and pull the drive out. Boot into BIOS and clear the Power On and Supervisor passwords, which will then allow you to change to passphrase mode. Now shut down, put the disk back in and boot back to BIOS. Set the POP ans SP to the same passphrase as is set on the disk then reboot.

Hope this helps.

Ed Gibbs

kam_ · #5 Post by **kam_** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:55 am

thanks for the help, but i set the passwords on the computer itself with no spaces. I called IBM who said i should be able to remove it with the supervisor password. I've tried the procedure in the hardware manual and its not working.

kam_ · #6 Post by **kam_** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:16 am

Ok so more developments..

Aparently the BIOS supervisor password becomes the HD MASTER password
The HD password becomes the HD USER password.

Without the hard drive i can get into the BIOS using the supervisor password so there is no user error there.

With the harddrive pressing F1 during HDP password prompt should take me to the master password prompt - nothing happens. Anyway the supervisor password still doesnt work at that prompt after F1.

So it sounds like the v1.25 bios has corupted the HD password:(

kam_ · #7 Post by **kam_** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:15 am

And more devlopments.

I called them back, after explaining got transfered to software.
They told me hold on there.. we don't support anything password related period. I explained their software has screwed up my HD - the password has little to do with it, it would have happened with any password.
He told me sorry can't help you. I said ok i'm not happy with this, how can i escalate this - he said hold on and transfered me to hardware!! my god IBM!

So i finally get through to the first helpfull support person and we agree that:

BIOS Supervisor password gets copied to HDD MASTER password automatically.
BIOS HDD password = HDD USER password

Without the harddrive i can get into the BIOS = supervisor password works - PROOF that my supervisor password is correct.

The supervisor password aka HDD MASTER PASSWORD doesn't reset the HD USER password using their procedure - PROOF that the BIOS miswrote the MASTER password. PROBABLE that the BIOS also miswrote the USER password.

Conclusion:
Me and the support person came to the conclusion that the v1.25 BIOS corupted both HD passwords in the HD.

Since i have another unrelated power problem, i agreed to send it back to them. The support person explained the situation to the people that book the return.
I get transfered to the person he spoke to.

He tells me that regardless they can't do anything about the HD. I explain their software has made my HD useless - so how is this my fault?

So now its hanging in the air, and he says they might fix it, they might not. Argue it out when they call you.

What kind of rubish is this? I should have bought a dell and used the saved money to buy 4 hour fix support.

I'm not happy at all. Does anyone know the best escalation procedure or what number i can call to complain?

hoya · #8 Post by **hoya** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:59 pm

kam_ wrote: Conclusion:
Me and the support person came to the conclusion that the v1.25 BIOS corupted both HD passwords in the HD.

is this the reason why Lenovo pulled the 1.25 BIOS from their site?

kam_ · #9 Post by **kam_** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:08 pm

who knows.. but probably.

andy71600 · #10 Post by **andy71600** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:53 pm

i have the 1.25 bios and there were no problems w/ my hd password

kam_ · #11 Post by **kam_** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:16 am

Interesting - did you add the hd password with v1.25 or with a previous bios version, then upgrade to 1.25?

egibbs · #12 Post by **egibbs** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:02 am

I would be shocked if Solectron (EZ-Serv) does anything other than send the drive back exactly as it is.

Before you open that can of aggravation - just for S&G try this:

1. Pull the drive.
2. Go into BIOS and clear out your passwords.
3. Whichever mode you are in - password or passphrase, switch to the other mode.
4. Put the drive back in and try it.

It's just possible that all that happened is the drive got switched to a mode different than the computer, in which case it would not recognize te password.

Also - if your password is more than 7 characters long, in Password mode the SP will only store the first 7. So try just entering the first 7 characters.

Good luck,

Ed Gibbs

kam_ · #13 Post by **kam_** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:34 am

yup tried all that.

They've agreed it could have been 'something other than user error' and they're shipping me a new HD.

My faith in IBM is restored

fredstev · #14 Post by **fredstev** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:07 pm

After reading a tale of woe like kam_ has had, I am hesitant to take advantage of features such as supervisor password and such on this T43p. I don't have the fingerprint reader, but I'm accustomed to using the bios password on older thinkpads.

Do routine bios updates hose the ability to access your passwords? What do most of you guys use for password protection. I want "safe", but it has to be useable.

Nolonemo · #15 Post by **Nolonemo** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:51 pm

Doesn't sound like it was a problem with passwords per se, but with the bios update. Might be prudent to clear all passwords before updating the bios, and then set them fresh after the update.

JHEM · #16 Post by **JHEM** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:54 pm

Nolonemo wrote:Doesn't sound like it was a problem with passwords per se, but with the bios update. Might be prudent to clear all passwords before updating the bios, and then set them fresh after the update.

Just for the record, it's also prudent to remove all passwords from a system before cloning a HD.

As Socrates said, sh_t happens!

Regards,

James

Nolonemo · #17 Post by **Nolonemo** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:23 pm

Exactly, I forgot to do this before cloning, and then was getting access errors trying to use the old drive in the ultrabay. Took me a litte bit to figure out what I'd done, and reinstall the original drive to clear the HD PW.

JHEM · #18 Post by **JHEM** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:42 pm

Nolonemo wrote:Exactly, I forgot to do this before cloning, and then was getting access errors trying to use the old drive in the ultrabay. Took me a litte bit to figure out what I'd done, and reinstall the original drive to clear the HD PW.

Easy way to remove an unwanted HD PW, enter the PW followed by a SPACE.

Next BOOT, the PW will be gone.

Also works on POPs.

Regards,

James

kam_ · #19 Post by **kam_** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:34 pm

fredstev wrote:After reading a tale of woe like kam_ has had, I am hesitant to take advantage of features such as supervisor password and such on this T43p. I don't have the fingerprint reader, but I'm accustomed to using the bios password on older thinkpads.

Do routine bios updates hose the ability to access your passwords? What do most of you guys use for password protection. I want "safe", but it has to be useable.

Like the others said always remove all the bios passwords before updating. I always do - i think its generally good advice on any computer. If you don't your basically relying on the new BIOS using exactly the same eeprom locations for everything. One tired programmer shifting one variable along one ram address and your password is useless!

Having said that i havn't had that much of a problem with BIOS passwords before. But for me the data on the HD is way more important than the physical equipment, so i don't care that much if my bios gets locked out. I for sure won't be using the HD password again.

It's a pitty leiberman went out of business or i'd have got one of their laptops with RAID

jeremy_acton · #20 Post by **jeremy_acton** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 3:38 am

Hi there,

I spent ages trying to get an onsite warranty to my brandnew thinkpad. It is difficult. FYI what you need is a servicepac upgrade. Contact this guy/place (europlusdirect.com).

Steve Potts
Account Executive
Europlus Direct Ltd
t: 08450 760 061
f: 08450 760 062
e: steve.potts@europlusdirect.com
w: www.europlusdirect.com

When I bought mine they had to get it from Germany, but it's operative in UK if that's where you computer is. It's an aside anyway as they're basically international if you ask for that.

I know for a fact that it will work in UK as IBM just replaced my screen. Yes, it was a breeze. Phoned 11am one day and said screen had glitch - booked appointment. Next day 11am man turned up with new screen and fixed. No questions, no issues, no hassel!

If you're wondering: I got a 9am-5pm next day on site 3y upgrade to my T43. It was £130. A one year upgrade is £110.

IBM themesleves do business upgrades which can be 24h 7days a week. But unless you have many comps IBM won't sell it to you - I tried!
Hence you need the consumer 'servicepac' upgrade available only from resellers (who are impossible to find!).

Get the service pac - Steve at europlus will help - just give him your comp make/model and they'll select. I'd phone him as although they've got a website it doesn't work, though it will purport to. I tried - I know. It's just 'cos it's a new company/website. That's why I say call.

Jeremy

T43p: BIOS 1.25 corupted HD password

T43p: BIOS 1.25 corupted HD password

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