X30 power on password reset

[yiovanni]

I have a thinkpad X30 and some how the kids messed up the power on password. I removed both the cmos baterry and the battery pack . powered up the laptop but I still cannot get passed the power on password. I found the following instructions:

If only the power-on password is set, do the following to remove the power-on password.

1. Power off the computer
2. Remove the DIMM cover on the bottom side of the computer.
3. Short-circuit the two password pads or put a jumper on the contacts to short the circuit.
4. Under the short-circuit condition, power on the computer and wait until the POST ends. After the POST ends, the password prompt does not appear. The power-on password is removed.
5. Reinstall the DIMM cover.

HOWEVER I CANNOT LOCATE THE " PASSWORD PADS".

I would really appreciate any help to reset the power on password.

[rkawakami]

According to the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the X30, all you have to do to remove the power-on password (POP) is to remove the CMOS (backup) battery. The "password pads" are on some of the older Thinkpads, not the X3 series.

However, since you said that you have already removed the CMOS battery and you are still encountering a password prompt, then the kids may have also installed a supervisor password (SVP) and that is a whole 'nother can of worms. You would do well to ask them exactly what they did. A third option is also possible: a hard drive password. In order to determine what you are looking at, visit this page:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-59377

Note that the supervisor prompt for the X3 systems probably does not look like the one on that Lenovo support page (cartoon image of a person). Instead, the older Thinkpads with a SVP will display a prompt exactly like the POP (a "box"; it's supposed to resemble a computer monitor). If a hard drive password has been set, then the prompt will show a picture of a drum with a number "1" next to the lock icon. You can only remove a POP without first knowing what it is; the supervisor and hard drive passwords must be correctly typed in at the prompt so you can proceed past that display and either access the BIOS or boot the system.

It's also possible that you did not properly remove all power from the system to clear the POP. Make sure that you also pull the AC adapter out, along with the main battery and CMOS battery. Leave the system completely un-powered for at least a minute. Then only plug the AC adapter back in and see if the POP has been cleared. If you do this and the system still will not proceed past the password prompt then I'm afraid that the little buggers have SVP'ed your X30. Due to the rules of this forum, discussions about circumventing security systems such as this is not allowed.