ThinkPad T22 Access Password protection

[Stilicho]

Hi all

I hope there is someone around here that could give me a hand on this one:

Yesterday I was given the possibility of buying an IBM ThinkPad T22 Type 2647-8EU for a modest price.

Its a Pentium 3 manufactured in July 2001, so it is turning 10 in a month or so, but it seems to be working well.

The problem is that the owner bought new laptops long ago and this one was just left behind and forgotten.
When i tried to start itthe laptop, after showing the IBM tricolor logo, showed me a padlock and requested a password !!!
Since this laptop has not been used in years, the owner also forgot the password !!!

I badly need this laptop, so the questions are:

1) Is there a way to by-pass the password, short of sending it to a repair shop ?
2) Where is the password protection located ? BIOS or Hard drive ?
3) A format of the disk on another machine could be a solution ? (I don't think so)
4) Is there anything at all I could do to access the computer ?

Sorry for the trouble but I think this machine is not ready yet to go for scrap

All the best
Stilicho

[rkawakami]

Forum rules dictate that discussions of breaking password protection is not to be allowed. Here's as much as we can say:

- there's three different passwords possible in the T22: power-on, BIOS (aka Supervisor) and hard drive
- the symbol next to the lock icon can be used to identify which password is being requested: if there is a cylinder (barrel) and the number 1, then that's the prompt for the hard drive password; if there is a square-ish box (what is supposed to look like a computer or video monitor), then you're looking at either the power-on or BIOS password
- if you have the hard drive prompt, that password is stored on the drive; removing the drive will certainly remove the password prompt during boot, however there's no guarantee that the system will not have a BIOS password; put another way, if there's no power-on or BIOS password in force, then all you have to do is install another hard drive
- if you have the power-on/BIOS prompt, then really the only way to distinguish between the two is to perform the published method for removing the power-on password that is in the Hardware Maintenance Manual: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4UYM3F (basically removing the backup battery for several seconds)

Word of warning: If the system has both a power-on password AND a BIOS password, removal of the backup battery will indeed get rid of the power-on password but it will PERMANENTLY invoke the BIOS password. Assuming that you are not trying to access the BIOS when you turn the system on and yet you are still seeing a monitor-style password prompt, that can either mean that you are looking at a power-on prompt OR the backup battery has died and you are getting the BIOS password prompt.

All in all, your best bet would be to look for another system or hope that the owner remembers what he/she installed.