I am a bench tech and do repairs for everyone ranging from IBM to Dell. There is one problem we have from day to day that we cannot crack. Sometimes we get laptops in (especially Compaq) in which someone has put a drivelock password on. Does anyone know to to clear it? I call Dell and IBM and they give me a master password from the system hash code, but HP says we have to throw the HD away and get a new one. I have even heard that the NSA (national security agency) cannot break these. We usually throw about 5 of these away a week, which basically throws $800 out the window. The money isn't a issue. I just hate it when something beats me. Adyone have any ideas? It would just be so cool to break something that the NSA can't......

To be perfectly frank, you don't have a hope in hell :-(

But I really doubt that the NSA can't crack 'em. They must have machines specifically designed for this sort of thing that fire a million passwords a minute at it until it's cracked.

Some people are like Slinkies™, not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...

I'm a little confused here. If someone put a drivelock pw on it, would it not be the owner of the laptop? And if that's the case, couldn't you call the owner for the pw?

When all else fails, beat the %*#$! out of it!!!

See if this site helps
DriveLock

" IF IT AINT BROKE - LEAVE IT ALONE "

The computers we fix have been repossesed from customers who didn't pay, do you think they will give us the password? Actually, what the NSA does is take the drive into a clean room and remove the platters and place them into a working drive if they really wanted to see the info

So why ask?

Some people are like Slinkies™, not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...

Ok, so someone teach me here. If a computer has been password locked, can it be reformatted and start over?

When all else fails, beat the %*#$! out of it!!!

We're not talking about computers as a whole, just an HDD, Compaq and HP designed a password locking system for the HDDs supplied in their computers. They are unbreakable.

Some people are like Slinkies™, not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...

I didn't mean the computer as a whole either. I just mis-cyberspace spoke. What I meant was can't you reformat the HD? Or do you need the pw to do anything?

When all else fails, beat the %*#$! out of it!!!

"Or do you need the pw to do anything?"

Correct.

Some people are like Slinkies™, not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...

They are unbreakable so to speak. It's just hard to believe that no one knows how to crack this. HP can break them, you mean to tell me that there is no one who used to work at HP has let out the way to crack them yet? Just give it time.......

By the way, thanks Bob for the .pdf, but without the old password I can't remove it. Guess we will just keep throwing them away. Personally I think its a plot by HP to ensure they keep selling product

Ok, here I go with a dumb question again. There is software out there that will erase your HD by writing all 0's to them. If you do that, won't the pw be erased? If not then my guess is the pw is in the cmos in which case can you clear the cmos? It just seems very odd to me that it renders a HD un-useable.

When all else fails, beat the %*#$! out of it!!!

BWill, I did find 1 site that does pw recovery. It costs $200. Not sure if that would be cheeper than a new HD though.

When all else fails, beat the %*#$! out of it!!!

Clear an HDDs CMOS and you kill the drive, you could, in theory, reprogram the CMOS, but who wants to get that involved?

Some people are like Slinkies™, not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...

I don't think you can access the drive to do anything to it. If you could access it then as was said you could simply reformat. Someone here just asked last week about removing personal data from the drive they were RMAing. They wondered if a magnet would work. I wonder too. If you destroyed everything on the drive how would the BIOS see the drive to run a low level format.

yeah, it's impossible. When you power the laptop on it asks for the HD drivelock password, without it, you can go no further

You really want me to believe that there is no way to change that password or get around it?. Do I believe that? NO!. Any lock can be picked, all you need is the proper guy with the right "tools".

"I have even heard that the NSA (national security agency) cannot break these"....these guys have the authorization to summon almost anything from anybody in the pursuit of national security, inluding HP for the design blueprint for it's HDD password locking system.

A lot things in life are "on a need to know basis" some of these things you already know, this might be one of the ones you are yet to.

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Has anyone tried this.

I am assuming the password encrypts the data on the drive, but it still is identied by the BIOS.

Connect the drive as a slave or on the second IDE channel.

Boot and see if the drive is recognized.

If recognized do a low level format.

These laptop manufacturers need to get a better idea. The concept in use is sopposedly a security measure against theft. The problem is that I doubt it is a theft detterent. What would be better would be some kind of digital watermark that was registered at the manufacturers site that established ownership. Then if someone considered a legal owner of the laptop needed to bypass the password they would have a method of doing it. There presently is no incentive for the makers to do anything though. Too bad consumers don't know better. I think that if they knew that if they forgot thier password they would need to replace the HD and lose all data they would act differently.

Doesn't the CMOS get cleared if you remove the little battery?? I asked someone about this and he said that all I had to do is remove the battery from the mobo and the CMOS would be erased...therefore all the passowords would also be erased...is this guy B.Sin me???

The only beans I like are Jelly Beans!!!

Gabe21

That is for desktop machines. Laptops are different.

There is a program I know that can remove the drivelook as I used it before, can't remember the program now, will reply if I remember, sorry :-(

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Hey all!

Ever hear of hardware encryption?

bwill says the NSA cant break it, then says they can just use a clean room to remove the platters. WHICH in the case of hardware encryption still wont get them the data!

808

Find the specifications on the particular implementation of the drivelock, and it's just a matter of procedure. You may need proprietary BIOS information.

Most drivelock schemes involve a master and user password with an optional maximum securty level (defined by the ATA security feature set). This is often supplemented with BIOS security to allow certain commands to be executed only after a power cycle (to protect the master password and keep it from the user). Hard drive manufacturers have discussed extensions to this set with the explicit intention of preventing workarounds to the security lock. They're up to around ATA-5, and there's not a lot of straight-forward ways to get into the drives.

Such a scheme is implemented in the hard drive EEPROM, with chipset BIOS support. At least by ATA-3 this was placed in the hard drive controller. It's not like the XBOX setup (usually). I haven't looked at ATA-5 (around 400 page specification). It's from the late 90's though, so this has all been around a while. This is implemented in PIO mode so it's pretty much on the bottom layer (BIOS tbrough CPU to drive).

HP could be stubborn or has simply disabled certain opcodes through the BIOS.

Anyone who believes that the red team has no back door for ALL available hardware encryption systems in the "Free World" is someone who does not yet realize just how "Free" they are...............

808

NSA's red team!

If it were truly un-crackable, then any sale/export of that hardware/software lock would be a US federal crime.

The only instance I've ever heard of something like that, was against the creator of pgp encryption. I think 'they' dropped the case since, though... but why, huh ?:)

The participants at the conference voiced support for a plan that would develop common, voluntary standards of key escrow encryption, permit governments and law enforcement agencies to have access to keys held in other countries under due process of law, and hold third party key holders liable for any loss or damage resulting from the misuse of keys. With an international key recovery system in place, export restrictions would then be removed. Such an accord would make the key escrow requirement less onerous to the private sector, since foreign manufacturers of encryption technology would in theory be required to provide international access to files produced with their encryption products as well.

Excerpt taken from:

U.S. Export Policy and the International Distribution of Computer Encryption Technology: The Conflict Between National Security and International Trade

Matthew Ogonowski
The Georgetown Compass of International Affairs Georgetown University Summer & Fall 1997

http://www.google.be/search?q=cache:0Ag_TKvgAgEJ:www.bsos.umd.edu/pgsd/people/staffpubs/Matthew%2520Encryption.pdf+US+export+code+unbreakable&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8

In my opinion, anything that needs a code or password to open it, is crackable simply because it can be duplicated (both key & keyhole).

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ok guys i've been having the same problem with my used armada laptop. i've tried everything from removing the battery, connecting the harddrive to another computer, using a 2,5"-usb case on a linux machine to LL-format but i cannot access the F*&%$:$ drive. DOes anyone have a solution ?

If I am understanding this correctly:

- The system boots.
- The Hard Drive cannot be read without a password.

If I am correct in my understand why not just boot into knoppix or some other bootable O.S. and format the drive that way?

Imagine how easy it is to go to dos mode and then type format c: and then all gone in a few minutes. [Ofcourse there are programs to recover reformated disks but thats another matter altogether]

Good work HP... Keep it up :-)

Best solution: sell back the system in as is where is condition to the actual owners. {That is a common practise among automobile loan money lenders in my country. After repossing the value of the car in the pre-owned market is horribly low. If it is roughly used the repossed car value may even drop to as low as 20 percent of its original price. So they first offer to sell back to the real owners for a price by which both will gain. The owner gets his own car back for a low price. The lender gets a better price than it would have fetched in the market]

Hello, I`ve got the same prob and I read that the lock is in the firmware of the HD.

My Desktop recognized the HD but because it don`t has a BIOS to manage the DriveLock system, my Desktop started normally and Windows/ DOS don`t recognize the HD.

So if You don`t have the password, You can`t access it and the theory with the NSA "white room" sounds logic I think.

I don`t belive that the lock is written in the filesystem of the HD.

Hum - DriveLock is safe but..... argh

:)

So would be nice to let me know when someone knows how to disable the DrivLock pw.

DriveLock sux