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I have a ibm thinkpad and the hard drive is password protected is their a way to remove or bypass it. I donot need the info on the hard drive so it can be completly erased.
1. Are you sure its the hard drive thats password protected and not the CMOS/BIOS? (Verify its the HD by swapping HD's)
2. How far does it boot before it asks for password? (This will help determine if its a Dos program, windows program or CMOS/Bios password.)
3. If its a software lock, they can usually be overcome. If its a CMOS/BIOS lock, there are several methods too, depending on the motherboard/Bios.
This information would be helpful to solve your problem.
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more info on my thinkpad. this is my first laptop so i may not be sure what a normal boot is. it seems to go past the bios boot then stops with a symbol of a cylinder with a key next to it and will let you type upto 7 characters. let me know if you need more info. thank you
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To find out some info on the system,as it's booting, hit the Pause key and write down what it says on screen. Then hit enter to continue and hit pause at the next screen. That way you will have some info to go on. If you want to just erase the HD and start over, you'll need a boot disc that has cdrom support on it. Windows 95 does not automatically put cdrom support on a boot floppy but Win98 does. With a cdrom boot disc, you can boot to the A prompt, then format the HD and install win95 or 98 whichever you want. Does it have a cdrom or floppy drive in it? If not, you can take the HD out and install it in another pc to work on it. For the password, try entering some of the family names, names of pets, something that could have been easily remembered. Try numbers like addresses and phone numbers for the password. Sorry about my first response. Good luck
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Sounds like a CMOS password to me. You should call IBM tech support. They will probably want you to fax proof of ownership or a "release" so they are not held accountable.
There is usually a dip switch hidden somewhere that lets you "blow away" the password. Alternatively, you might have to "short" a couple of solder points on the main board. Tech support should be able to point you in the right direction.
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I have the same problem with a customer's Thinkpad. It is the hard drive that is locked. It won't boot of a floppy either. Customer said he sent it to IBM and they coundn't get rid of it.It also is locked in another system, I have a simular model.It just boots straight to the HD and shows the Cylinder and the lock.
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yep i have one to a ibm thinkpad 755ce it also only boots to the hard drive.
I picked it up broken at an auction and fixed it but the password is written on the hard drive.I,m sure their's some little clever person out there that could get around this problem - SO SHOW YOUR SELF.....
As we need your help !Regards les
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This is a hard drive password
DANGER! The hard drive password is encoded the hard drive, not into the specific computer. Therefore, no matter what machine the password-protected hard drive is installed in the password will be required to access the hard drive until it is removed. If the hard drive password is lost or forgotten, it becomes an expensive paperweight.
EMPHASIZING AGAIN: IF THE HARD DISK PASSWORD IS FORGOTTEN THE DATA IS IRRETRIEVABLY LOST. NO ONE ON EARTH WILL BE ABLE TO DECODE THE DATA WITHOUT THE PASSWORD.
I have the same problem.
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I paid good money for a large hard drive from a vendor who insisted that it worked. I found out that he has bilked other people which helps my ego a little. Anyway the hard drive was locked. At first I thought the IBM website had given the incorrect hard drive numbers for my 755ce. I found from someone else that it was locked. I have not yet found a solution. Even if I make the drive non-booting to try to boot to a floppy, the machine locks up but works fine with the original hard drive.
I have heard that there is a program which will get rid of the lock but do not know the name of the program. I believe that it needs to be in another machine, other than the ThinkPad, to get rid of the lock.
I also don't want or need the info that may be on the drive and want to be able to use it. Am a frustrated as all the provious respondents.
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I have a Think Pad 600 with supervisory password and can't get in, I tried my HD on another 600 and could not open it I need the data. Help
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We can unlock your Thinkpad or any other IBM notebook type drive that has been password protected. In some cases the password recovered from the hard drive will also match the bios passwords in the Thinkpad itself allowing access to both the system and hard disk.
Please email us for recovery cost/details and shipping instructions.
nortek@onlink.net
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I have a gateway solo 2150 laptop computer.the harddisk is locked with a password.HOW MUCH TO HAVE IT RECOVERED!
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The Hard Disk Password is located on the drive in an area inaccessible to the user. If the password is lost or forgotten, you cannot access data on the HDD.
Nortek Computers Ltd. has developed software and hardware to recover/remove all Travelstar HDD passwords with the option to restore all original data. Detailed password recovery/removal options (including Power-on and Supervisor) can be found at the link provided below. Click the cylinder/lock icon on the top of the main page.
http://www.nortek.on.ca/nortek/
Email,
nortek@onlink.netMarty Wanner
Nortek Computers Ltd.
Customer Service/Technical Support
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go to ibm's site download a program called ZAP and try that it will erase everything on the drive i had a drive from a used computer with something called safe boot ver 2.1 LT and after fdisk and format still came up lookinfg for a password after zap it was fdisk and format and password gone try it you have nothing to loose but the data on the drive good luck
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Since when the hard drive is present, the computer won't boot up past the request for HD password even if a boot disk is in the floppy drive, how can zap be utilised or any other software util? There must be someway of wiping the info and password off so if someone knows PLEASE let us all know!!
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YOU MUST SUPPLY POWER TO THE HDD THEN SHORT OUT J11 J15 SHUT DOWN AND FDISK THEN FORMAT AND YOUR READFY TO GO
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If someone can supply me with detailed schematics about thinkpad i think there are a lot of things i can do for u guys
i've unlocked several Dell and Toshiba but not IBM cauz no Schmatics
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In the booklet for the 755C and similar models, there appears to be a "power on password" jumper next to the cmos battery sockets. I don't know whether supplying power to the two leads will do anything, as the booklet is quite vague. I hope that somebody out there could be kind enough to share their knowledge on hardware password removals. Regards.
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