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t22 password boot problem

E

Evanthes

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 21, 2002
Messages
217
I was recently given a t22 from a friend who didnt use it and heres why: When the computer is started it askes for a password, wont even let me into the bios without the password. I have no idea what it could be and neither do they. Is there anything I can do to get past the password!? Any info would be greatly appreciated! thanks!
 
unless you know the password, youre pretty much screwed. IBM's bios password protection is a definate bitch, and chances are that laptop was stolen.. unless your buddy put it on there and forgot the password.

you might wanna do some googling to see if there is a way around it, but i doubt it.
 
IBM's passwords are embedded into the BIOS, and there is basically no way around it if it is the supervisor password. I think the only way you can get around this is by replacing the mainboard, but you should check over on thinkpads.com first.
 
With most machines... (Don't know for sure about the IBM) if you leave the power off. Remove the battery, and remove the backup battery on the mobo (the one that looks like a watch battery) let it sit for 12-24 hours with no power, when you reconnect it the password will be gone.

Note: this has worked for me in the past, not completely sure about it with that specific machine. Worth a shot.
 
Crack[H]eaD said:
With most machines... (Don't know for sure about the IBM) if you leave the power off. Remove the battery, and remove the backup battery on the mobo (the one that looks like a watch battery) let it sit for 12-24 hours with no power, when you reconnect it the password will be gone.

Note: this has worked for me in the past, not completely sure about it with that specific machine. Worth a shot.
Click to expand...

For non-laptops, I've done that. Actually I've just removed the battery and restarted it then put it back in. It usually eliminates the whole password problem. Also, there may be a CMOS reset jumper on the motherboard, so be brave and break open that case!

 
If no SVP has been set, and it's just a power on password, you're ok. If an SVP has been set, you're screwed. Check out page 27 of the manual located here for instructions. Good Luck.

 
thanks a lot for the info guys, so here i am trying to take this baby apart and unplug the battery...i can see the battery but it kinda disappears under the case and i havent been able to get to the motherboard. Is there some sort of diagram somewhere that shows you how to take these buggers apart?
thanks again!
 
the battery is underneith the battery pack man...

edit: nevermind, ig uess you do need to get it disconnected :p
 
hehe yeah i know where it is, im just having a tough time trying to disconnect it
 
You know... if it is just a power on password and it is possible to boot it up (and if not, if it's possible to remove that) then you could make things even worse by removing the battery since it'll reset the cmos, so the laptop will need to enter the bios for you to set the time and stuff, but since there's probably a supervisor password, you'd be completely stuck :)

also, removing the bios battery wont remove a supervisor password, it's stored on a little eeprom soldered to the motherboard, there are some replacements available for outrageous prices on ebay but only that or this: http://www.ja.axxs.net/unlock/password_recovery.htm will get rid of the password without having to replace the mainboard. Both are cheaper than the laptop though, but each requires a lot of work and inconvenience.

and even worse would be if the hard disk had a password too (which are settable on ibms and indeed a lot of laptops) without that password you'd have to replace the disk too.
 
good lord whoever thought of bios password is the devil! So ive been doing a lot of reading and most commonly people say to try and disconnect the cmos...which i have done and the only result was it took it a bit longer to slap me with a password screen. Ive been hearing also that there is a jumper that i can reset on the mainboard and now i got the whole thing taken apart and dont even see a jumper...the humanity! no wonder IBM is out of the laptop buisness. does anybody have any idea of where i might find this mystical jumper or should i just give up on this laptop like its previous owner?
 
Laptops usually have a dip instead of a jumper, but I don't believe one exists on this model. While it's a PITA in your situation, this is actually very refreshing to see. If my laptop were stolen, I'd want it to be as difficult as possible to get info from it. It really sounds like your only option is to get a board replacement.
 
yeah refreshing i guess...but its not stolen...prefectly legit laptop. Thefore the child safety locks are getting a tad annoying!
 
Well you're thinking of it all wrong, since it's a legitimately owned laptop and not a stolen one, isn't it even more stupid for the owner to have put a password on it and forgotten it?

Really the only way you're going to get it working is by replacing that eeprom I mentioned or having a read of that link, and IBM aren't out of the laptop business, they juss passed it on :) In fact I really doubt that lenovo will change IBM's way of securing a laptop.
 
Evanthes said:
good lord whoever thought of bios password is the devil! So ive been doing a lot of reading and most commonly people say to try and disconnect the cmos...which i have done and the only result was it took it a bit longer to slap me with a password screen. Ive been hearing also that there is a jumper that i can reset on the mainboard and now i got the whole thing taken apart and dont even see a jumper...the humanity! no wonder IBM is out of the laptop buisness. does anybody have any idea of where i might find this mystical jumper or should i just give up on this laptop like its previous owner?
Click to expand...

This is one of the main SELLING POINTS for many IBM purchasers. IBM has a boot password (reset by removing the CMOS battery), a BIOS password (embedded in the BIOS - must replace mainbord to get rid of it), a hard drive password, and then all of the standard windows paswords. This means that even if you remove the hard drive and put it in another computer, your data is still protected. IBM markets mainly to corporate clients who are concerned about security. Basically you're out of luck.


However you can try this suggestion, copied from the thinkpads.com FAQ:

12) Can you help me remove the BIOS/HDD password from this
ThinkPad that I just bought/inherited/found/was given/stole/other?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Cracking passwords is a highly charged subject that
reasonable people disagree over. Threads discussing it can be found
starting at:

http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/thinkpad/2002-02/1095.html

and

http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/thinkpad/2002-02/1132.html
 
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