ATTN ThinkPad Users - Need Help ASAP

Serendipity

I have a feeling it's a supervisor password that was already in the laptop but didn't get activated until you enabled security.

On my laptop, I have a "Supervisor Password," "Power-on Password," and a "User Password." I noticed that you can set one of the passwords and still get into windows, but once you try to enter the BIOS it prompts for the Supervisor Password.

Maybe this is what is going on - the previous owner set one of the passwords but it didn't come up until you started tinkering with it?

I'm not 100% sure though...

mmadden28

Sounds logical to me.

Serendipity

mmadden28 wrote: »

Sounds logical to me.

Thanks. I have my laptop in front of me right now, and I found out that you can accidentally set the "Supervisor Password" and forget about it because it doesn't prompt for it ever...until you go into the BIOS and try to change the "User Password".

Serendipity

Crap - I just did this to my own laptop. But I knew the password.

What happened was I set a "Supervisor Password" and was still able to get into Windows fine. I restarted twice and had no problem getting into my computer. Next, I tried to set a "User Password" and it prompted for my "Supervisor Password." I tried what you did and put in the WRONG password just to see what happens.

Surprise - after 3 wrong tries it locks up the system. Now you can't do ANYTHING with it unless you have the "Supervisor Password."

bigaudiofanatic

There is no way a local guy is going to be able to crack a bios password. You will probably WILL have to send it in.

mmadden28

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

There is no way a local guy is going to be able to crack a bios password. You will probably WILL have to send it in.

Not true. there are ways to do it, you just have to have the right tools. It this is related to the security modulke that is in the Thinkpads, there is likely know workaround, but a BIOS password? There may be ways-Can you boot to a CD or USB?? I'll see if I can find my 'workaround tools'

Serendipity

So - is audiobliss' issue the same thing as what my little 'experiment' uncovered? And if it is indeed a bios password, is there an easier way to reset it?

Serendipity

audiobliss wrote: »

Here's my line of thinking...if there was already a supervisor password in there, it wasn't asking for that because the security was off. However, when I set up a user password in windows, registered my fingerprints, and turned on the security, it then could have put that old password into place.

I think this may be the problem. If I set a supervisor password on my laptop, it won't ask for it because the supervisor password isn't needed to get into the OS. However, when I want to set a user password, I have to enter the supervisor password (which I set previously) and entering the wrong password (ex: admin, password, etc.) causes the laptop to display "System Halted."

Is this what's going on? And are there any other details?

billbillw

Dude, I think you are fu<(ed!

IBM/Lenovo do things differently and pretty much leave you screwed if you don't have that supervisor password.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=migr-59377

At this point, I'd make the guy refund/exchange for another one if he cannot provide you a way to unlock it.

Serendipity

That's what I was thinking. If I understand correctly after reading the IBM support site, not having the supervisor password prevents you from doing anything. I guess you'll either have to get a refund on the laptop or have IBM clear the password for you.

Serendipity

Audiobliss,

Did you ever get this figured out?

audiobliss

Ok, folks. I apologize for the HUGE delay in my response time, here. This was (and still is) a huge issue for me, but I headed out to college Wednesday and have been moving into the dorm and getting settled in since then. But now that I have classes staring me in the face for Monday and really really wanna be able to take notes on this laptop, this is priority numero uno tambien.

First off, I thank every one in this thread very much for their input and effort in trying to find some kind of a solution with this, even if it's only sharing previous experiences with similar problems.

However, I do have more information on what's going on now. Turns out this isn't my fault or the seller's fault, but rather Lenovo's own oversight. When I set up the password originally through Lenovo's Windows-based program, I used a letters and symbols. The program took them all just fine and I'm assuming set those, somehow, as a password. But the problem is that trying to enter the password before Windows starts up, it can't read the symbols.

So, basically, the Windows set-up program let me enter something for the password that the computer can't read during the stage at which it asks for the password. I stayed on the phone for an hour with a programming friend who has access to all kinds of information, including Lenovo's scripted tech service info. We tried several things, including entering the Unicode for the symbols via alt+****. However, that didn't work.

Now I'm seriously considering doing something like this, even though I don't know how to solder, 'cause I NEED this thing working:
http://sodoityourself.com/hacking-ibm-thinkpad-bios-password/

Serendipity

Do you need help with soldering? If so, I can give you some pointers - send me a PM

mmadden28

Personally I would avoid soldering on the mainboard. I would try to find a way to hold a couple leads on while somebody else did the PC actions. But if you decide to solder watch your soldering iron temp and how long you heat the area-You don't want to cook the chip or surrounding chips.

Serendipity

mmadden28 wrote: »

Personally I would avoid soldering on the mainboard. I would try to find a way to hold a couple leads on while somebody else did the PC actions. But if you decide to solder watch your soldering iron temp and how long you heat the area-You don't want to cook the chip or surrounding chips.

As long as you're careful, it is possible to solder on the mainboard and then remove it later. At least from my previous experiences when fixing my Onkyo AVR, JVC SVHS, etc.

mmadden28

appadv wrote: »

As long as you're careful, it is possible to solder on the mainboard and then remove it later. At least from my previous experiences when fixing my Onkyo AVR, JVC SVHS, etc.

Yep-its possible-as you said with steady hands-- and even better with a heat sink.....It just seems, according to the article that the data connection only needs to be made for a few seconds for the 'read', so if you can hold some leads (connected to the DB9) steady, you might avoid any soldering at all. When not working with a heat sink, and soldering around discrete compnents (ICs), you run a higher risk of causing failure.

audiobliss

Thanks for that idea, guys. If I decide I need to go that route, I'd be much more comfortable with trying to hold the leads in place rather than soldering them.

BaggedLancer

Solder the wires, you could have been done with this project 2 days ago.

audiobliss

First off, I want to give a big thanks to Fireman32 for giving me a call on a lazy Sunday afternoon to help me in this predicament. Turns out there's not much to do to it since I'm locked out of the BIOS, but I wanted to say thanks for the concern and effort!

BaggedLancer wrote: »

Solder the wires, you could have been done with this project 2 days ago.

Well, it sure SEEMS like that's a solid way of retrieving the password. And perhaps that will be fruitful. However, the issue is that the password I have to enter includes characters that it won't accept as input. So it's totally possible that'll just end up giving me what I already know the password is, but I still won't be able to enter it. I'm just hoping that the system somehow changed the password or interpreted those symbols into something else that it will let me enter. Hopefully I'll get around to finding that out today.

Serendipity

I hope that when you solder the wires you find out the password (and it's one that you can type in)...

audiobliss

Thanks, man, me too! Only bad thing is...in this small town...Radio Shack was closed today.

Serendipity

audiobliss wrote: »

Thanks, man, me too! Only bad thing is...in this small town...Radio Shack was closed today.

How about Home Depot? Walmart? Or your local hardware store?