IBM Thinkpad 600e can't get past password prompt...

[Marcus Bennett]

Well a lot could be said about passwords!

I have not seen all the posts but you need to clearly say the exact 4 digit
IBM machine type and additional submodel code so everybody clearly knows the
exact laptop you are fixing.

Also identify which password you are trying to recover.

I suggest the first point of call is the maintenance manual here

IBM Thinkpad 600E maintenance manual
http://www.linuxfocus.org/~guido/gentoo-tp600e/600e_hw_maintenance_manual.pdf

This will tell you about the different passwords: e.g. Power-On, Supervisor,
Hard Disk ....

It appears that for a 600E  you can reset the Power On Password by shorting
pads onthe motherboard.


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I did find an entertaining article about hacking the Supervisor password

http://sodoityourself.com/hacking-ibm-thinkpad-bios-password/

This sounds ideal if you really like soldering and have a lot of free time
on your hands.


Let us all know how you get on!

PS: As an aside, if anybody has a good article on how exactly hard disk
passwords work, please post the link.  I never quite figured out the exact
mechanism of storing the HDD password, and communicating it to the BIOS/OS
on first access.

regards marcus b.