From: Alexander J. Annala (annala_at_ucla.edu)
Date: Sat May 30 1998 - 17:19:55 EDT
Dear "ZERO" --
The general advice is that you will have to send your system to
IBM and pay for complete replacement of the system board. But,
according to the IBM hardware maintenance manuals for many IBM
Thinkpads, the BIOS password can be defeated by jumpering a few
readily accessible jumpers under the floppy drive. Some people
claim to have defeated IBM TP passwords by disconnecting backup
batteries for a couple of days -- e.g. Computer Exchange London.
IBM deleted this information from their online service manuals
-- however, it should be available in hardcopy manuals from IBM.
One wonders about charges for motherboard replacement when IBM
service manuals suggest shorting some jumpers resets passwords.
Alexander J. Annala, Ph.D.
Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
UCLA School of Medicine
System: 9546-CD2 -- Serial No: 557D7F8 -- Purchased: 4/22/97
>From: ZERO <webmaster_at_netphoria.org>
>Subject: DELETING IBM THINKPAD BIOS PASSWORD
>
>How do you delete a IBM BIOS/power-on password when it loads up?
>I have a IBM THINKPAD, 365DX. It's a Pentium model. I do not remember the
>password and cannot bring it to a IBM dealer because I recieved the laptop
>as a gift from a friend that moved out of the country and cannot be
>reached. I know there is a way somehow but don't want to try anything
>before asking around.
>Please reply by e-mail.
>-ZERO
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Thu Jan 23 2003 - 09:54:05 EST