Service Forum

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

ok. let's see if i have this right. on A21 tp, the very tiny 14 pin chip is in the bottom of the motherboard. the only way to get to it, is to get the motherboard out. i don't think i'm going to user soldering. i'm going to use the needle method. now, with the motherboard facing down (with keyboard on it (and maybe turned on, how do i connect the lcd backward? how's this motherboard's eprom chip is going to be read? can somebody please shed some light on this?
thanks.
waiting in west virginia.

victor · S.F. Boss Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 2581 Location: Staff

No need to do that, use a monitor you have around and connect it to the VGA out.

The "needle method" as you mentioned is what I recommend to everyone now.
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

thanks victor. i agree. the needle method is what i feel comfortable with. it keeps the warranty intact. but my question is, how do i keep the cpu and fan in place without the motherboard being attached to the base cover? you know, the square bracket that screws to the base cover and the cpu fan attaches to that ?
the base cover has to be off and the board has to be turned upside down to get to eprom. right?
thanks.

Robbyrobot · Interesat Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 22

In the case of an A22p, I attached the mainboard to a port replicator and used an external keyboard and monitor. There's no problem to attach the CPU and the bracket for the fan, and I attached the fan (without any thermal pad or paste) by running a rubber band over it, taking the ends through holes in the mainboard and securing them with wood matchsticks on the other side. That's good enough for the short time you need to dump the EEPROM.

Incidently, I just tipped the board and the port replicator sideways against a wall to access the bottom and get at the EEPROM: no need to put it upside down for that.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

hi.
i made the circuit. attached the ground wire to one of the screw holes on the motherboard, then attached sda and scl wires to pin 8 and 10 respectively. obtained the dump file. it's 1024 bytes long. used ibmpass 2.1 to read it. but the password that we typed in, can't be seen either with "AA" or without "AA" switch. how can we read this file. the password we typed in bios, is david. we can't find this text either in hex or in text anywhere in the dump file.
what seems to be wrong?
thanks.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

the thinkpad that i have is A21m with a 14 pin 24rf08 atmel chip.
thanks.

Robbyrobot · Interesat Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 22

The dump file is the right size, but if you're doing a test, you may have set the Power on Password (PoP) instead of the Supervisor Password (SP). That would explain the absence of a password in the dump.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

the power on password should be reset when cmos battery is unplugged. i did that. we see the padlock pic when we press f1 to go into bios. that is not true. i typed the password and went into bios. the power on password is disabled. the supervisor password is enabled. so, it's something else. there is no power on password on this laptop.
thanks.

victor · S.F. Boss Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 2581 Location: Staff

I didn't see the dump, but if you type what you found there and you were able to enter in BIOS setup having full access, then I think that is the HD password. the icon is a padlock+cylinder.
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

thanks victor for answering.
the password is: david
i went into bios by pressing f1
the options are: power on password and supervisor password
so, i pressed enter on supervisor password and entered david twice
when i exited the bios esceen and continued, it asked me for a password. it's got a picture of a padlock and a computer screen. there's no option on bios screen to enter a password for a hard drive.
i can send you the dump file if you want.
thanks.

victor · S.F. Boss Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 2581 Location: Staff

If you entered "david" twice then the SVP remained "david". Are you saying you tried to wipe it out? Because for that, you have to enter "david", then <enter> (blank) twice.
BTW, for the POP remove the CMOS cell and main battery! To be sure is drained, make a short-circuit between the connector's pins (CMOS batt must be out, of course).
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

victor, thanks.
the password that is required, is when if press f1 to go into bios. when enter the password (david) in response to padlock, it goes on. but i'm doing a test to see if i can read the password. and the password is not showing up in the dump file. in all the pictures of the dump files i have seen, you can plainly see your password. in this case, the password is not in the dump file.
what's the problem?
thanks.

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

one thing i wanted to mention, was that i'm not using the ground pin. i'm connecting the ground wire of the interface device to the ground on the mother board. then using pin 8 and 10 wires, dumped the eprom.
thanks.

Robbyrobot · Interesat Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 22

alidabiri · Interesat Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 29

we still can't decipher the dump file.
what could be the problem?
thanks.