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t43 unlock issue -

 
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bobbi
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Joined: 28 Jan 2012
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:06 pm    Post subject: t43 unlock issue - Reply with quote

hi, i have a t43 purchased from the internet a few years ago.
During that time the psu had to be PAT(electrical safety check) tested to be used on location.
Before i gave the laptop and psu to the company to test, I put on a supervisor password. I cannot know remember that password and I dont know if it was with passphrase on or off.

Anyway recently my hdd was getting many erros and slowing down the laptop so i thought i would replace it. I cloned the laptop to new HDD, and then swapped them over.

The laptop will not now boot. It says OS not found.
Will the laptop not recognise a new HDD without me having access to the bios?

Only the supervisor password was set, NOT power or HDD.

I can access the old HDD via usb slave.

To be honest its an old, but working machine and great laptop and not worth much nowadays. I rather have it working, but If i have to reset the supervisor password with your kit (may be the whole kit if passphrase is set) the cost is not worth it and a good Laptop is just wasted.

btw - i have a rough idea on the supervisor password. how many times can i put in the password before the laptop lockouts, and is that permanent lockout?

Please any guidence.

Thank You.
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victor
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Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Posts: 2546
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello,

Ok, I read your post and i will try to give you some hints:

Quote:
The laptop will not now boot. It says OS not found.
Will the laptop not recognise a new HDD without me having access to the bios?


The laptop will recognise the HDD, no need to enter in BIOS just for that. If you press F12 to chose the boot device the drive should be listed there.

I think the main problem here is the boot partition that is not "Active", this often happens if you cloned the drive when the OS is booted from the original drive. The partitions in the 2nd drive can't be marked as Active since only one Active partition is allowed per module. Active = primary partition with bootable volume.

Now, If the OS is Win XP, boot from a windows install CD and Enter in repair console when asked, prior install. In repair console type the following commands:
Fixmbr
Fixboot

Or boot from an old Win98 CD in DOS mode or from a DOS bootable memstick then run Fdisk and mark the boot partition as "Active"
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Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.
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bobbi
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Joined: 28 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 3:15 pm    Post subject: t43 unlock issue - Reply with quote

Thanks Victor for the reply.

I have tried everything you said.

I had tried f12 before, but the bios is not showing the New HDD, just CD Drive and option to go to BIOS.
My new drive is a samsung, the old was a Hitachi.

My friend has also used the samsung in his, and said the bios said to his the the new drive is not fully authorised or something by IBM, but can continue
and had to change a setting in bios to bypass the PAUSE in boot.

The OS is win7. I have tried booting from Windows DVD and repair option, but it cannot find any OS installed. I have looked at the Partition table on the samsung via another laptop. The 3 windows partitions, the correct one is primary and active.

So Im totally stuck.

btw - i have a rough idea on the supervisor password. how many times can i put in the password before the laptop lockouts, and is that permanent lockout?

thanks so far..really appreciate the help
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victor
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, but has no sense to try anything I said if the drive is not even shown in boot list, it does not "exist". You must solve the drive connection problems.

T43 has indeeed some issues working with drives not having proper firmware, due to a fault in the initial design where they wanted to use SATA but changed their mind and finally used ATA IDE.

The best drives to use for replacing are Fujitsu, seems lke Fujitsu's can cope with the timing requirements and even without a firmware update from Lenovo they work very well.

Are you sure that drive was in a T43 before? Because the drive could be a non supported size or is simply not working.

As far as I know, a T43 does not do a permanent lockout, just cycle power off-on and try again...and again..until the end of times... Very Happy
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Victor Voinea
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bobbi
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Joined: 28 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Again victor thanks for the reply.

new fujitsu drives are hard to get. the samsung was cheap so i brought it.


- dont know what you mean here:
"Are you sure that drive was in a T43 before? Because the drive could be a non supported size or is simply not working. "

the samsung is new. not been in a t43 before, if thats what you mean.

i will keep trying. so it should get recogised even without the password.

i will try at figuring out the password..

At the moment i am using the old hdd again. i will have to throw the laptop if the new drive will not work, because the old one is dying. i haved backed up my work. unless i can get a reasonable used hitachi or fujitsu from ebay etc..

thanks again.
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victor
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:12 pm    Post subject: Moved it to the right forum Reply with quote

Ok, You're welcome.

BTW, did you try that drive in the ultrabay? Worth a try, there is no limitation regarding the HD's firmware, ultrabay is using the normal IDE port.
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Victor Voinea
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Last edited by victor on Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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bobbi
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Joined: 28 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK. nice catch on that ultra bay. I will see if i can get my hands on one.

thanks for your help and honesty.

I will definately recommenf you if someone does need your kits..

Thanks again
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Reo51st
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Joined: 09 Jun 2009
Posts: 77
Location: St. Petersburg

PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The bios of T43’s has what is called a “WHITE LIST” and only those drives in that list will work on the T43’s.

T40, T41 and T42’s do not have this list.

You may want to try the firmware update for the new drive that you have if it is supported in the update.

This is something I know can be done but I have never tried.

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS013951

All the T43’s we get in we just put them in the mix and ship them to China.
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