Service Forum

[p.hilling]

Laptops, have a PoP password, a SvP Password, and the HDD has a user password and a Master password.

I know the PoP, SvP and the HDD's user one and the Master one.

Thinking that the Master password was the same as the supervisors password for the R30 I tried to remove it so I could perform a OS update (Windoze complained the Boot sector was locked on install).

After 3 tries, the system came up with System Locked 0003. Upon restarting now, I get the normal HD password prompt However the prompt WILL NOT accept any keyboard inputs. The keyboard works fine, but I'm unable to type in the HDD password to continue the boot process.

Even leaving the HDD out off the machine and unpowered doesn't reset it.

Any thoughts?

[bob]

Hm,

I am sorry to say this, but your statements here are indeed very questonable. Lets begin:

1. You said you knew the POP, SVP and the both HD password. Very well.
Then, "Thinking that the Master password was the same as the supervisors password " doesn't have any sense.
In fact, the user password locks the drive not the master password, so deleting the master wont clear the lock. No way.

2. "Windoze" cannot complain about a locked boot sector! Just because this message does not exist! Moreover, when a drive is ATA locked, this is not happen in the boot sector, with other words, the lock is not on boot sector. You are just assuming this and is wrong.

3. The only way (normal way) to clear the master password is from BIOS Setup. You will be asked to type the current password before setting a "nil" one. Typing a wrong password (doesn't matter how many times you do that) will not allow you to change or clear the old one.
The message will be "Wrong password" in a warning box and that is it..you can try it a hundred times, the HDD or laptop will not be "extralocked"

Finally, I have to admit that I never heard of "System locked 0003", I searched the R30 HMM and haven't found this error?!.

Now, what do you want, actually?

[p.hilling]

Actually it would, cos the laptop is 2nd hand. When brand new, the laptop would request you set a password, this is used to set the Master password to the laptop's HDD.

The PoP and SVP password are both blank and disabled. the HDD's user password is actually 'Z'. What I suspect has happened is that when the laptop was sold, the user's HDD password was reset but not the Master HDD.

The Windoze problem appeared when I tried to recover the HDD... I believe the setup was trying to write a new boot or MBR to the HDD but setup complained and gave me a BSOD with a HDD error message despite the setup actually running from the HDD concerned. I was under the impression that the drive would have to be unlocked for a new boot sector/MBR to be written to that drive. Trying to remove the Master password from the HDD was when I got the System Locked 0003 Message.

Since then the single MAIN problem @ the moment, is the aformentioned inability to actually enter any HDD passwords.

The keyboard works.. all the keys on it work. but when I try to boot, it does the normal boot process, and then I get the HDD password prompt. **BUT WHATEVER I DO I CAN'T ENTER THE PASSWORD**, I can access the bios, I can Ctrl-Alt-Delete restart the laptop, but I just plain can't enter the password. The keyboard works.. so it is NOT the keyboard.

If anyone knows why the laptop will not accept a password input, I'd be grateful.. I'm currently in the middle of leaving the HDD out of the laptop for a while in the hopes that'll allow me to re-enter the password.

[victor]

The master passwords do not lock the drives. No matter if a drive has a master password set or not (they usually have one set by manufacturers anyway), the lock does not depend on that, Bob is right here.

The HD Master password's purpose is to be a back-up password.

If you disable the user password, the master has no importance -the drive will not be locked.

1. What icon is it, a cylinder with the padlock or else?
2. If you press ESC or Tab to see the POST screen, are there any POST errors displayed?
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.

[p.hilling]

You can't disable the user password unless you know what the master one is.

The icon displayed was a cylinder with a padlock, so it was asking for the user password, just I couldn't enter it. All the keys worked, just it wouldn't register them for attempting the password.

I have now cleared up this error.. I believe it was caused by an incorrect setting in the Bios. Although I'm blowed if I know which one.. as it wouldn't let me enter the user password, I removed the HDD, entered the bios to change a couple of settings and replaced the HDD, and I was then able to enter the password. (and no it wasn't the removing/replacing the HDD that enabled me to finally enter the password, as before I altered those bios settings the HDD had been removed previously for over an hour).

And to make things even better, another Windoze install attempt actually succeeded, so all is pretty much hunky dory now.

[victor]

Altough the Master and User can be set separatelly and they are not linked to each other, IBM BIOS will not allow you to clear the user one unless you know the Master, you're right.

KeyOn, which is a part of the HD Security tools can operate the Master and User separatelly, if you will still need the clear and set a known Master pwd, I could re-build the kit only with KeyOn for you to try out.
KeyOn knows how to encode the password and can work with the HD locked in IBM laptops.

Just in case, email at support-AT-allservice.ro, I hope I will have time in this weekend.
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.