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Thinpad R31 Bios password woes

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by johnrd1

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I've bought a secondhand R31 Laptop but the bios is locked.

I need some form of backdoor password or advice on how to get it working!

TIA
John

10 replies

by oz_media

Nice notebook, I've had mine 4 years and it still blows away most newer notebooks.

You should repost your question in the Tech Q&A section, instead of the discussion forums, you will get more help.

As far as the Thinkpad BIOS, if you can figure out what lock is applied, then there are usually a heap of default passwords, in MOST (and I mean MOST) cases, you need a new system board or send it to IBM for a refit....sorry for bad news but that's the most common result.

by johnrd1

Thanks Oz Media - I've heard that IBM recommend a replacemnt main board! :(

I've done a few searches on common passwords, but have not found that many for the IBM TP, TBH. If you can help locate any more I'd be grateful.

I'll repost on the (right) board as you advise.

by oz_media

I THINK IBM usually uses Award BIOS, in which case there are a couple of defaults but as IBM is proprietary, they use their own. If the previous owner changed it, the defaults are no go now.

I have yet to see a Thinkpad that didn't need a new system board for a BIOS reset.

by jaqui

a floppy drive, and can you boot from it?

if yes then killcmos will usually wipe bios password protection right out.

everything, including bios updates is gone, right back to brand new factory settings.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2969.html

dos boot disk required to use it.
also it does get reported by some antivirus apps as a trojan. [ becuase it writes to the cmos they think it's dangerous. ]

you have to explicitly run it after booting to dos.

by johnrd1

No, my thinkpad does not have a floppy drive, but the CD bay can also hold a floppy drive. I have found one cheaply on an online auction so will give this a go. Probably find that it won't boot from the floppy though as it won't boot from the CD?

I'll give killcmos a go, though - thanks guys.

by oz_media

It's probably cheaper to buy an external floppy/USB than to get the bay drive for the R31. That bay isn't very reliable and drives are very sensitive to the board alignment.

by johnrd1

Looks like I've got a Floppy for less that ?10 ($15 US) all in. Thanks for the idea on the USB / external. Will see how I get on.

by dreamerstarone

To recover bios password on thinkpad you have to soldering wires on eprom and connect to a db9 on a second computer to get the password. You can change the eprom with a virgin one. Here at http://ordinateurs-usages.com/ we can do it for you. Come to see us at store or just send the laptop by mail.

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