Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Nuke on July 22, 2007, 08:27:08 pm
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ok, today i just scored an old and beat up and filthy HP Pavilion N5420.the price was right too, $0.00. its a piece of **** and i hate hp. but it passed pc check and thus works. it had a copy of xp pro on it, but it was loaded with warez and viruses and several documents about joining particular cults, sence none of them were satan cults i decided to format the drive. im currently installing fedora 4 on it (id perfer ubuntu but i dont have a 32 bit version on disc at the moment).
it has some quirks, first being it doesnt have a battery. it requires a battery with a 7 pin connector and its gotta do 11.1 volts. seeing as i dont intend to spend any money on this thing, cept maybe a wireless network card. i have a battery but its a different configuration, ive peeled the case from it leaving only the 8 cells and the controller board. it has an 8 pin config and puts out 14.8 volts. sence i recently also aquired a full soldering kit, i figure i could hack the 2 together.
the laptop is a complete mess. half the screws are missing, as if someone disected the thing. theres a screw or something floating around in there. any odd flexing of the case causes a reboot. and the ac adapter port seems abit busted. i have no network interface (though i could use a serial cable if i really needed to get to the net). i cant get into the bos, there seems to be a password. i was able to clear it by crossing the terminals on the bios battery, but the password remains. it must have been put in by the manufacturer. i can still reach the boot menu for os install, but id like access to the settings.
its probibly not worth fixing up, and its definately not worth using without being portable. cept maybe for programming. i havent anything to loose by screwing with the thing. but it works so theres no point in throwing it out. so what does everyone think?
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Check out CMOSPwd from MajorGeeks (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?id=25&sort=7).
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you should do this :
http://www.geardigest.com/2004/11/13/supersize_your_tv_for_/page2.html
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you know ive seen the video of that mod before. damn cool. i think i could score the overhead projector from the local state surplus warehouse for hella cheap. infact ive gone over there to pick up tech parts like mad lately. thought id rather do that mod with regular flat panel so i could use it on this haul ass machine.
i found enough of the right size screws to seal the laptop up to where you can carry it around without the power going out, save of course from the problem with the loose power connector. i "peeled" my old battery down to the cells and controller board. a small slab of dense circuitry i presume regulates voltage and detects overheats and power levels. sense i have zero interest in running a safe rig, im gonna hackichly assemble a power converter from spare parts and **** from radio shack. if i can match the pins good, if not il just solder wires directly to the pins. either way i need pinouts of both sides. a simple crossover of the correct pins might work.
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Can I have some screenies. Just curious about how bad it really looks.
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i already cleaned it up considerably and put new screws in, to hold it together better. it looks pretty much like any ****ty hp laptop from 2000.
i seem to be having a problem getting it to boot from cd again. it booted fine when i installed fedora 4. cant seem to boot to any of the diagnostic tools i used before. was gonna put win 98 on it so i could run that bios password finder thing. the previous owner was stupid and shadowed the bios. so much for using it to play old games. less i can crack the password.
i looked up the battery for this thing and aparently i can order a replacement from china for about 50-60 bucks. though im not sure i want to throw money at a computer running an 800 mhz celeron (makeing it the slowest of 4 machines that i own, none of the others run slower than 2.2 ghz). hackery pokery is a must!
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Hmm, what socket is the CPU? Also, does it have a floppy drive? If so, go to www.bootdisk.com and under "DOS/Windows9X/Me/NT/2K/XP Excellent Bootdisks", get the "Windows 98 SE Custom, No Ramdrive" bootdisk. Run that .exe from another computer running any version of Windows, and get yourself a boot disk. Yes, I have all of the bootdisk.com bootdisks and they are safe. (Well, I don't have the 2K / XP boot disks, I've not use for them at the moment.)
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the cpu is a p3 i think. it has a floppy drive, but i dont have any floppies or any other floppy drives, and i dont know if it works. funny enough, i was able to get one bootable cd to run, unfortunately it was windows vista and thus was totally useless. i could disect the machine and remove the hd, i have another laptop hd that i could instal, which has 98 0n it.
some good news, it has some 3d accel. a SuperSavage IX chipset with 8 megs of its own ram. its about equivelant of a voodoo 2. it wont be runing no freespace scp but il be able to do some older games.
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Umm, get an external USB floppy drive (from TigerDirect, newegg, zipzoomfly or somewhere). Or pick up an internal one for one of your desktop PCs. You should have floppies; they will still be indispensable until they create a bootable replacement that everyone agrees to adopt. :rolleyes: It's stupid, I know. Actually, does it have an option to boot from USB? If so, you could use that. The P3 bit doesn't help much... see if you can run CPU-Z on it & get the socket type... or I can look it up, hang on...
Check here for batteries: (check www.ressellerratings.com first to see if it's listed).
http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/laptop-battery/hp-n5420-1001041.htm
Get this BIOS update (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-28983-1&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61895&os=228&lang=en), which will, as a side effect, clear the password.
A BIOS update replaces the previous version, so it is important that you follow
these instructions exactly. Otherwise, the computer may be damaged. The BIOS
update process resets the configuration settings in the BIOS Setup utility, and it
erases any BIOS passwords.
1. Remove any PC cards.
2. If the notebook is docked, undock it.
3. Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
4. Insert the BIOS update disk in the floppy disk drive.
5. Restart the computer.
6. Press Esc when you see the HP Invent logo and select the floppy drive as a the boot
drive.
7. Follow the onscreen instructions. Once the update process begins, do not interrupt it.
8. When the process is completed, remove the BIOS update disk from the floppy disk
drive and reboot the computer by pressing the system-off button on the left side of the
notebook.
Note Your HP notebook is configured to boot from the hard drive first. If you want to boot
from a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, change the boot order under the Boot menu in the
BIOS Setup utility. You can also select the boot drive at startup by pressing Esc when
you see the HP logo.
HP's site for your laptop (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prodinfoCategory?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61895&lang=en). (There are several WinXP upgrades that you might need!)
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like hell, the reasoning behind this endevour was to not spend any money. anyway i finally got a windows xp desktop up. i had to use 2 linux partitioning utilities in addition to delpart and fdisk to get rid of the linux mbr. but it booted and everything seems to be ok for now and it only cost me $0.16 for 2 cdrs.
i found batteries on ebay for about 60 bucks and ive seen wireless pc cards for around 20. though i dont see the logic in spending money on this piece of **** laptop when in all likelyhood i could score a better laptop for less at state surplus. that all remains to be seen.
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Ya, ya...
i looked up the battery for this thing and aparently i can order a replacement from china for about 50-60 bucks.
:p I was just trying to help if that was the route you chose. Anyways, like I said, you can now erase the password via BIOS update... just need to get a floppy disk. Staples or Radio Shack would still carry those, I think. If not, check online. Or use an old software disk. THE ONLY THING I CAN SAY FOR SURE IS MAKE DARN WELL SURE THAT THE FLOPPY IS GOOD, RUN A FORMAT COMMAND FROM XP'S CMD PROMPT BEFORE FLASHING A BIOS WITH IT. Last thing you want is to screw it up with a defective floppy disk. (Even if it's brand new, format it... I've seen some Imation floppy disks where like 2/15 of the brand spanking new floppies were bad.)
So, once you format, as long as no bad sectors are reported, you're good to go for the update / password clear.
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i refuse to dirty myself by buying floppies :D
the cmospwd utility was as good as useless as well. unless i want to buy a rom programmer. unless i want to disect the whole unit again and possibly break something in the process (breaking down a laptop is a tedious and often risky process do to the fact that the person doing the disassembly would most likely grow impatient and chuck the computer into a wall or at the first person or feline that bothered him).
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Get this BIOS update (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-28983-1&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61895&os=228&lang=en), which will, as a side effect, clear the password.
and it
erases any BIOS passwords.
Good morning!!!
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know if theres a way to run a virtual floppy drive? then i could create a fake floppy, extract the bios and flasher, and create a bootable cd, which all sane people know is the proper way to flash a bios, without becoming dirty for using ancient technology.
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i got a boot cd with the phlash util and bios and havent a clue about the command line referance for the util. the internet didnt help either. stupid internet!
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floppies are kvlt.
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I'll figure it for you... stand by. Just do a CRC check on that BIOS file... :nervous:
EDIT: Oh, how'd you get the bootable CD? You should've been able to make an image file of the floppy, and use that for the CD bootsector source... as long as you found that virtual floppy util.
EDIT2: Actually, you should've been able to create a virtual floppy with the CD boot, using C:\SWSetup\SP29774\BIOS.IMG
EDIT3: Umm... and once you did that, you'd see that the autoexec.bat file had the command script listed right there.
EDIT4: Created an ISO boot image for you. Unzip & burn this, boot off of it, and all should be well. http://files.filefront.com/New+Compilation+zip/;8136681;;/fileinfo.html
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i tried that but the setup script was anal about the drive not being A:. hp has to dumb everything down so only their incompetent tech support guys know whats going on. there for it ****s up before i even get to the flasher. but i found the phoenix bios flash utility, phlash.exe, but i seem to be having a problem with the usage. cant find any documentation on the infernal thing. i dont intend to take any flashing precautions im just gonna do it, and if i fail, spare parts. :D
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Umm... It is drive A: when you use my CD.
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which bios is on it, the 1.63 version or the older 1.14 version?
it looks like the current version installed on the laptop is the 1.63 version, so thats the one i tried to use. i used magiciso to generate my disc, but that didnt work to well. il give yours a try. im not spending any money on this thing unless i know i can tweak the bios in the future.
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i dont think it worked. it ran alright but i think you put the wrong bios on there. i get a for notebook gf only error. i think im running the gc variant. the actual bios installed is gc.m1.63, so thats the one i want to re-install. though its entirely possible that the bios installed on the thing by its previous owner was the wrong version (though not wrong enough to cause a failure, ive seen situations where the wrong version still at least partially works enough to boot). what did you use to build that iso? magic iso seems to suck.
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CD Burner XP Pro 3.0.116 (http://www.cdburnerxp.se/download.php) (freeware). I had to re-create the image from the floppy disk that was created by the util from HP, as C:\SWSetup\SP29774\BIOS.IMG seems to be some sort of odd format that doesn't work except with their image writer program.. so I made the floppy, and then used Roadkil's Disk Image (http://www.roadkil.net) (freeware) to create a new image from the floppy. I burned at 1x speed to minimize the risk of error, because it's only 2 MB so it finishes fast anyways.
I got the BIOS from HP's Download site for your model (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61895&lang=en), the number you mentioned in your first post, Pavilion N5420. Is that the model number on the bottom of your laptop? (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf-JAVA/Doc/images/c00811690.jpg)
EDIT: If that is the correct BIOS for your laptop, I know of a program that can usually force it to flash... let me know if it's the right model #; if it is, it should be safe to do.
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that hp label format must be more recent than the one they used on this thing. all i have is a serial number, a 1p number, and a mfg number. and a bunch of stuff in tiraneese or whatever language they speek over there. the gc designation is on the label however. im pretty sure the 1.63 bios is the proper one.
hps util has been so scripted so as to idiot proof the flash that i dont think it will let me do it if its the wrong bios.
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If you have the serial number, that might help... what is it?
Actually, do you have the p/n (part number)?
(http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf-JAVA/Doc/images/c00864828.jpg)
Got all this off of HP's Notebook ID page (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c00033108&product=18073&lc=en&dest_page=product&cc=us#)
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ive been over the id page and i none of my labels on this thing look like those. i have no part number and no model number on any of the underside labels. all thats on this thing is n5420l (i didnt notice the l till just now, as it was a smaller font size and i thought it was a scratch) on the label to the top right of the keyboard. im pretty sure that this (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob639en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61895&os=20&dest_page=product) is the proper bios (as the boot screen shows this version number).
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That's odd.
Go to this (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?product=61895&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en) HP page (where you select your OS), and, if you click "Windows '98", then your BIOS shows up as the latest one for your laptop. Now, if you click "Windows XP", then the BIOS I previously posted shows up as the latest. Weird. So which is it?
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its the 1.63 version from the 98 page.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob639en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61895&os=20
this is the same version as the one im using now. this laptop seems to be a pre xp model. it had an me sticker on it. so id use the 98 bios.
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Do you want me to make you another CD image with the '98 BIOS as a virtual floppy boot disk?
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sure, if its not too much trouble.
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np, when I get home...
EDIT: http://files.filefront.com/New+Compilation+2zip/;8159478;;/fileinfo.html
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the flash worked ok but the password still remains. either its a standard default password, or the password is stored elseware on the device. thanks for the effort anyway.
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Hrm.. I'll take a look & see what I can come up with.
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i have a feeling any remaining options require vivisection or shelling out money to a laptop repair specialist. working on laptops is something i dont really have that much luck with. out of 3 i worked on i only got one to reboot again, laptops are a murderous, self-destructive beast they are.
the readme for the password cracker (cmospwd) says that laptops store bios settings on an eeprom seprate from the bios. this would explain why the flash did not clear it. i could try what i did to clear the boot password, cross terminals on the battery, except this time keep em crossed for longer or just desolder the thing and put it back on (ive got the gear but really dont want to do it, seeing how shoddy some of my soldering projects are). perhaps if the eeprom is removeable, i could pull the old one and put a blank one in there, though im not sure if thats a good idea.
i figured sence i got the wireless network card id get the battery too. the laptop is clearly useable, even if not for games.
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PhoenixPhlash Utility 4.0 Release 1.73C
(c) Copyright 1994-2000, Phoenix Technologies Ltd., All Rights Reserved
USAGE: PHLASH [options] [@rspfile] [romfile]
romfile Override the default BIOS ROM image name BIOS.ROM with "file".
@rspfile Response file containing more options
/A No auto-sensing, use PLATFORM.BIN parameters only.
/B=name Override the default filename PLATFORM.BIN with "name".
/BU[=name] Backup flash memory into BIOS.BAK before programming.
If "name" specified, override the default filename BIOS.BAK.
/C Clear CMOS checksum after programming.
/CS Verify BIOS ROM image checksum.
/CZ Clear all CMOS locations after programming.
/DEV List flash devices currently supported by PHLASH.
/H or /? Help screen.
/I Verify image size matches flash part size.
/L Use for legacy free system only.
/MFG Manufacturing mode - Automatically reboot without keypress.
/N Program only if BIOS.ROM is different than system BIOS.
/NOB Do not allow an older bios from being flashed to the platform.
/NOBIOSINFO Do not display bios date and part number while flashing.
/O Override (disable) all options from PLATFORM.BIN.
/P Production mode (minimize messages and delays).
/PF="opts" Platform specific string "opts" passed to platform.
/PN Program only if same BIOS part number.
/RO[=name] Read contents of flash part and save to a file.
/Rn Retry flashing a block n times if flash fails.
/S Silent operation (turn off speaker).
/SE Do a sector erase for the Atmel 49F002 flash part.
/SO=[NORMAL|COMPAT] Select Operation of multiple part support.
/SWAP=NO Disable Axx swapping.
/V Verify each block after programming it.
/Z Zero before erasing a block.
To FLASH a part you also need the following files:
1) PLATFORM.BIN (manufacturer specific initialization file)
2) BIOS.ROM (BIOS ROM image file)
phlash.exe is in the a:\BIOS\ directory. The /CZ option might be what you're looking for, but I"m not sure if it would get the password, if it's in a separate chip. If phlash.exe is aware of the other chip, then /CZ might work. Some of the other options might help, too, but IDK. If you want me to, I could post on DevHardware forums and ask them.
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i tried /cz, /z, and /se with no luck. this is why im pretty sure its sitting on another chip.
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Erg. I'll post on DevHardware forums and check my Upgrading & Repairing Laptops book...
EDIT: here (http://www.devhardware.com/forums/pc-hardware-21/bios-password-on-an-old-hp-pavilion-n5420lt-146641.html). (Possible solution).
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that article didnt seem to contain anything i didnt already try. maybe if i could id the mobo i could fine out some more info about it.
other than being an excellent porn computer, it can also run quake 3 at an amazing 8 fps with full on graphics. and 20 fps with 16 bit textures and bit depth :D
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TMI
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yea, all that info about 16 bit textures is almost too gross to bear, next time il leave that part out for the sake of decency. :D
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*grumbles* Did you try the Phoenix backdoor passwords? 'cause you've got a Phoenix BIOS. And did you try !BIOS (http://www.11a.nu/software/bios-pc-bios-security-and-maintanance-toolkit/)?
For your convenience: (I imagine you already tried these, but...)
Reported Phoenix BIOS backdoor passwords include BIOS, CMOS, phoenix, and PHOENIX.
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i tried every backdoor i could get ahold of, in various forms of case. and !BIOS gives me a 404.
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And !BIOS?
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404
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Great... although, I just stumbled on a good point.. alot of BIOSes will lock you out after 3 bad passwords, and not let you know about it. So, if you don't get the password right in 3 tries, your just typing against a brick wall... you have to reset after the third try.
EDIT ;D
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yea i noticed, though in my case it just shuts down, not really a lockout. bios passwords have no purpose but to annoy techs and maybe to keep the kiddies out. it makes me question why everyday used by everyone computers need so much security.
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Rename above attachment in my previous post to .exe ;)
That's !BIOS
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Bad news.... I looked up your laptop here (http://www.pwcrack.com/security_chips_hp.shtml), and it does have a "security chip", and supposedly, those cannot be erased by shorting or battery removal. :( BTW, can you contact the person you got it from? Ask them what the dumb password was. If they got it elsewhere, ask them for the contact info for that person.
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well im not too sure thats a good idea. i got this computer from a buddy of mine. he didnt own it and infact was about to toss it. the previous owner, who was renting a room from my buddy, one day decided to drink 4 bottles of tequila and take some pills and who knows what else and then procede to trash my buddys place. anyway after the cops took him away, gave him some jail time and he later jumped town without retrieving his stuff. so one day when i went over to fix my buddy's printer het told me he was gonna throw away some old computer stuff, i said i would take it. anyway the morale of this story is that i get a free laptop with an unbreakable password.
getting ahold of the guy who owned it would probibly result in a drunken fight. so i would like to avoid that. if i absolutely need the password crack the password i could buy a replacement mobo. but i spent too much on this thing already. i should probibly also paint this thing incase mr drunk ever comes back to town.
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Umm, $100 gets you a new security chip. See above link. So if you had to, that's the way to go. Erg. Ppl like that have no business making passwords anyways... how come only the nice ppl don't make passwords, and then get ripped off for it? :rolleyes: Whatever. Try something simple, like HP or something the drunk would think of (prolly something he could see at the time, or his GF's name...) *shrugs*
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i could replace the whole mobo for the same price.
http://www.notebookparts.com/products/description.php?II=540
this has the advantage of giving me a full set of specs on the mobo. id rather just deal with it as it is than spend money on it. unless of course i could upgrade this thing, bring it up to speed and get a better video card (which seems to be on a paralell riser card).
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Meh. Better to get one off of eBay, prolly. I guess Laptop BIOS passwords actually work, unlike desktop BIOS passwords, which are easily defeated.
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I've beat a password on a D845PE board simply by moving a jumper... anywho -- what about removing that security chip?
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that clears the cmos but not the eeprom. i didnt see a cmos jumper but i was able to reset the defaults by shorting the battery. tweaking the bios remains impossible.
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That's because the jumper does clear the password on a desktop computer, because on a desktop computer, the password is stored with the BIOS settings on an EEPROM chip. On a laptop, there are two EEPROM chips, one for BIOS settings that can be cleared, and one for the password, called the security chip, that cannot be cleared.
Now, Nuke, it is true that if you applied voltage at the correct points on the security chip, it would erase, no? XD Ofc, that might not work. What would prolly work is one of those DOS utils that can dump you into BIOS setup, as long as no upper memory drivers are loaded. Which should work, seeing as the BIOS is shadowed. It might still ask for the password, though... grrrr.
Perhaps with a memory editor, you could change the shadowed BIOS password... unless that part isn't shadowed.
Bah. I'm going to search some hacker forums. If the pros can do it, so can we! XD
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fedex was supposed to deliver my pc card wifi adapter today. i was here but the tracking info said noone was home. its bad enough that 2 day shipping takes 4, but for them to show incompetance by knocking on the wrong door rather pisses me off. i hope i dont have this much trouble when the battery shows up.
this whole thing is good expierience dealing with laptops. makes me wish i hadnt scrapped my old laptop. i coulda probibly fixed the damn thing. such a shame it was a hella fast gaming laptop. crap by todays standards but in '02 it was somke serious awesome. nothing like being able to play flight sims on the bus to work everyday. the uv map of one of my ships was done on the way to work and i remember working on some of the dante at a bar with some rather scantily clad girls as bartenders.
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I don't like Fed Ex.. I like UPS. XD
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i perfer the post office, they dont jack the shipping for alaska
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well its 2 days late and i had to pick it up myself, but i got my wireless pc card. there is now sufficient em radiation flying around this place to give my cats brain tumors, but it worked without too much tweaking.
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Good... the only thing about this that bothers me is the fact that a criminal would prolly be like "oh, that's easy... just short pins 3 and 9, like this *fzzt* password cleared! Shiny! Let's be bad guys!" while we can't do a darn thing. Proves the old saying "Locks are for honorable people" or something like that.
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a bad guy would scratch out the serial number and take in to a shady pawn shop (i should know i used to work for one), then visit their crack dealer. unless of course the pawn shop was so shady that they would pay for the item with an illegal substance of your choice.
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Hmm, well I meant if the laptop contained valuable information or something, and the BIOS password had been set to system-on instead of setup.
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i dont understand why they went through so much trouble to put the bios password on another chip. yet allowed me clear the boot password, format the drive and re-install a new os. the only real reason to have a bios password, is to keep the uneducated from tweaking settings that could damage the computer or cause instability. using it as a security feature just makes it harder to solve problems with the system. i would also think that increasing the number of chips on an already densely packed board would be avoided if at all possible.
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Probably an idea straight from the top (managment). They are usually full of good ideas like this... :ick: