Francis K

I have a very nice labtop computer, it's an IBM I purchased it along with a printer, leather case and many many other confusing accesories for 100$ from some customer at my dad's store trying to bail his sister out of jail. It's great but there is one problem, I DON'T HAVE THE PASSWORD!!! And one more thing, while trying to crack the code some idiot burnt the monitor. Well I was on a website for suv's where I saw a pic where a labtop was being used as a navigation unit in a suv and looked descent. Is there anything I can do with this labtop, I here it's extremely expensive to replace labtop monitors but is there anything I can do? Any suggestions, I feel nav system would benefit me cause I get lost frequently and I'm too stubborn, and lazy, to ask for directions plus it would be cool. Can anyone help me with any suggestions?!

-Thanks in advance

RealMarty

Lets start with some basics.

You can probably rebuild Windows on this laptop with a Windows install CD from another computer. You'll likely need some model-specific drivers from the IBM web site to get it all working once the basic OS is installed.

Just burn down the hard drive (format it) when the Windows install asks which choice you want to make, install the OS from scratch and then proceed with the OS build using the laptop-based options.

It's highly unlikely someone burnt out the display trying to crack the password. It's more likely the display driver was deleted, the BIOS was changed to use an external monitor, or the screen was physically damaged. If it's the driver, you can re-install it from the Windows CD or the IBM site. The BIOS can be changed back (you have to connect an external monitor to the monitor connections on the laptop to see the machine start up and be able to change the BIOS back). If it's the display itself you're probably looking at some bucks to get it replaced (they don't repair well).

If you don't know what you are doing at all with computers, you can take it to a shop that works with IBM laptops and have them do the install. If you haven't got of copy of Windows on CD they'll charge you for that, plus the time to do the install.

Marty

Francis K

I apprectiate the reply RealyMarty, I'm descent with computers but not really with the electronic side of them so I'll have to look at a shop to help me out. By hooking it up to a normal computer monitor I have concluded that the monitor itself is not burned because I got the same picture from the normal computer monitor and when I disconnecting I got a no signal, so the monitor is not burned, I guess I just need to crack the code and all that junk.

Percy

What display are you getting? What laptop is it? (4 digit model number as well as a regular model number...ie...760CD or something like that.) If the password was indeed put onto the laptop, (you'll get a lock symbol) then there is NO WAY to crack the password. Password itself is a form of military encryption and shares code with the NSA. Was meant for ultra secure enviroments in case the laptop was stolen. The only way that we actually bypassed the main password (system) was to replace the system board.

Percy

Francis K

-IBM Thinkpad

-Model 310ED

-Designed for Windows 95

If need any other information to help me let me know. I would really apperciate it if anyone can tell me what I'm lookin at here, the monitor displays all black, but works, can anyone help, I'm kinda in the dark.

-Thanks in advance

Percy

Any beep codes? (turn the volume to middle setting) Or is the screen completely blank with no cursor? Another thing you can try is to hold "F1", then turn on the machine (keep holding down on "F1" until you hear a beep. Any screen?

Percy

Francis K

No beep, but i'm hearing the loading sounds from the processor if that helps and yes it is blank with no cursor, when I hook it up to a woking monitor I get the same picture, so I assume the monitor isn't burnt, it must be somthing else.

RealMarty

Do you have another computer you can use to make a DOS boot disk from?

If so make the boot disk and put it into the floppy drive of the laptop BEFORE you turn it on. This will cause the laptop to boot from the floppy and load DOS.

When you turn the PC on the floppy should be read and you should see the following prompt on the screen -- A:>.

If you do see this, the screen is working. Once again I would suggest reloading Windows and starting from scratch.

Do you have access to a Windows CDROM to load from?

Marty

Harrier

To get by the BIOS password is easy.

All you have to do is remove then reinstall the system battery. This is not the lithium ion battery, but rather a tiny round battery that is attached to the motherboard by two tiny wires. Once you've disconnected the wiring, it resets the BIOS password. Very easy to do.

After you've done that, you could try booting up Windows in Safe Mode, which would more than likely activate a default display driver. If your display isn't working at that point, you may want to consider bringing the laptop to an authorized IBM dealer to troubleshoot it.

Percy

Harrier,

This would be true for most PC's. But this won't work with the Thinkpads! IBM thought of this when they designed the laptop. I've had to replace system boards (That's the ONLY way to get around the system password) for people that have forgotten their passwords. The reason for this...Thinkpads were meant to be used in highly secure enviroments. If the laptop was stolen and the "ordinary tricks" applied, they wouldn't work. Now if the hard drive was encrypted (just a seperate hard drive password) then there is NO CHANCE of recovery. Writes to logic and to an area on the hard drive. Uses a form of encryption that is used by the NSA. IBM started using this method in their laptops from '96 on. Not all of them at once, but they started right around that year.

I know alot about Thinkpads since I had 4 years with that company. One of their top end techs...got tired of it when they wanted me to go take calls about 300 miles away (everyday!) on top of my normal duties. Mind you, the calls were at 3 o'clock in the morning. They expected you to be back at 7am after covering a distant call. Plus, too many people wanted to be "chiefs"...not enough "indians".

Francis,

E-mail me with EXACT symptoms of what the laptop is doing. My address is esotar330@ameritech.net Hopefully we can get this bugger working. But my gut feeling tells me that a new video assembly is needed. The 310's had that problem, but hopefully it'll be something easy. If you had an older 755CE then it would be fairly easy to fix and get parts for...but that's 486 class. SLOW!

Percy