IBM ThinkPad Suppervisor Problem

[mmartini57]

I have an IBM ThinkPad G40 that I purchased at a liquidation sale. It has a supervisor password in CMOS. I used it for a month then I had a really great idea, that turned out to be a very stupid idea. I use a program, Kill CMOS, that puts everything in CMOS back to the factory default. It worked, now when I turn the laptop on it displays the message that the time and date are incorrect, Kill CMOS set it back to the factory default. Now it is prompting me to enter the correct time and date after I enter the supervisor password which I don't know. It will not get past the supervisor password prompt to be able to boot from floppy drive, CD-ROM, hard drive or network.
I registered the laptop with IBM when I first bought it. I called IBM and they said that the only way to get rid of the supervisor password is to replace the mainboard and the cheapest mainboard I found for my laptop is $565.00 I have taken the battery and the CMOS battery out and left them off for a week, that did not work. Come to find out that the supervisor password is stored in an EPROM chip which communicates with the CMOS around a 1000 times during boot-up and if any of them fail it will not boot. The EPROM is modified electronically and not with ultra-violet light.
There is a guy in Australia, Joe http://www.ja.axxs.net/unlock/, that says he can get the password for anyone. All I have to do is build this circuit board, he gives instructions in making it, and email him the file it produces and for a fee he will email me the password.
Am I stuck with purchasing a new main board or take a chance that Joe will be successful in retrieving the supervisor password or does anyone know a way around the supervisor password.

Thanks
1cross + 3nails = 4given

 

[montag451]

No,
There is a way to reset the CMOS so it doesn't ask, I think.
I saw instructions on how to do it some months ago, it involves opening up the case, getting to the CMOS chip, and jumping two of the connectors whilst switching it on. It then asks you to set a password, allegedly.

Not sure if it is the same on newer lappies, but seeing as you are stuck with a useless system at the moment - not a lot to use.
Might want to back up your hard drive though before playing around, in case something goes wrong and your lappy has a hard drive lock on it.
You can get 2.5" to 3.5" IDE connectors that you can plug into a desktop's mobo to download the data.
DO THAT FIRST.

You could also try this site: http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/reference/biosp.htm
But there may be a limit to the amount of wrong tries you can do before it locks up completely.

Re- jumping the BIOS, I didn't bkmark the original site i found, but, the following may help you.
http://www.techsoup.org/fb/index.cfm?fu...forum=2035&id=55504&cid=117&mid=207614
http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/BIOS_hack.htm

 

[LiLithTecH]

Originally posted by: montag451
No,
There is a way to reset the CMOS so it doesn't ask, I think.
I saw instructions on how to do it some months ago, it involves opening up the case, getting to the CMOS chip, and jumping two of the connectors whilst switching it on. It then asks you to set a password, allegedly.

That trick works on DELL laptops (Latitudes).

The IBM has 2 passwords. A MASTER and a SUPERVISOR.
If the security on the Master is set to High you can simply
use the laptop as a door stop.