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Hi Gregg, Actually it's not my drive. I was just replying to the person who had the problem. I am by no means a hardware expert, but I thought information on a hard drive was stored in a section called the master boot record, rather than "the HD's CMOS" (which, BTW, stands for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor - a reference to the manufacturing process rather than its function, and is probably more properly called von-volatile RAM). If it is truly stored in in an NVRAM chip, you could remove it simply by removing power to the chip for a while. However, I think what you need to do is remove data that is written onto the drive itself. That's why I made the fdisk /mbr suggestion: to try to clear the password from the master boot record. I still think it's worth a try. Lewis Gregg.Ginsberg@MCI.Com wrote: > > According to all my sources at Big Blue, you've got a nice paperweight on your hands. The HD password is stored on the HD's CMOS. You'd think all the warnings in your laptop's documentation would have been enough.... > > |> -----Original Message----- > |> From: Lewis Mills [SMTP:lmills@socket.net] > |> Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 1997 11:10 AM > |> To: thinkpad@cs.utk.edu > |> Subject: Re: HD Protect Passwords > |> > |> > |> If a low level format doesn't get it, try using fdisk /mbr and > |> reformatting. This is an (AFAIK) undocumented fdisk switch that can be > |> useful if you have a truly tough virus. It may remove the password. It > |> may not (and may have other unintended consequences that I know nothing > |> about!), but it's worth trying before you decide you're stuck with a > |> paperweight. > |> Lewis > |> > |> Paul Khoury wrote: > |> > > |> > On Mon, 17 Nov 1997 22:16:13 -0700, Steve Hultquist wrote: > |> > > |> > >The only solution for a harddrive password is knowing it and removing > |> > >it. If you don't know it, the hdd is useless; buy a new one. > |> > >-- > |> > What about trying a low level format? Because that would typically > |> erase more > |> > than a high level format would. > |> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Name: winmail.dat > winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef > Encoding: base64