Re: IBM 750CE PASSWORD

["Don Whiteside" <dwhite@shadow.net>]

> Help!!!  We have an IBM 750ce laptop that we do not know the supervisor 
> password. The orginal owner died. IBM tells us that we have to replace 
> the motherboard and hard drive. We have already tried to disconnecting 
> the internal batteries.

The tech manual confirms what IBM told you - the supervisor password, 
unlike the power on password, is not defeatable. I'd be suprised if 
there wasn't some less drastic way, yet still requiring service, to 
defeat it. It wouldn't be a total shock to me though.

However, if the data is the thing, there is nothing non-standard 
about those hard drives and I am sure the password if just a 
boot-related vent, not an encryption system of any sort. You could 
probably remove the drive from the case, make it a slave drive and 
attach it to an existing system (with the proper 44 pin -> 40 pin 
adaptor, of course) and access the data that way. Not for the faint 
of heart, obviously.
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Donald Alan Whiteside			School of Computer Science
Eternal Student				Florida International University
    GCS d-- -p+(---) l u+(-) e+ m+ s !n h f g+ w+ t+(++) r- y++
Penis ownership is not a prerequisite to technological competence." - Me
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