built in hd password
 

ok, i bought this laptop. lady was like "it has a bios pw and i dont know it." fine. i solved that issue, but now the damn thing is asking me for the built in hd password. ideas? before i buy a damn HD? :-\

Re: built in hd password
 

Wipe it and start fresh? How could she not know the password unless it was stolen?

Re: built in hd password
 

i looked it up, apparently these laptops toshibas a205 and a couple other go crazy and decide they want to setup a password on their own, bios anyway. didnt really find anything on the hd part. bios update is supposed to fix that issue but i cant fix that without booting right?

Re: built in hd password
 

BIOS is read first before the hard drive is accessed.

Re: built in hd password
 

yeah, i know this. bah, dont know why i through the bios update thing in there, since i already figured out the password issue. my only issue now is the hd password. guess il dl a vista torrent to try and wipe it all off.

Re: built in hd password
 

Hope you paid next to nothing to offset the karmic burden of owning a stolen laptop.

Re: built in hd password
 

ATA spec supports a password built onto the hard drive. It pops up right after POSTing and if you do not know the password, it either locks the system up, or it disables the hard drive, so even if you got a Vista DVD, it won't see it.

2 solutions:
-Buy a new hard drive. They're not that expensive.
-Download HDD Unlock from hddunlock.com. Software is free, but you have to buy 'unlock cards' for the capacity of the drive. an 80GB drive is $10. 160 is $15. 250 is $20. etc. It wipes all the data but makes the drive usable again.
-Download AFF repair station from www.hdd-tools.com. it's made by the same people as HDD unlock, but can unlock a drive and retain the data... but the per drive cost is more.

Considering that a 160Gb laptop drive is around $50 to 60 today, weigh your options.

Re: built in hd password
 

Put in a different harddrive as primary boot device and use that one as secondary.

Or

Run a linux live-disc and format.

Re: built in hd password
 

Pro

Re: built in hd password
 

OR

hiren boot cd

Re: built in hd password
 

this is spot on info, you WONT be able to simply throw in a live linux disc and format, it disables reading or writing to ANY part of the HD, including the partition table, lots of laptops "Bios" password just uses the ATA lock so that information cant be stolen, even if the hard drive is removed... for reference, this is how Xbox (1) HD's are locked from microsoft, except they get locked with a key that is generated from the eprom ID on the mobo... so you cant move one HD from a xbox to another.

Re: built in hd password
 

i had the A205 series as well and it did this too.


ended up having to take it in for a mobo replacement because it wouldnt take the new bios.


this a common problem for this laptop.

Re: built in hd password
 

Ok, so ATA password

http://files.filefront.com/atapwdzip.../fileinfo.html

- download atapwd
- make bootable disc
- boot to that disc
- unlock harddrive

also, hdparm accomplishes the same.

Re: built in hd password
 

if you can open the laptop up there probably is a jumper that will flash the bios to whatever it was when it was built

Re: built in hd password
 

atapwd will only unlock the drive if you know the password. It cannot remove a password that is unknown.

I'm not sure if hdparm will work as that only changes certain parameters such as DMA, power management, acoustic levels, etc. Stuff that some BIOSes let you change (ie. Dell allows changing of the acoustic mode, DMA can be enabled in Windows).

The ATA password is stored in a 'special' place in the firmware ROM. Now you may be thinking, 'I'll just flash it'. Flashing wont touch that section of the ROM. You will have to raw read/write the rom with a utility such as debug.

Re: built in hd password
 

Opencrack FTW!! will take less then 10min :6

Re: built in hd password
 

Gay.

Just move the platters to another harddrive.

Better yet, buy one since they're dirt cheap.

Re: built in hd password
 

thats what imma do, i kept trying and nada.

i was looking at them and noticed ata 7 and ata 8 compliant, wtf is that all about? :1 enlighten me so i can buy the damn 250gb hd already.