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yeah lumpy.. don't think that will work.. if i rememebr corrrectly, even fdisk won't see it.
however.. jjtremblay.. i did see references to folks trying to use a bulk demagnitizer
in google's newsgroups.. I didn't read them tho.
let's face it.. if there is a way and it's been published.. you'll find it using google
providing that you use "good" search parameters.. and don't neglect looking
thru google's newsgroups..
I have a few friends that work at IBM.. I suppose I could ask around to see if they
know anyway around it... however, if I were you.. I'd ask that buddy that sold it to
you for your money back.. when i buy a box.. I expect it to work.
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This is a Dell Latitude LS... it does not have a CD-Rom or floppy bay. I was going to do a network boot to reload a new OS but I have no access to the hard drive. You guys have been a great help in this matter... I would love to know what your buds at IBM have to say. Thank You.
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I was under the impression it was pretty much impossible to keep a hardrive from being formatted or mounted and read in the very least , can someone give me the name of this protection i am quite curious as to its workings .
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Like I said the Laptop is a Dell Latitude LS...
The hard drive is an IBM Travelstar IBM-DARA-212000 12.07 Gb 4200 RPM
I have gotten tons of information on the hard drive but no one seems to know how to unlock it. I even have two seperate programs strictly for Dell Latitudes one which claims it can generate a master password, provided you enter the hard drive's serial number, but none of the passwords generated worked. I enev tried them in upper and lower case just in case it was a case sensitive deal. The password protection makes the hard drive invisible to the system if you do not get the password right. Even if you change the boot sequence in the bios it will still ask for the Hard Drive password before it boots the first location.
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I am probably being stupid (so what's new you say :) ).................I have never encountered a "hard drive" password as such. There is usually a "power on" and a "system" password. The first can be reset using the jumper switch or disconnecting the battery, as already suggested.
The second needs you to know it, or the admin. password. Otherwise you have to reformat AFAIK.
It sounds as if this is an ex-corporate box, and may have non-conventional BIOS/security in place? I have encountered this sort of thing before. It stopped me replacing the 3.5" floppy drive until I gave it "a hell of a shock", so to speak :)
You might try connecting the HDD to another box as a second drive then reformat it, and load the OS from there? I have used this approach to revive an otherwise dead box in the past.
Hope this helps
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I got curious about this subject and have done some pretty savy searching on it. As far as i can tell you are sol other than convincing dell to help you. Dell says the password isn't foolproof but i cannot find anyone with the same problem who has solved it. It would take a good knowledge of the harddrives workings to figure out. If you do find a way please post it as i am quite interested.
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I agree with Lumpyporridge..............If Dell can't/won't help you, you will have to try to cure the problem on another box. Can you find something about the origins of your box? maybe the guy who sold it to you can help?..........I still suspect there might be some extra security in there somewhere?
Good luck
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Search for LC4 on google. Download it (also called lophtcrack). It searches the Hd for the password hashes, and cracks them using dictionary and hybrid combos.
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thanx all... expecially mike there... as soon as I can get ahold of something that will help me hook this laptop hard drive to my desktop PC I will try this program... Looks very promising.
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Call Dell tech Support and prove them that you are the legitimate owner of the system and they will help you on clearing that password.
