Help !!! Lost password on IBM T20

Okay...I'm confused here. You say it can't be turned on ??? That's not a password issue, thats a power and or hardware issue.

Now if what you meant is, it will power up, but fail to boot up. That's differant.

Will it turn on at all?

Does it come on, then immediately request a password?

Does it come on, start to boot. Get to the operating software (windows) then ask for a password??

 

I hate to say this... but they might have turned it into an expensive doorstop.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-59377.html

Apparently, from what I see on the web, you can't just short a jumper on the motherboard to reset it like the old days.

 

Follow the instructions, on the link I gave, to reset the Power-on Password... hopefully that's it.

If the password for the hard drive was set... pitch the thing in the trash and chalk it up to experience. It'd probably cost more to fix than it's worth.

 

Good find there lil. The last paragraph offers a bit of hope there for resetting the Bios password...not much though.

Rick, if it's an OS password. IE a windows screen asking for a password. Simply force the system to boot into safe mode. Then use "admin" and "admin" as password and account name. Without the italics of course. It's doubtful your grandkids altered the "admin" account.

Once the system boots up, remove the offending account.

You'll need to enter Control Panel, user accounts to effect this change.

 

I have an old T22 with the same issue, boots into Win 2000 OS and asks for a password I don't don't have. I contemplated booting off an install CD and reinstalling the OS, I'll try this first.. Thanks!

 

As Danc694u said, this is an easy problem to fix.

When you turn the computer on, and after the bios screen goes away, hold down the F8 key until a menu pops up.
This menu will ask how you want to boot up.
Choose safe-mode.

Once the password screen shows up, you will need to type:
Username: admin
Password: admin

That will let you into the administrator portion of windows, from which you can edit/delete other user accounts on the computer.

Delete the account with the password on it, and make a new one without a password.

I remember breaking into a lot of computers for people using just this method. They were grateful because they didn't have to
lose everything in a re-install (which is what geek-squad would do!)