T61p admin, boot, and disk passwords

Ok, my brother has been telling me to set the passwords on my laptop for some time now. He has a T60p just like mine. So while he was over here last weekend he stepped me through the various passwords you can setup to try them all out to see how they worked.
Since he was just showing me how to do this I figured I would make it easy on myself and set everything to the same password then come back and undo or reset them to something different. To make sure there were no issue, he did the same thing on his T60p. So we both stepped through setting the following passwords:
Power on, Hard disk and Administrator.
We set them all to the same simple word to to step through it and everything seemed to work. He showed me with each one how it was now protected from even powering up.  Then we tried to go back in and update the passwords to different more secure words. Well, we have an issue now.
Both of our laptops just tell us that nothing can be modifed in user mode in the bios. We power up and press blue button, then enter our password. Then select to enter the bios and enter our password again. But the Bios is just telling us that we are users and need the administrator to make changes.
So, is there a known issue with using the same password for all the different passwords?
Any way to fix this?
I am sure of all the passwords as we both used the same simple word for all the passwords and now both laptops have the same issue.
As I can get past all the challenge passwords and use it and window 7 upgraded just fine it is not a large concern to me, but for Christmas getting myself a new laptop and want to give this to my kid. Would like to be able to clear out the passwords or reset them for him then.
As I have up to date full backups of my data, if I have to do some sort of reset/wipe and start like a clean factory machine again I have no issues with that if this is even possible. I tend to reload the machine 1/year anyway to keep it clean.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

good job figuring it out.
if you hadn't, there'd have been no solution other than a system board replacement.
regards.
English Community   Deutsche Community   Comunidad en Español   Русскоязычное Сообщество
Community Resources: Participation Rules • Images in posts • Search (Advanced) • Private Messaging
PM requests for individual support are not answered. If a post solves your issue, please mark it so.
X1C3 Helix X220 X301 X200T T61p T60p Y3P • T520 T420 T510 T400 R400 T61 Y2P Y13
I am not a Lenovo employee.

Similar Messages

  • Single user mode, Lost Admin Account, and Disk Permissions

    Okay, so I have quite a few issues here. I will start from the beginning.
    About a week ago, I tried to install some updates and I could not get the Admin account to work. I went to the users profile and noticed my Admin account was not there. Did a quick search and found Apple's outline of how to fix this via the Operational DVD and the root user. Tried this and it would never work, because as soon as I restarted the computer or changed screens it switched back to a standard account.
    Next up, I went into the terminal to check the Admin User group. As it turns out it is not there. So I find a discussion on there that outlines how to rebuild this in single user mode and the Unix prompt. So, I print it off and try to restart in single user mode. After trying two different keyboards and a sum total of 8 to 10 times, I can't restart in single user mode to get to the Unix prompt.
    One last thing, last night I went into the Disk Utility on the start-up DVD. I wanted to check the Repair Permission log and I got the following:
    ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library/Preferences"
    ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library/"
    ACL found but not expected on "Network"
    Thoughts?
    Thanks for your help!
    tpp

    first, the ACL messages can be ignored. if you can't get to single user mode you can't fix your admin group. the only reasons that I know why you wouldn't be able to do that is
    1. a defective keyboard
    2. you have a firmware password set. have you? you'd have to turn it off before you can get to single user mode.
    lastly when you restart in single user mode make sure you press command+s right after you hear the chime. do not press it too early or too late. lastly, I'm not sure which instructions you've found to fix the admin group but I have them in this thread
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8011324

  • G4 Dual 1.43 Ghtz won't boot and disk utility won't repair it

    I can't get the Boot Disk Disk Utility to repair the drive on my old G4 Dual 1.43 and desparately need the Documents file and home folders.  Any ideas ?

    This isn't going to be easy.
    Does disk utility try to repair the drive?  If it mounts, you could try the software I list below.
    You either goint to have to get an external firewire drive & install some mac os on it. Then run some utilities from this drive or you going to have to get the drive out and mount in an external enclosure & run utilities.
    There our commercial places that recover data.  They will not be cheap.
    I do not know what type of drive you have in the machine.  So before buying an empty enclosure check.
    Has everything interface:
    FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
    save a little money interface:
    FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
    This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
    The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.
    Here is an external hd enclosure.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/
    Perhaps Disk Warrior will be of some help:
    http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
    "Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
    They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
    http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
    "Data Rescue II is the best data recovery software on the market for recovering files from a problem hard drive. Data Rescue II works when other tools fail. Data Rescue II is also completely safe to use since it does not attempt any risky repairs to the drive while its scanning."
    http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
    FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume.  FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
    -- been accidentally deleted.
    -- become unreadable due to media faults.
    -- been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
    http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1
    "TestDisk is a free data recovery utility. It was primarily designed to help recover lost data storage partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing a partition table)."
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk
    "*Hard drive data recovery and warranty implications*
    Hard drives that have become non-functional through normal use, and have had data recovery performed on them by DriveSavers or Ontrack Data Recovery can be returned to Apple for warranty service. This includes products covered by the AppleCare Protection Plan. The cost of any data recovery attempts is not covered by the Apple Limited Warranty."
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3974?viewlocale=en_US
    Entering:
    mac data recovery
    into Google will list some firms who specialize in recovering data. Data recovery isn't cheap.
    Examples:
    1) Ontrack Data Recovery is the world leader in data recovery services and data recovery software offering the fastest,  most convenient and cost-effective solutions to clients who have experienced data loss.
    http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/
    2) Enter the world of DriveSavers Data Recovery…
        * Data Recovery Tools
        * Data Recovery Process
        * Data Recovery Cleanroom
    http://www.drivesavers.com/

  • Help! PB G4 won't boot and Disk Utility can't fix it!

    I have an insufficiently backed up PowerBook G4 1.67MHz (1GB RAM) that suddenly nosedived last night. I was surfing the Web and OmniWeb froze up. I couldn't force-quit it because the Finder was also locked up. So I held the power button until it shut down. When I restarted it, it got to the grey apple screen and hung there. I booted off the Tiger CD and ran Disk Utility, but it couldn't fix it. Then I tried booting into single-user mode and it also failed. Finally I tried reinstalling the system, but the CD couldn't find the hard drive. Aaargh!
    I have a bunch of documents that I really cannot lose, and the most updated versions of them are only on this drive. Anyone know any tricks or third-party utilities that can help? I have another Mac; would Firewire Target Mode or Network booting help?
    Some details:
    Here's what Disk Utility said:
    Invalid volume header (this was written in red)
    Checking Catalog file
    Keys out of order (in red)
    Rebuilding Catalog B-tree (in green)
    The volume [name] could not be repaired (in red)
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (in bold red)
    1 HFS volume checked
    1 volume could not be repaired because of an error (in bold red)
    Repair attempted on one volume (in bold)
    1 volume could not be repaired (in bold red)
    Then it popped up a dialog box:
    First Aid Failed
    Disk Utility stopped repairing [name] because the following error was encountered:
    The underlying task reported failure on exit (in bold)
    Here's what single-user said:
    It all booted normally, then I got these ominous entries in the list:
    disk0s3: I/O error.
    jnl: dojnlio: strategy err 0x5
    jnl: open: could not read 512 bytes for the journal header.
    hfs: late jnl init: failed to open/create the journal (retval 8).
    nfs_boot: networking is not initialized
    panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001F2634): nfsbootinit failed with 6
    [then there's two backtraces here]
    panic: We are hanging here...
    PowerBook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

    As Mr Peck advised, DW is your best chance of getting out of this.
    The important point of your post is the hard shut down (were you running Classic?) and the mention of Keys Out of Order. Do a search on these boards for Keys Out of Order for a quick education of the problem.
    Make sure of the version of DW you use, get the disk and don't download, and make sure of your firmware version.
    Joe

  • Powerbook Won't boot - And disk permissions won't repair

    My powerbook G4 won't boot normally or in safe mode but will load up using the leopard disk to instilation page. Once there the folowing issues become aparrent;
    1. Not enough space to archive and install
    2. Disk persmssions can't be verified or repared (the disk can be both verified and repaired and appears normal)Have waited overnight for this to complete and it hasn't.
    3. Whilst it connects to networks it doesn't appear on them to allow data to be removed to make space
    4. Attemting to use disk utility restore function to copy the hard disk onto a external hard drive fails (bar about 1/8 of the way across predictions stat at 1hr58 and reach 6 hours when the powerbook starts making a lot of noise nad the external hard drive activity appears to halt)
    Any ideas on how to resolve this?

    Might be worth a shot trying to transfer in TDM, once booted from the install disk:
    _http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583_
    Good Luck,
    Joe

  • X250 Dual Booting and Disk Management

    Hi, when I got my X250, I got it with the intention of dual booting the system, with a Linux Distro (Probably Ubuntu in this case). However, when I took a look at the Disk Managment system (within Windows 8.1), it showed several partitions on the disk that are marked as 'Recovery Partitions, and they are placed at both the start and the end of the disk. What appears to be the boot partition and file system is somewhere in the middle, and so it makes it quite difficult to discern what I can do with these. Having checked back about 3 months after my first look, it appears that all the partitions apart from the boot ones are still 100% free (they have no data in them). Is Dual Booting still a viable option here, or will manipulating these partitions affect the performance? What should I look to do, because I still require Windows for the compatibilitiy, but I need to learn how to use Linux?

    Welcome to Apple Discussions!
    The GMA chip does have a weird things about it which may be causing a problem. Unless your physical RAM is high enough, it won't give you the full 64 MB of VRAM. Boot Camp may also have a bug which you should at least report to Apple's bootcamp AT apple.com e-mail address. There is also a Boot Camp forum here where you can find out just how much VRAM people are able to get out of the Boot Camp environment:
    http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=218

  • P45 NEO-3: Random freeze,boot and disk error

    Hello,
    Running windows 7 64 Ultimate
    3 different errors:
    1: "A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart"
    2: Random freeze when using the pc
    3: Can't find booting device or something
    it's random .. sometimes working 1 hour and problem .. sometimes (like now) no problems 20 hours+
    I have this PC over 1 year and the problem started 3 months ago.. I've bought new HDD Western Digital 1TB
    My specs:
    MB MSI P45 NEO3-FR S775
    DDR2 2x2GB 800 Kingston
    CPU Desktop Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83Ghz
    VGA PCX XFX 8600GT 250MB DDR3 DVI
    Fortron 400w Power supply
    DVD LG 20x GH20NS10 Sata
    Can someone help me with this?
    Is this a hardware or/and software problem?
    Thanks

    What is your current BIOS Version?
    Quote
    Fortron 400w Power supply
    What is the exact model name of that PSU? How many +12V lines does it have and what is the amperage limit on each of them? (Look at the sticker on the PSU).
    Quote
    DDR2 2x2GB 800 Kingston
    What is the exact model name/number? (There should be a sticker on the modules telling you that.)
    What is the brand & model name of your hard drive?  Go to the manufacturer's product site and look for a diagnostic utility for DOS.  Then use this tool to do a full check of your hard drive.
    what kind of hard drive are you using?
    Quote
    Running windows 7 64 Ultimate
    Are we looking at a "fresh" installation you put on for your current hardware configuration or is it an installation from an older system with different specifications?

  • Start up problem and Disk Repair failed...

    I recently did an update on firefox and an update on adobe flash. Right after I did those updates, I turned off my computer and couldn't restart!!!
    First time I tried to boot, I got to the apple icon with wheels around it. But it just set there like that for several minutes. So I forced it to shot down.
    After that, every time I tried to restart I came to a grey screen with a small folder appeared in the center and a flashing question mark...
    I then followed instructions in this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
    It failed to safe boot and disk repair.
    I received the following message while doing the disk repair:
    "First Aid failed. Disk Utility stopped repairing disk3 because the following error was encountered. The underlying task reported failure on exit."
    "Repairing disk for disk3
    checking HFS Plus Volume
    Catalog file entry not found for extent
    Volume check failed
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)
    Repair attempted on 1 volume
    0 HFS volumes repaired
    1 volume could not be repaired"
    Can this G5 still survive without changing a HD? Could you please help on this issue? Many many many many thanks!!!

    If it's just data corruption, erasing the drive will fix the issue. If it's a physical problem with the drive, then no; you will have to replace the drive.
    The next thing to try is starting up from your Mac OS X installation disc (for the currently installed system release); insert disc and restart while holding down the C key.
    When you get to the first Installer screen, go up to the menu bar and select to run Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. In the sidebar, select the internal drive; select the drive and not the volume indented under the drive. Go to the Erase tab. Name the volume +Macintosh HD+ and set the format type to +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+. Then erase, which will re-partition and reformat the drive. This will obviously erase any existing data on the drive.
    If the drive is physically OK, this process should complete in less than one minute. If it does, quit Disk Utility to go back to Installer. Run a standard installation on the blank drive.
    If the erase process errors out or stalls, you probably have a faulty hard drive.
    If the erase process completes successfully, but the subsequent Mac OS X installation stalls (or takes forever) or fails with error, please post back.

  • Lost admin username and password

    I recently was given this IMAC for free, by the school I work for. Unfortunatly, the person who was at the time the main administrator did not leave his username and password. (He recently quit and moved out of state). Thus I cannot open files, add software, ect. Can I start over from the begining? Any help would be gracefully accepted.
    Linda

    if you have the installation disks handy, you can put the first disk in, restart the machine, and hold down the C key.
    this will boot from the DVD/CD drive.
    once the install wizard has started, go to the utilities menu, and select password change.
    this will allow you to change the password for the admin user.
    you could also reinstall the os entirely by going through the installation wizard (this assumes you do not want to keep any information on the machine)

  • Disk password and user accounts

    I have a Macbook Pro (with Mavericks), and my disk is encrypted.
    When I power on my computer, I get these options:
    1. Log in with my profile/user account OR
    2. Enter the Disk Password
              followed by: log in with my profile/user account
    What I am confused about is this: How can I log into my account both with and without entering the Disk Password, and there doesn't seem to be any difference between the two? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but if my whole drive is encrypted (I only have one partition), shouldn't I be required to enter the Disk Password before I can log in with a user account?
    I created another account (non-admin) and made sure it doesn't have automatic access to the disk (in the FireVault settings). This account can also log in just fine before I enter the Disk Password, or after I enter it.
    Another weird thing that might be connected to this is that when I run the Disk Utility when my computer boots up (Cmd+R), it says my partition is encrypted + journaled, but when I run Disk Utility from within Mavericks, it says it's only journaled, NOT encrypted as well. The partition is named after my dog (I know...), so there's no confusion of the "disk1" "disk2" sort...
    Thanks in advance!!!

    Hey Melophage,
    thanks for your reply!
    I encrypted the disk under Mountain Lion, then decrypted, erased, and encrypted again under Mavericks.
    The reason for this is that I had some issues with super slow startup as well as the log in screen after sleep (the cursor in the password field would be blinking for 25-30 secs without responding to the keyboard, then the screen would go black, then come on again, and I would be able to log in…). I couldn’t identify any apps or processes that were responsible for these issues.
    When I upgraded to Mavericks, the issue went away for a week or so, then came back. So, I decrypted, erased the drive, encrypted, and now have the “double” login options.

  • Can't log in with valid password, can't boot from disk, can't access disk utility, in single user mode can't reset password as appears locked in caps mode with '?' for forward slash, can anyone help?

    Can't log in with valid password, can't boot from disk, can't access disk utility, in single user mode can't reset password as appears locked in caps mode with '?' for forward slash, can anyone help?

    Which keyboard layout you were using? German, French ... I suppose your layout is reset to the default: US and you are unable to find the "?" or "/" ...
    Please have a look into the keyboard viewer, to see how the layout of your keyboard is actually.
    marek

  • I forgot my admin id and password some =body can help me?thanks

    i forgot my admin id and password some =body can help me?thanks

    see this thread
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4940026?tstart=0
    Forgot Your Account Password
    For Lion/Mountain Lion
        Boot to the Recovery HD:
    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
         When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu.
         Enter resetpassword at the prompt and press RETURN. Follow
         instructions in the dialog window that will appear.
         Or see Reset a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Password and
         OS X Lion- Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.

  • Trying to start my IMac click on my admin icon and enter the correct password but then flashes to white screen and back to sign in, my desktop wont come on ... help!!!!

    Trying to start my IMac click on my admin icon and enter the correct password but then flashes to white screen and back to sign in, my desktop wont come on ... help!!!!

    Boot to the Recovery HD:
    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu. Enter resetpassword at the prompt and press RETURN. Follow instructions in the dialog window that will appear.
    Or see Reset a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Password and OS X Lion- Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.

  • Lost install disk and administrative password need help

    I have misplaced my install disks and the password for my computer and connot install undates.  Any suggestions.  Thanks

    Hi Christy, we'll have to fool the OS.
    Reset OS X Password Without an OS X CD...
    http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/22/reset-os-x-password-without-an-os-x-cd/
    Admin Hack...
    http://www.hackmac.org/?q=node/4
    Starts up like the first time you buy a new Mac, but after filling in all that info again, you should have access to the computer and the other Users & files will still be there... give the new User a different name than an existing one.

  • Can the Finger Print Reader be used for the Hard Disk Password at Power-On Boot Time on the W700?

    I own a W700 and I have enabled the Hard Disk password at boot time (I have 2 HDDs, so there are two password prompts).
    I always type in the passwords, but was wondering if the Finger Print Reader can be used instead?
    The Finger Print Reader works fine from Windows 7 logon onwards, but it would also be nice to use it at system boot time, after powering on.
    Please let me know if this is possible.
    Thanks!
    Solved!
    Go to Solution.

    Sorry I did not get back online quick enough...but the passwords are the same.
    For some reason, after my first cold boot, I was still prompted for the hard disk passwords.  I powered down again and when I powered back up, it signed me on all the way through.  So it was just a hiccup.
    All is good now and I'm very happy!
    Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Maybe you are looking for