SparkFun Forums

[AceCobra1]

Hi all,

I recently bought a damaged laptop off ebay to try and fix but when it booted... unexpectedly, it had a password on it! I have had this happened to me already a few times and this time, i decided to try to tackle the problem... I have very limited soldering knowledge but I had a read about the tutorials here on SMD soldering...

I am looking to replace the bios on the motherboard with a non-passworded one here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-VAIO-HP-Omnibo ... dZViewItem

I was just wondering, can u guys guide or advice me on what items I need to get?

As far as I'm guessing, all I need is the hot air, soldering gun and also solder wick right?

Would u guys recommend these items to get started:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 79519&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PROFESSIONAL-DIGI ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SOLDER-REMOVER-WI ... dZViewItem

I don't need it to be ultra cheap but something which isn't too expensive would be good

Also, any good books I can buy/ websites/ videos I can look at to learn some new stuff?

Are there any good books on learning how to diagnose motherboard faults?

Many thanks in advance

[AceCobra1]

In fact, this one has a solder and hot air combo for less than £200...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AOYUE-738-HOT-AIR ... dZViewItem

Is that any good?

I can buy the ones i listed seperately cheaper though

£40 for the hot air rework and £40 for the soldering gun...

Also, I just got told by someone on ebay that 'Aoyue' is a knockoff and it is not recommended to use them? What do u guys think ?

Thx
T

[motopic]

Just replace the MB.

Do more research, are you sure the PW is not held in a eeprom? I had this issue on a old laptop where the pw was held in a 256byte serial eeprom. Just airwired a flyover to a eeprom programmer and dumped the contents.

Toshibas usually have a reset dongle. Used to just wire up a parport connector.

Dunno what sony does, probably like ibm, a royal pain in the rump.

[AceCobra1]

Replacing the motherboard will cost as much as me buying all of these equipment so nah, that isn't really an 'option'...

The password will prob. be held in some sort of eeprom i think... that might be the part i need to replace...

Sonys have thier password held in a chip and therefore, no dongles will work...

Apparently the chip itself comes with instructions on where to mount it so should be good

Also, what do u guys think of the equipment i listed? Would u recommend it ?

[AceCobra1]

Anyone any ideas?

[emf]

Also, what do u guys think of the equipment i listed? Would u recommend it?

I think any of those ought to be fine. I've got one of the cheaper Aoyue hot air + soldering iron combos and it works great for me. I haven't had it very long, but it seems quite well built.

It should be pretty easy to do with a hot air gun. If you're willing to spend a little time practicing on old computer parts from your junk box, you can pull this off with run-of-the-mill soldering iron. If you haven't done a lot of soldering, hot air will be a lot less stressful.

[Philba]

that seems like an overly extreme way to solve the problem. There must be a way to reset the password. Like this has never happened before?

[AceCobra1]

Thanks for all your replies...

I actually have had a few laptops before with a password but those were the older ones... I know they can be solved by removing the bios battery OR reseting the jumper... but the newer ones are stored in a chip...

I was planning to invest anyway, so I wanted to make sure I get some good equipment before I try to desolder the chip...

It will just save me lots of money as replacing the motherboard is £125 ++ 2nd hand

Any ideas where I would be able to find good books on how to diagnose a faulty component on a laptop?

that seems like an overly extreme way to solve the problem. There must be a way to reset the password. Like this has never happened before?

[AceCobra1]

Hi,

Just wondering... what are the advantages of a all in one like a machine with a soldering gun and also the hot air

vs.

hot air and soldering gun purchased seperately ?

Thx

[jag28]

hey,

Ive run into this problem fixing laptops where people didnt know their password and for one reason or another the laptop locked itself up. Often a security feature tied to the network card itself that can be triggered to pw lock a stolen laptop. Anyhow the ones ive run into i beleive were dell and the password was stored on an eeprom chip with no way of resetting it in the traditional fashion as uve described. So unless im totaly missing something here... u can save the cash ur spending on tools and buy a paperclip like i did. Nothen wrong with the chip, so no reason to replace it. No need to interface with it either to reprogram it, at least not the ones ive had. Just jumper/short 2 pins and it erases it. I suspect this would be dependent on the chip which pins.. and possible if u can erase it by jumping.. but i see no reason why it wouldnt work on any. Search around for more details, i just had to power up and short the appropriate pins. Hardest parts finding the chip under all the junk in those things. Thats my 2 cents, dont overcomplicate it. Replaceing the chip works sure... but why do that if u have a working one that just needs erased. And if im mistaken in all of this... and u replace the chip, u dont need a hot air gun. Makes it easier sure, but if u dont do rework on a regular basis, its a bit pricey. I just use an iron and a solder sucker and never had any problems. Though im investing in a hot air in the next month because i need to place smd components with no pins(the underside kind).
Hope thats helpful.

[AceCobra1]

i am not sure where I would shot the chip... i think these passwords are stored in the chips