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Asus master hd password

Ok, one step closer to the solution. The bios battery has nothing to do with it. It is the hard drive. The password is stored on it.

In the picture, I circled it in red.

I took it out of the pc, rebooted, went into bios, to security, and the password options for it were removed...so I put the hard drive back in, booted up, and now it is back.

Is there any way to remove them now that we know where it is at?

http://www.millenniumcapitalcorp.com/harddrive.png
 
Well, there's one mystery solved. If the password is stored on the hard drive itself (which this is new to me) then I don't know how you could retrieve it unless you nuke the drive and rebuild it from scratch. Here's a possible solution. Perform this at your own risk because hot plugging devices MAY cause data loss or damage to the computer.

1. With the power off, remove the hard drive entirely from the computer.
2. Power on the laptop with no hard drive in it and enter into the BIOS setup.
3. The BIOS will read <none> (or something similar) in the area where the hard drive was previously listed. Select the field and there should be options for <none> <auto> <cdrom> <user type hdd> etc
4. Select <user type HDD> option and the "manual" options for the hard drive should appear. Don't change anything yet, but remain on that page.
5. Insert the hard drive into the computer.
6. As the hard drive powers up, the BIOS should determine the empty fields automatically. (Maybe)
7. Now choose the <auto> option for the hard drive.
8. Go to the SECURITY section where the hard drive password is. You should be able to enter a new password of your choice. Choose something and write it down.
9. Exit the BIOS. Save the changes and reboot the computer.
10. At the password prompt, enter the new password and it should work.


Run the BIOS again and remove the hard drive password entirely. (Optional)
 
decker, i have the hard drive out and now i am in bios....however, in the boot section, it doesnt have none of the options you mentioned. It just says hard drive where the name should be and the options are

Hard drive, removeable dev, atapi cd rom, and disabled....
 
in bios, in the security section, when the hard drive is in, it says it can be set or clearwd but doesnt say how to clear it. It also just says that power must be cycled to lock the disk.
 
GeorgeB said:
decker, i have the hard drive out and now i am in bios....however, in the boot section, it doesnt have none of the options you mentioned. It just says hard drive where the name should be and the options are

Hard drive, removeable dev, atapi cd rom, and disabled....
Click to expand...

Start the computer up with no hard drive. Put the option you mentioned above to "disabled".
Hook the hard drive up with the computer running. Then put the option to "Auto"

Then attempt to create a password at that time.

The idea is to trick the computer into overwriting the existing password with a new one.
 
i try that option but when i go to put that strip back over the hard drive it cuts the laptop off and reboots it, so i never get to any auto option
 
That was my last idea George. I don't know what else to suggest other than getting a new hard drive for it.
 
i found how to do the "auto" option you mentioned earlier. It was located in the "advanced" section of bios. However, still no good. When i put the drive back in, it didnt do nothing.

This is much harder than it should be im sure.
 
deeplist said:
I've been doing a little more research on this because I find it intriguing that a "password" can be stored on a hard drive like this and prevent it from being accessed. I guess you learn something new every day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#HDD_passwords_and_security

I guess you're ---- out of luck unless you send the drive off to a data recovery company or just junk it and get a new hard drive.
Click to expand...

This here
HDD passwords and security

The disk lock is a built-in security feature in the disk. It is part of the ATA specification, and thus not specific to any brand or device. The disk lock can be enabled and disabled by sending special ATA commands to the drive. If a disk is locked, it will refuse all access until it is unlocked.

A disk always has two passwords: A User password and a Master password. Most disks support a Master Password Revision Code. Reportedly some disks can report if the Master password has been changed, or if it still the factory default. The revision code is word 92 in the IDENTIFY response. Reportedly on some disks a value of 0xFFFE means the Master password is unchanged. The standard does not distinguish this value.

A disk can be locked in two modes: High security mode or Maximum security mode. Bit 8 in word 128 of the IDENTIFY response shows which mode the disk is in: 0 = High, 1 = Maximum.

In High security mode, the disk can be unlocked with either the User or Master password, using the "SECURITY UNLOCK DEVICE" ATA command. There is an attempt limit, normally set to 5, after which the disk must be power cycled or hard-reset before unlocking can be attempted again. Also in High security mode the SECURITY ERASE UNIT command can be used with either the User or Master password.

In Maximum security mode, the disk cannot be unlocked without the User password — the only way to get the disk back to a usable state is to issue the SECURITY ERASE PREPARE command, immediately followed by SECURITY ERASE UNIT. In Maximum security mode the SECURITY ERASE UNIT command requires the Master password and will completely erase all data on the disk. The operation is slow, it may take longer than half an hour or more, depending on the size of the disk. (Word 89 in the IDENTIFY response indicates how long the operation will take.) [22]

While the ATA disk lock is intended to be impossible to defeat without a valid password, there are workarounds to unlock a drive. Many data recovery companies offer unlocking services,[23] so while the disk lock will deter a casual attacker, it is not secure against a qualified adversary.
Click to expand...
pretty much describes the issue I am having.

According to it, there is a way to disable it, but I don't fully understand the process.
 
This is the part I am referring to, that describes how to get rid of it, but I don't understand what it is saying to do.

In Maximum security mode, the disk cannot be unlocked without the User password — the only way to get the disk back to a usable state is to issue the SECURITY ERASE PREPARE command, immediately followed by SECURITY ERASE UNIT. In Maximum security mode the SECURITY ERASE UNIT command requires the Master password and will completely erase all data on the disk. The operation is slow, it may take longer than half an hour or more, depending on the size of the disk. (Word 89 in the IDENTIFY response indicates how long the operation will take.) [22]
Click to expand...
 
GeorgeB said:
This is the part I am referring to, that describes how to get rid of it, but I don't understand what it is saying to do.
Click to expand...

I don't fully understand that process either, but I am guessing it's something that you'll need some kind of unlock software to do, or it can only be performed by a hardware expert.
 
deeplist said:
I don't fully understand that process either, but I am guessing it's something that you'll need some kind of unlock software to do, or it can only be performed by a hardware expert.
Click to expand...

I've contacted them, and to no avail. I've reset hard-drives that had passwords on them, but none like this. I have the master reset system, but I don't think it'll help in your case.
 
Schmarvin said:
I've contacted them, and to no avail. I've reset hard-drives that had passwords on them, but none like this. I have the master reset system, but I don't think it'll help in your case.
Click to expand...

How do you reset a hard drive with a password on it?
 
Deeplist:

You will never guess what happened...just my luck too. One of the times I was putting the hard drive back in the laptop, I lifted up the keyboard so I could see, and don't know what happened, but I noticed a very small amount of smoke. Nothing looks burnt, there was no flames, but just a tiny amount of smoke. Whatever it was, killed the motherboard or power one, because no more turning on. Guess, I will be cutting my losses all together and just buy a new one.
 
Something must have shorted out. Maybe a small piece of metal, or a screw laying in there. In all honesty, I'd just put the laptop on eBay. Say it's in non working condition to be used for parts or repair only. After fees, you'd probably get about $40 for it. That would be the best route for this one. Cut your losses and move on. Sorry to hear it didn't work out.
 
deeplist said:
Something must have shorted out. Maybe a small piece of metal, or a screw laying in there. In all honesty, I'd just put the laptop on eBay. Say it's in non working condition to be used for parts or repair only. After fees, you'd probably get about $40 for it. That would be the best route for this one. Cut your losses and move on. Sorry to hear it didn't work out.
Click to expand...

I am not real sure. When I stick the power supply in, you can hear what sounds like the fan trying to turn on or something, but the laptop does not power on.

Yeah, cutting my losses sounds about right.
 
If you saw smoke roll out of it, I wouldn't mess with it anymore. Just sell it for scrap/parts. Somebody will pay about $40 or so for the usable parts like the LCD and plastic bezels.
 
If your talking about BIOS password, you can set it in the BIOS, there is an option in the BIOS menu (maybe SECRUTy), so you jusy select it an set the passeord. But i don't think this could help too much on what you was requesting.
 
rolandkeys said:
If your talking about BIOS password, you can set it in the BIOS, there is an option in the BIOS menu (maybe SECRUTy), so you jusy select it an set the passeord. But i don't think this could help too much on what you was requesting.
Click to expand...

FAIL. If you actually read through the entire thread, that was already discussed with him in depth and it wasn't the case here.
 
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