CompuSec help?

[Jonno]

We have some very clever people in here so i might as well ask if they can help.

I have done a really stupid thing on my Laptop, I was setting up the full CompuSec free edition program and mixed up/forgotten the user Id and Password for the boot screen, what’s more the emergency diskette I made wont read

Thus rendering the hard disk drive and/or the laptop un-bootable and the hdd inaccessible etc.
I can't even boot to another remote drive/partition from what I can make out, I may have to get another Hdd and set up an OS to try and recover this drive somehow.

I have a sinking feeling i just ruined a Hdd, I have contacted the software co' but at this time of year I don't expect a reply for some time.

I have a ghost backup of the o/s drive so all is not lost.

How can I work around this please?

[hammer]

Sounds like you need home insurance and a thunder storm to fix that one mate

[Jonno]

lol, bring on the lightning.

[hidepenny]

u gota contact the ppl who creates the software,but do u know there's an admin account in compusec? have u created any accounts in there?

and also there's a temp user account that u can use too, but i'm not 100% sure the way u set it up

[Jonno]

u gota contact the ppl who creates the software,but do u know there's an admin account in compusec? have u created any accounts in there?

and also there's a temp user account that u can use too, but i'm not 100% sure the way u set it up

email sent, have nfi about it as I was not really concentrating (let this be a warning to others) I have tried doing everything on the website support but I may be missing something bleedingly obvious, think, think pleaseee!

Worst case scenario is another hdd to boot too, get some data recovery software to scan the effected hdd. Not really an issue as I ghosted it previously, this a near new pc all the important data is on a removable hdd. I don't even know if I can zero write the drive being locked and all?

Thanks

[Sulli]

The login must have been written to BIOS as it is pre boot have you tried clearing it

[Jonno]

The login must have been written to BIOS as it is pre boot have you tried clearing it

Like a complete reflash of cmos?

oh could it be like doing the supervisor password setup for bios then?

[hidepenny]

oh could it be like doing the supervisor password setup for bios then?

if it's bios locked then it's more troublesome, if not just use a normal Windows installation disk to format and re-install windows, if it's bios locked then it'd be on the motherboard and being a laptop is hard to get to it's battery which powers the memory to save the password, u must remove the whole casing and find and remove the battery in order to reset the BIOS

[Barrabob]

just go into the bios and pull out the battery or move the jumper to clear and its all new again the bios that is it will clear the passwords.

You should be able to overwrite it with ghost or fdisk the sucker just download a winows 98 bootdisk.

HAHA reminds me of a pretty ordinary scifi i watched once where the kids had the job of unlocking the professors full encrypted laptop they played passwords for 3 minutes then took to it with a big hammer and a screwdriver and pulled the harddrive out all fixed in 5 minutes.

If its under warranty i wouldnt be pulling screws out of it to get to the motherboard but look for a reset button underneath it.

[Sulli]

no its a disconnect of all power to the M/B which resets back to default settings
it includes removing the small battery on the M/B for check manufacturers spec for doing it
you can then access cd/dvd drive to boot but as the hd is now locked and encrypted will probably have to wipe if at all possible
hope this helps

[Jonno]

no its a disconnect of all power to the M/B which resets back to default settings
it includes removing the small battery on the M/B for check manufacturers spec for doing it
you can then access cd/dvd drive to boot but as the hd is now locked and encrypted will probably have to wipe if at all possible
hope this helps

Thanks Sulli, food for thought, never had a laptop apart before for the cmos battery, do not even know where to look, done it hundreds of times with pc towers in my overclocking years.

Will have a gentle examination (this wont hurt a bit), I like your thinking

[Jonno]

just go into the bios and pull out the battery or move the jumper to clear and its all new again the bios that is it will clear the passwords.

You should be able to overwrite it with ghost or fdisk the sucker just download a winows 98 bootdisk.

HAHA reminds me of a pretty ordinary scifi i watched once where the kids had the job of unlocking the professors full encrypted laptop they played passwords for 3 minutes then took to it with a big hammer and a screwdriver and pulled the harddrive out all fixed in 5 minutes.

If its under warranty i wouldnt be pulling screws out of it to get to the motherboard but look for a reset button underneath it.

It is a lappy, I have never really opened one up other than the hhd-cpu-ram covers for upgrades, will go and try and get some manuals for it but I am not sure you can for lappys as they are all oem kinda thing?

I removed windas home and put xppro on as I am a tweaker.Aslo instaling this kind of software I do not think constitutes a warranty claim IMO but I could be wrong.

If I was going down that path Hammers suggestion seems a good idea

[Jonno]

oh could it be like doing the supervisor password setup for bios then?

if it's bios locked then it's more troublesome, if not just use a normal Windows installation disk to format and re-install windows, if it's bios locked then it'd be on the motherboard and being a laptop is hard to get to it's battery which powers the memory to save the password, u must remove the whole casing and find and remove the battery in order to reset the BIOS

Sorry Bob, i didnt se this post until now,

Hidepenny this what I was concerned about, I was hoping it was hdd, but as you say it is just after the bios boot screen so yeah!!

Fun fun fun

i have got myself into some doozies before with puters but this one takes the cake for supreme stuff ups

[hidepenny]

Hidepenny this what I was concerned about, I was hoping it was hdd, but as you say it is just after the bios boot screen so yeah!!

Fun fun fun

i have got myself into some doozies before with puters but this one takes the cake for supreme stuff ups

i think i now fully understand your situation, at work we have implemented such software to protect data from laptops being stolen.

the software works as after the bios it prompts you for username and password and may be this software u have has single sign on feature that u only have to login once and it remembers ur windows username and password and logs u in from there

if this is the case then it's a simple fix , just boot from a windows xp cd and start the rebuild process.


the main purpose for the compusec software is it encrypts data on ur harddrive so nobody can gain access to it even tho they take the hdd out and connect it else where and has nothing to do with bios i believe.

however to crack the username and password and gain access back to the hdd, u might need to google search it , because we give users usernames and passwords and we have an admin login so forgotten username and password can never happened

[Jonno]

Hidepenny this what I was concerned about, I was hoping it was hdd, but as you say it is just after the bios boot screen so yeah!!

Fun fun fun

i have got myself into some doozies before with puters but this one takes the cake for supreme stuff ups

i think i now fully understand your situation, at work we have implemented such software to protect data from laptops being stolen.

the software works as after the bios it prompts you for username and password and may be this software u have has single sign on feature that u only have to login once and it remembers ur windows username and password and logs u in from there

if this is the case then it's a simple fix , just boot from a windows xp cd and start the rebuild process.


the main purpose for the compusec software is it encrypts data on ur harddrive so nobody can gain access to it even tho they take the hdd out and connect it else where and has nothing to do with bios i believe.

however to crack the username and password and gain access back to the hdd, u might need to google search it , because we give users usernames and passwords and we have an admin login so forgotten username and password can never happened

Ah cool, I hope you are right. To tired and in some considerable pain at prsent to be bothered tonight. Will give it a go in the am ok, thanks so much for everyones input so far. Brilliant!!!

Will post back what happens.

Last thing, I could boot from my ghosting cd (drive image7) and do the same thing with an external drive, the software allows for network and loacal externals.???