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Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 8:33:49 AM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		Gateway laptop, model MG1 w/Vista. Arrived last year and didn't get opened for a while because of death in the family and I moved, but it never worked right. It was a refurb and is well out of warranty.

About half the time on bootup it would just shut down. When it did boot up to windows the onboard webcam did not work. I should've just disabled it in software, but I decided to go to CMOS and really shut it off. Well after a trip there, not finding an option for it, now on start it wants the primary HD user password. I contacted the refurb co and they said they do not install a password so it should be blamk, and they don't ship it if it has one. Also apparently my money expired (probably almost true LOL).

I tried all the usual words, as well as blank of course and after so many tries it locks you out totally. Of course I know how to find the CMOS battery and that went away, but it still wants that HD user password. The refurb co is of no help as far as any backdoor way in to reset it or anything of the type. I informed their rep that Gatweway is now spelled M-U-D politely and that is over.

I went to the gateway support website and it would not recognize the serial number. Then there is an answers.com or something and I asked my question there. I got a response, but if satisfied they want $38. Right now my credit is in the toilet until sometime next year so that was out. I'll do things that are not so nice but I didn't want to screw the guy and I have no way to pay right now, unless I send a money order.

But he said it sounds like he had an answer. At this point in time I have no choice but to ask for a freebie and was wondering if anyone has any idea how to deal with this.

If there is no solution, it happens that I bought four of these identical models and one got a broken screen during a wild party so I was considering changing the motherboard. The broken one does run with an external monitor. However if the problem with this one is indeed a hardware failure, the webcan is built into the display housing, which will bring the problem with it. I've already tried swapping harddrives and the problem did not follow the harddrive, so I am only getting back where I started. Just don't press F10 this time :-). Surely there should be a way to disable the camera in windows. The problem now is that I blew my chance to even do that.

I see no visible way to get the display part of it apart. there may be a way, but can it be done non-destructively ? If so I could get one running completely and have a spare harddrive.

Right now for my investment of two grand, one got stolen, one is broken and one is locked, leaving me one working and I use it strictly for business. When that top opens I am armed and dangerous because what is on there is just too valuable. but maybe I could drop the spare drive in there and have more space. To my surprise there are two bays.

That would be three for four, except for one stolen. I could live with that. Any advice/ideas ? I'm just not sure which way to go. Then there is this guy on the east side who claims he can unlock any PC, should I let him take a crack at it or is there something I missed ? He charges $75 I think.

T
Profile   Post #: 1
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 8:54:05 AM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline 		you got an xp disk or 7 disk, just reformat 

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Profile   Post #: 2
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 9:01:20 AM   
Missokyst


Posts: 6041
Joined: 9/9/2006
Status: offline 		I use a password recovery disk, though I do not recall the location I downloaded it.  But this might help:
http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-a-Windows-XP-or-Vista-Password

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Profile   Post #: 3
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 9:31:01 AM   
Outlier2


Posts: 258
Joined: 11/12/2007
Status: offline 		Term,

I got my friend out of a situation like that by using a linux program
that booted and ran from the CD.  I suggest you listen to Missokyst
who has always given excellent advice in the past.  If her suggestion
does not pan out for you then you could start to search here.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

or here

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

Good luck

< Message edited by Outlier2 -- 9/27/2010 9:39:57 AM >

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Profile   Post #: 4
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 10:06:19 AM   
hertz


Posts: 1315
Joined: 8/7/2010
Status: offline 		Primary HD user password - I think you might be screwed. These are used specifically to stop someone from reading information from a laptop HDD by swapping or slaving it into another PC. I don't know of any way to get shot of it. Most people who say they have the answer will assume you mean the CMOS password or the Windoze password, both of which would be a breeze to get past for $75....

You might have to invest in a new HDD or two.



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Profile   Post #: 5
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 10:07:38 AM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline 		that linux prog will work though..........

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Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two? Judges 5:30


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Profile   Post #: 6
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 12:46:09 PM   
Missokyst


Posts: 6041
Joined: 9/9/2006
Status: offline 		Regarding the serial number... if you can get beyond the password flub, you can get the machine registered through gateway (emachines) by visiting their website and putting in your information, and using the current serial number.  From there they assign you their own.  Be sure to write that one down somewhere.  In fact, if you have another computer to work from now you can register the vista yourself.  If the old owner never registered the computer, it will never have been logged onto the OM web.
I have gotten many a free disk set because the original owner never registered, AND the computer was still within the shelf life of the retailerer.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

I went to the gateway support website and it would not recognize the serial number.

(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 3:01:24 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		Hmmmm. I thought it was a BIOS password to the HDD, but I could be wrong. I wonder if I can dig up another laptop HDD around here just to find out. I assumed it had something to do with BIOS because it is black screen/white letters, but that could be wrong since winblows isn't running yet.

I don't think I'll be able to reformat like this, and I wonder if even a windows 7 disk would work.

Strange thing is, I can actually get into the BIOS, so I can set the boot menu to boot from CD. Therefore a recovery disk might work. I'll have to check out that site. Those sites actually.

Actually now that I called my sinister and she copped an attitude, swapping parts might not be in the cards. She broke her's, not me. Right now I am out to make money, so I don't know exactly what I am going to do. I do know it's worth more working. If I just use it to fix her's I make nothing. The whole debacle is one big loss anyway. One stolen, one broken and one won't work. Yay Termy, set a record.

I don't think I'll ever buy a ready made computer again.

Now I do have a couple of Linux CDs around, I'll have to see if I can find them. After the move I know right where they are - in one of the hundreds of boxes in the basement. To put that in perspective, the needle in a haystack is a piece of cake, all one needs is a powerful magnet. This might take some - uugh - effort.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to keep you "posted".

T

(in reply to Missokyst)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 3:48:59 PM   
Lucylastic


Posts: 40310
Status: offline 		what make is the HD? Id try there next
westerndigital helped me out many moons ago when I accidentaly put on a password

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(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 9
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2010 9:53:25 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		Hmm. I guess I could take the cover off again and see. It's at least worth a toll free call. But still, why didn't it need one before ?

T

(in reply to Lucylastic)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 10/3/2010 12:44:34 PM   
Acer49


Posts: 1434
Joined: 8/7/2009
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

Gateway laptop, model MG1 w/Vista. Arrived last year and didn't get opened for a while because of death in the family and I moved, but it never worked right. It was a refurb and is well out of warranty.

About half the time on bootup it would just shut down. When it did boot up to windows the onboard webcam did not work. I should've just disabled it in software, but I decided to go to CMOS and really shut it off. Well after a trip there, not finding an option for it, now on start it wants the primary HD user password. I contacted the refurb co and they said they do not install a password so it should be blamk, and they don't ship it if it has one. Also apparently my money expired (probably almost true LOL).

I tried all the usual words, as well as blank of course and after so many tries it locks you out totally. Of course I know how to find the CMOS battery and that went away, but it still wants that HD user password. The refurb co is of no help as far as any backdoor way in to reset it or anything of the type. I informed their rep that Gatweway is now spelled M-U-D politely and that is over.

I went to the gateway support website and it would not recognize the serial number. Then there is an answers.com or something and I asked my question there. I got a response, but if satisfied they want $38. Right now my credit is in the toilet until sometime next year so that was out. I'll do things that are not so nice but I didn't want to screw the guy and I have no way to pay right now, unless I send a money order.

But he said it sounds like he had an answer. At this point in time I have no choice but to ask for a freebie and was wondering if anyone has any idea how to deal with this.

If there is no solution, it happens that I bought four of these identical models and one got a broken screen during a wild party so I was considering changing the motherboard. The broken one does run with an external monitor. However if the problem with this one is indeed a hardware failure, the webcan is built into the display housing, which will bring the problem with it. I've already tried swapping harddrives and the problem did not follow the harddrive, so I am only getting back where I started. Just don't press F10 this time :-). Surely there should be a way to disable the camera in windows. The problem now is that I blew my chance to even do that.

I see no visible way to get the display part of it apart. there may be a way, but can it be done non-destructively ? If so I could get one running completely and have a spare harddrive.

Right now for my investment of two grand, one got stolen, one is broken and one is locked, leaving me one working and I use it strictly for business. When that top opens I am armed and dangerous because what is on there is just too valuable. but maybe I could drop the spare drive in there and have more space. To my surprise there are two bays.

That would be three for four, except for one stolen. I could live with that. Any advice/ideas ? I'm just not sure which way to go. Then there is this guy on the east side who claims he can unlock any PC, should I let him take a crack at it or is there something I missed ? He charges $75 I think.

T

the lcd is connected to the laptop with usually two hinges which have a couple of screws. the hinges will have covers over them that need to be removed. there is also cabling that plugs into the laptop. there is usually a plastic cover located above the function keys that is removable with a small flat head screw driver.pay attention to how the cabling is run and make sure you don't crimp any of the wiring


< Message edited by Acer49 -- 10/3/2010 12:46:41 PM >

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(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 10/3/2010 12:59:21 PM   
SL4V3M4YB3


Posts: 3506
Joined: 12/20/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		.

< Message edited by SL4V3M4YB3 -- 10/3/2010 1:07:23 PM >

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(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 12
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 10/3/2010 1:57:39 PM   
hertz


Posts: 1315
Joined: 8/7/2010
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

Hmmmm. I thought it was a BIOS password to the HDD, but I could be wrong. I wonder if I can dig up another laptop HDD around here just to find out. I assumed it had something to do with BIOS because it is black screen/white letters, but that could be wrong since winblows isn't running yet.



There's some information about HDD/BIOS passwords here, as well as a list of standard passwords you might be able to try.

As I understand it, the HDD has a firmware password which it requires before access to its data is possible. The HDD password will have been held on the CMOS chip, which in turn would be protected by the BIOS password. The BIOS provides the password to the HDD on boot, and it sounds as if this is where things have gone awry.

(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 13
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 10/4/2010 10:21:48 AM   
nzxtsword


Posts: 4
Joined: 9/26/2010
Status: offline 		Gateway laptop, model MG1 w/Vista. Arrived last year and didn't get opened for a while because of death in the family and I moved, but it never worked right. It was a refurb and is well out of warranty.

--
I Would run Memory testing on the ram with memtest.
I would run CTRL if you can download that from a torrent its futureshops full pc diagnostics utility.
I would run the hard drive manufactor diagnostics test, you can run this from a hirens boot cd.

----


About half the time on bootup it would just shut down. When it did boot up to windows the onboard webcam did not work. I should've just disabled it in software, but I decided to go to CMOS and really shut it off. Well after a trip there, not finding an option for it, now on start it wants the primary HD user password. I contacted the refurb co and they said they do not install a password so it should be blamk, and they don't ship it if it has one. Also apparently my money expired (probably almost true LOL).

----
Ignore software issues for a second, as if you have bad ram or a dying hard drive, any software on this computer will go to shit.

Run Memory and hard drive diagnostics as stated above, then try to re-install windows.

-----

I tried all the usual words, as well as blank of course and after so many tries it locks you out totally. Of course I know how to find the CMOS battery and that went away, but it still wants that HD user password. The refurb co is of no help as far as any backdoor way in to reset it or anything of the type. I informed their rep that Gatweway is now spelled M-U-D politely and that is over.

--
The hard drive has been locked, dell has this feature for people preventing on booting off the physical hard drive.  In some cases you can reflash the firmware of the hard drive to remove this passcode.  Other times its in the bios of the laptop.

--

I went to the gateway support website and it would not recognize the serial number. Then there is an answers.com or something and I asked my question there. I got a response, but if satisfied they want $38. Right now my credit is in the toilet until sometime next year so that was out. I'll do things that are not so nice but I didn't want to screw the guy and I have no way to pay right now, unless I send a money order.

But he said it sounds like he had an answer. At this point in time I have no choice but to ask for a freebie and was wondering if anyone has any idea how to deal with this.

If there is no solution, it happens that I bought four of these identical models and one got a broken screen during a wild party so I was considering changing the motherboard. The broken one does run with an external monitor. However if the problem with this one is indeed a hardware failure, the webcan is built into the display housing, which will bring the problem with it. I've already tried swapping harddrives and the problem did not follow the harddrive, so I am only getting back where I started. Just don't press F10 this time :-). Surely there should be a way to disable the camera in windows. The problem now is that I blew my chance to even do that.

I see no visible way to get the display part of it apart. there may be a way, but can it be done non-destructively ? If so I could get one running completely and have a spare harddrive.

Right now for my investment of two grand, one got stolen, one is broken and one is locked, leaving me one working and I use it strictly for business. When that top opens I am armed and dangerous because what is on there is just too valuable. but maybe I could drop the spare drive in there and have more space. To my surprise there are two bays.

That would be three for four, except for one stolen. I could live with that. Any advice/ideas ? I'm just not sure which way to go. Then there is this guy on the east side who claims he can unlock any PC, should I let him take a crack at it or is there something I missed ? He charges $75 I think.

---
Crack what though specifically on the pc?  As sometimes its not worth the effort depends on what needs cracking.

Msg me if you want to.

(in reply to hertz)
Profile   Post #: 14
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2011 6:55:12 PM   
yans0056


Posts: 1
Joined: 9/27/2011
Status: offline 		If you don't have a rescue disk only way is to re-install.Except if there is another user ,using your Laptop so you can use his/her password ,and then after log-in create a new account for you.Ofcource there are some recovery tools see a list here:http://www.windowsloginrecovery.com/windows-vista-password-recovery.html
http://www.windowsloginrecovery.com/windows-7-password-recovery.htmlTry them but if they don't work then you need a CLEAN INSTALL of windows

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Profile   Post #: 15
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2011 7:59:48 PM   
HeatherMcLeather


Posts: 2559
Joined: 5/21/2011
From: The dog house
Status: offline 		Try ALT + F10 during POST <whatever that means>.

(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 16
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2011 8:19:45 PM   
MasterG2kTR


Posts: 6677
Joined: 8/7/2004
From: Wisconsin
Status: offline 		dump the Vista it's just another bastard child like ME was

V ery
I diotic
S hit
T ried
A gain

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Profile   Post #: 17
RE: Expert PC help onboard ? a tough one - 9/27/2011 10:27:02 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		Sorry yans, but I bit their dick off. I DO NOT ASK FOR PC HELP IN THIS FORUM because of people's attitudes. 

Sorry to waste your time but in the future, look at the DATE of the post. It will save you wasted time.

T^T

< Message edited by Termyn8or -- 9/27/2011 10:34:32 PM >

(in reply to yans0056)
Profile   Post #: 18
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