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Hitachi drive needs password on laptop but not desktop?
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Hitachi drive needs password on laptop but not desktop? postman 11-14-2005
Posted by postman on November 14, 2005, 12:42 pm
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 Hello,

A friend of mine gave me a Hitachi 2.5'' hard drive (DK23CA-20) when he
replaced the hard drive on his Compaq laptop. I tried putting it in my
old Latitude CPi-R laptop, but it asked me for a password. My friend
doesn't remember setting a password on it, and it seems to work fine on
his without asking for one.

Even more strangely, I plugged it into my desktop and it worked fine
without asking for a password (although I didn't use it as the boot
drive). I then ran a program called ATA Password Tool that I found at
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/, and that couldn't find a password
either (I tried clearing it anyway, just in case). However, when I put
it back in the Latitude it still asks for a password.

Is there something wrong with my Latitude? Has anyone else seen this?

Thanks,

Hajo



Posted by Andrew on November 14, 2005, 9:45 pm
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 postman@spuunup.org wrote:
: Hello,

: A friend of mine gave me a Hitachi 2.5'' hard drive (DK23CA-20) when he
: replaced the hard drive on his Compaq laptop. I tried putting it in my
: old Latitude CPi-R laptop, but it asked me for a password. My friend
: doesn't remember setting a password on it, and it seems to work fine on
: his without asking for one.

Can you be more specific? WHERE exactly does it ask for a Password?
During boot (from the BIOS)? Or in Windows?

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
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----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
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Posted by postman on November 14, 2005, 3:01 pm
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It looks like it's part of the BIOS. When I start up the laptop it goes
through the usual BIOS POST stuff, then the screen goes white and says
"DELL Computers" and asks for the hard drive password. It's definitely
not part of Windows. After three attempts at entering the password it
then tells me that there is no primary hard drive present and the
machine stops.

However, when I put back the hard drive that came with my Latitude, it
doesn't ask for a password and it does boot into Windows. So there's
definitely something about the Hitachi drive, yet it does work in my
desktop.



Posted by tc on November 15, 2005, 1:16 am
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Check that the 2 hds are strapped the same. The Hitachi might be strapped as
'Master' while the Dell could be 'Cable Select'.
Terry

> It looks like it's part of the BIOS. When I start up the laptop it goes
> through the usual BIOS POST stuff, then the screen goes white and says
> "DELL Computers" and asks for the hard drive password. It's definitely
> not part of Windows. After three attempts at entering the password it
> then tells me that there is no primary hard drive present and the
> machine stops.
>
> However, when I put back the hard drive that came with my Latitude, it
> doesn't ask for a password and it does boot into Windows. So there's
> definitely something about the Hitachi drive, yet it does work in my
> desktop.
>
>





Posted by Andrew on November 15, 2005, 1:46 am
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postman@spuunup.org wrote:
: It looks like it's part of the BIOS. When I start up the laptop it goes
: through the usual BIOS POST stuff, then the screen goes white and says
: "DELL Computers" and asks for the hard drive password. It's definitely
: not part of Windows. After three attempts at entering the password it
: then tells me that there is no primary hard drive present and the
: machine stops.

: However, when I put back the hard drive that came with my Latitude, it
: doesn't ask for a password and it does boot into Windows. So there's
: definitely something about the Hitachi drive, yet it does work in my
: desktop.

Besides tc's good suggestion about the jumper on the drive - can you
go into the BIOS and look for any settings there that have to do with
drive passwords, BIOS passwords, etc.?

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
*******************************************************************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
*******************************************************************



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