Virus caused ATA Password lock? Help!

[OnSiteSolutions]

Hello Forum. A customer dropped off an Acer laptop that he claimed had a virus. I wasn't at the shop at the time so I didn't get to start it up with him present. Customer described a fake-antivirus type of infection that he claimed he had deleted, however the result for the XP machine was a logon logoff loop. I said no problem we'll fix it right up. Well, no so simple...

When I first booted the machine, I was met with a bios level password, so I called the customer. He said he had never had any type of password on the machine, but told me the password he uses for everything. Well, password didn't work, but I was able to remove the cmos battery and clear this password.

So after successful bios, another problem, ATA password is set. Computer will not go past bios unless correct ATA password "Enter HDD Password" is entered. Oh No!

I am in a bind since the computer wasn't asking for this password last time the customer used it, and it sems through searching there is no way around the ATA lock. Acer is no help, says they can only fix it if I send it in.
Also, there are services that claim they can unlock the HDD, however such services are expensive.

I found information stating the password might be SEAGATE, or Seagate+25 spaces, etc, and none of this works. I believe the HDD is irrepairably locked.

I have to assume that the infection somehow locked up the system, both bios and HDD, however I can find no other reports of such.

Additionally, the drive is not accessible from another PC, since the drive lock is in the drive firmware.

If anyone has ever had a similar event, or has any suggestions on how to deal with the customer, what to tell him, or what to do about the HD lock, I am all ears. I have never had anything like this happen, and the only way I can fix it will cost more than the PC is worth (new hdd+ new os).

Lastly, the customer is a friend and associate, and I 100% believe it was not asking for a password before I got the PC. Just my bad luck today.

 

[iisjman07]

I've never heard of this happening, but literally, *whenever* I see a computer that has a BIOS password the customer claims they never put it on

 

[MrUnknown]

I will say the same, computers don't put passwords on everything on their own.

That being said, these people claim to be able to do it over the internet for $50
http://www.hdd-tools.com/products/rrs/licenses/

 

[XFalloutX]

Every time I get a laptop with a BIOS password and the person claims they didn't put it on there is usually looks like a shady person that would have stolen the laptop.

 

[georgenoise]

I've had the issue before from a client that I knew the laptop was his because I bought it for him. I'm not sure what the cause was but after I changed his DVD drive it started asking me for the ATA password for the HD. I searched high and low and never found a workaround. The only 2 options I found were to send it to the manufacturer or replace the hard drive. The client had nothing of importance on his HD so we just replaced it with a new one. As to what caused it to start asking for the password I will never know, all I do know is it stinks. It was a Toshiba Qosmio if I remember correctly.
If you do find a solution that works please let us know as I'm sure we could all benefit from it at some point in the future.

 

[OnSiteSolutions]

I've had the issue before from a client that I knew the laptop was his because I bought it for him. I'm not sure what the cause was but after I changed his DVD drive it started asking me for the ATA password for the HD. I searched high and low and never found a workaround. The only 2 options I found were to send it to the manufacturer or replace the hard drive. The client had nothing of importance on his HD so we just replaced it with a new one. As to what caused it to start asking for the password I will never know, all I do know is it stinks. It was a Toshiba Qosmio if I remember correctly.
If you do find a solution that works please let us know as I'm sure we could all benefit from it at some point in the future.

Thanks, I know this laptop isn't stolen as other have suggested. I stated in my first post the customer is a friend, and I remember when he bought the computer. I also know, contrary to others posts, that he did not set a password.

I found a guy in a hard drive forum who was able to generate and unlock code based on the system hash code. The unlock code WORKED, and all data is intact.

The PC was infected with Antivirus2010.

 

[georgenoise]

What forum was it for reference?

 

[dbdawn]

Thanks, I know this laptop isn't stolen as other have suggested. I stated in my first post the customer is a friend, and I remember when he bought the computer. I also know, contrary to others posts, that he did not set a password.

I found a guy in a hard drive forum who was able to generate and unlock code based on the system hash code. The unlock code WORKED, and all data is intact.

The PC was infected with Antivirus2010.

Wow that is interesting, never heard of this happening before. Thanks for sharing. What forum was it?

 

[OnSiteSolutions]

The forum was http://forum.hddguru.com/ and there I found a reference to http://www.acersnoop.co.cc/ where Rahim Daud was able to generate the password for 10$ paypal.

 

[hondablaster]

Wow!

Yeah we had an Acer Laptop, one of the student brought it in and it had the very same HDD lock! He didn't not know how it got on but I do remember he reset the bios before it all happend! Acer offered to remove it for a substantial sum of money.

Good Post! Wish I saw this before my friend got rid of the laptop. I think Acer has a glitch in the bios that they are using to nickel and dime end users.

 

[B Trevathan]

I have been able to find or bypass most types of passwords but from what I have read about this hard disk password problem is right now it is basically impossible to fix unless you pay someone a lot to find it for you, AFF Repair Station from hhdunlock.com wants 49.95 for 1 recovery, if you use their regular program and not the repair station it will erase your data. It is hard to believe that someone is doing it for only 10.00 why aren't they charging more.

Most computer manufacturers won't help you because they will think you stole the computer and you will have to prove ownership of the computer. So beware if you buy a used computer and the hard drive locks on you and you want the manufacturers help you will have to have the ownership transfer to you from the person you bought it from

From what I've found out so far about the hdd password is it can't be reset by clearing the CMOS by using the jumpers or removing the battery or by jumping the pins on the 24C02 chip on the motherboard or by updating the BIOS. If you salve the drive it will still be locked, you can't access it with a boot or recovery CD and you can't format the drive. The drive has to be in the computer that it was lock in for it to be unlocked.

Most laptops now and some newer desktops have the ability to set a hard drive password. The password is stored in the drives firmware. The password may or may not be encrypted in the firmware. Now I am wondering if you use one of the programs that reads the drives firmware can you see the password and also I was wondering if you did a firmware update on the drive would it erase the password?

 

[MM PC Solutions]

Threads looks interesting, bookmarked.

 

[rahimhd]

Acer Bios and HDD password can be unlock using master password generated from hash/error codes given by the laptop.
Bios password easily removed either via hardware reset or using master password.
HDD password or better known as ATA password can be removed using master password ( hdd data will be intact) or using ata erase command (google mhdd and learn the command).
Easy way is to spend a few dollars and get the code from me (http://www.acersnoop.co.cc)

 

[hondablaster]

Seems like the guy is credible just trying to generate some traffic for his site even though hes going about it wrong. All things considered, in this same post in January the OP said he used this guys services to solve the problem.

Kind of a weird circle, did anyone notice? LOL

OnSiteSolutions says,

The forum was http://forum.hddguru.com/ and there I found a reference to http://www.acersnoop.co.cc/ where Rahim Daud was able to generate the password for 10$ paypal.

 

[MrUnknown]

Seems like the guy is credible just trying to generate some traffic for his site even though hes going about it wrong. All things considered, in this same post in January the OP said he used this guys services to solve the problem.

Kind of a weird circle, did anyone notice? LOL

He has a link to this thread from his website. Wonder if he will keep it now that he is banned for advertising.

 

[MobileTechie]

If the guy is a friend then it should be easy to deal with - you believe him, he believes you. It's not your fault and you try to solve the problem.

It's a shame you reset the BIOS password before realising it had an HDD one too, because sometimes it's the same password as the HDD. However the BIOS password can be recovered but the HDD one cannot.

 

[NeutronTech]

Interesting. If you go to this page you can purchase their tools for $599. Sounds like a lot of money, but then you can offer an unlock service on your website as well. Also be able to offer it in shop when almost all of the competitors cannot.

I'm seriously considering looking into this. I can see this paying for itself in a few months with the proper advertising on Google.

 

[Martyn]

Found this site that offer the same sort of thing. They also list some backdoor bios passwords

http://www.pwcrack.com/

 

[hondablaster]

He has a link to this thread from his website. Wonder if he will keep it now that he is banned for advertising.

Good eyes LOL! Comical.

 

[PcTek9]

Not to mention that we have similiar software in the technician cd list that does the same thing. Also this very discussion has occurred a few times before in previous years with actual answers by various technibble technicians.