Problems with hdd password on acer 9304wsmi

bwatt00

Hi guys my mother just picked up a second hand laptop from someone she knows,i asked her what it was,did she get a good deal,whats the name etc,she is not too clued up on them.
I know a little more but not when things go wrong with them,she dropped it off to me tonight and i was gonna have a look and see what she got etc.
I think its a acer 9304wsmi i see when i switch it on it comes up with a message
enter sata port o hdd user password.

How does this get changed?do i need to find this out,i do beleive the owner deleted the info from his laptop as he was selling it on,but i cant get to the main page cause of this hdd password.
I have went on to the f2 option and see that you can enter passwords etc but it still asks for the old hdd password and then new ones,anyone know the way around this so i can check this laptop out for her and see if it works ok and get her on it.

I think its got windows vista

wealdroam

You need the hdd password from the previous user.

Not much point in a hardware password that can be got around is there?

i think you'll probably have to get a new hdd if the prev user cannot help.

Why do you think is has Vista on?

DodgyLurgy

If it's the hard drive that's locked then unless you can get the password from the guy concerned I think the drive is useless. If there is a way to unlock drives I don't know about it unfortunately.

I once had a 40gb drive and while experimenting with the drive I managed to lock it with random keystrokes (big mistake) and never managed to get it unlocked again..........I used it as a paper weight for a while after that.

Donnie

DodgyLurgy wrote: »

If it's the hard drive that's locked then unless you can get the password from the guy concerned I think the drive is useless. If there is a way to unlock drives I don't know about it unfortunately.

I once had a 40gb drive and while experimenting with the drive I managed to lock it with random keystrokes (big mistake) and never managed to get it unlocked again..........I used it as a paper weight for a while after that.

You may be able unlock the drive by using the Ultimate Boot CD.

Use the ATA Password Tool

Run atapwd.exe
Select the locked harddrive and press enter for the menu
For Fujitsu disks: Choose "unlock with user password", then "disable with user password". The password is empty, so just press enter at the prompt.
For Toshiba and Hitachi disks, if the above doesn't work: Choose "unlock with master password", then "disable with master password". The password is all spaces.
Your disk is now unlocked. Shut down the computer and reboot.

But first of all, try using all spaces as a Master Password before attempting to use any tools.

DodgyLurgy

Donnie wrote: »

You may be able unlock the drive by using the Ultimate Boot CD.

Use the ATA Password Tool

Run atapwd.exe
Select the locked harddrive and press enter for the menu
For Fujitsu disks: Choose "unlock with user password", then "disable with user password". The password is empty, so just press enter at the prompt.
For Toshiba and Hitachi disks, if the above doesn't work: Choose "unlock with master password", then "disable with master password". The password is all spaces.
Your disk is now unlocked. Shut down the computer and reboot.

But first of all, try using all spaces as a Master Password before attempting to use any tools.

Heard of that but never used it, unfortunately I don't have the drive any more. Maybe the OP can use it to unlock theirs with this info