Hard drive locked

Ok gang, here’s the problem. I got a Dell Latitude LS model PP01S in the shop. The guy wants to have the current O/S wiped and reinstalled with XP home. He says that the lappy has 2K on it, and that he cannot remember what the password is to log in. (Yeah sounds fishy. Might be stolen. Going to call the police in the morning and run serials.) Anyhow, powered it on before doing anything, and right after post, it asks for a password. Looks like a bios password. I called the guy to see if he knew what it was, but I got no one on the phone. I decide to pull the hard drive and connect it to our shop machine. Our shop machine booted and detected the drive fine. I went into my computer to see what was on it, but the drive did not show up. I then went to disk management, and it did not even show up there. So then I went to device manager, and it was there. I shut the machine down and downloaded diags for it. BTW it is an IBM Travelstar model DJSA-220. I ran checks on it, but received the error “Device is password protected” GREAT the drive has a password on it. Not a boot sector password, but a hardware one. I downloaded http://rockbox.haxx.se/lock.html but it did not work. Any ideas on what to do?

I don't know. I have to wonder why YOU want to see what's on the drive?
Yeah, there are all sorts of "legal questions" here, I suppose: if that is what you suspect. Is there a reason other than what you post that makes you suspicious about this "job"?

Agreed. Call Dell on this one and let us know what you find out.

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Originally Posted by TripleRLtd

I don't know. I have to wonder why YOU want to see what's on the drive?
Yeah, there are all sorts of "legal questions" here, I suppose: if that is what you suspect. Is there a reason other than what you post that makes you suspicious about this "job"?

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Its not that I CARE whats on the drive, but I can't load the F'ing O/S if I can't see it right?

There are "tools" for bypassing the drive's p/w. But, have you contacted the police or Dell yet? Perhaps Dell is the best bet now. Does the customer have a receipt?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TripleRLtd

There are "tools" for bypassing the drive's p/w. But, have you contacted the police or Dell yet? Perhaps Dell is the best bet now. Does the customer have a receipt?

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Just got off the phone with Dell. Due to the fact that the HDD is password protected, unless the customer can remember what the password is, he is SOL. Police have been called. Waiting on a callback from them to have it checked. Keep ya posted.

Update. Machine came back clean, but I have not had a chance to work on it anymore at this point because I have been onsite most of the time, and we are short on additional help as well. ( Big F-up) When I get a chance to get back to it, see what I can find.

Did you ever figure this one out? I have a laptop with the same issue. My Father-in-law was toying around with it, and does not remember the password.