supposedly some company went out of business so i buy this IBM think pad from this guy online, but it's locked

Question

it asks for a log in and password which is some admin rights stuff, i believe its running off of windows 2000, how do i not have that anymore so i can have a normal computer.

Answer 1

It depends on what level of password it is asking for.
The Thinkpad line has passwords before the operating system. If one of these is what is stopping you then the laptop is useless, because they cannot be voided, unlike other brands of laptop. That's because the US Government bought a lot of these laptops and their security was designed for that.

So you should probably send the laptop back if possible, if it is one of these passwords: boot, bios, or hard drive.

"If the administration password is set, then it is impossible to reset the user password unless you know the administrative password. The Supervisor Password is the administrative password for the Power On Password. The Master Hard Drive Password controls the Hard Drive Password."

Answer 2

Ask the seller of the item. If he doesnt know, the only thing you can do is reinstall windows. Don't have windows? You have to go out and buy it. Try ebay before any real store. OR, if you have fast internet, you could go a totally different direction and download linux. Its getting quite mature at this point and has some real value and best of all: ITS FREE! to get started you need fast internet (or know somebody who does) , a cd or better yet a dvd burner, 5 blank 80 min 700mb cds or 1 dvd, and patience.

Start out at: http://ftp.riken.jp/Linux/fedora/core/5/i386//iso/
and select either cd 1 through 5 or dvd. The one that says rescue cd is optional.

Then after burning all of them, put cd 1 or the dvd in the cd drive and restart the computer with the cd or dvd in the drive.

Then the install screen will appear. If you need more help on install fedora core linux then goto http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAQ.

If you cant answer the question with the faq just ask another question here and ill be happy to answer it.

Hope this is helpful :)

Answer 3

You may need to reinstall the OS.