[rescue] Thinkpad X60 help

[Rjtoegel]

Can't help with the ribbon but I did bump into a site that a different
solution to the password problem.  That fellow deactivated the chip by
shorting some of the pins so when the laptop booted up, it didn't see it and
he could get into the BIOS and disable all the passwords.  Never tried it.
Don't know the validity of the technique but if it works, it's a lot less
trouble.

Bob

On Jan 20, 2015, at 14:16, Bill Green <bill at supposedly.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I find myself with a Thinkpad X60 with a firmware supervisor password.
> (I got it out of the scrap pile at the local recycler -- it was clearly
> marked "BIOS password", but I didn't know about the actually secure
> supervisor passwords on these machines. Disconnecting the CMOS battery
> without doing any research was a big mistake.)
>
> Thinkpads of this era usually store the supervisor password in an
> EEPROM. Thanks to this site <http://www.ja.axxs.net/x60_x60s.htm> I've
> found out that the motherboard revision in this machine, instead of a
> standalone EEPROM, has instead an Atmel 8356908. I haven't been able to
> find a datasheet on this, but it seems to be a microcontroller that in
> this model implements the TPM features.
>
> Supposedly this chip has an onboard EEPROM that is used to store the
> supervisor password and other information. If the site linked above can
> be trusted, a 2-wire serial interface (I2C maybe?) to the EEPROM is run
> out to vias (I've checked that there are indeed two lines from the
> 8356908 connected to the vias, but since I don't have a datasheet, I
> can't verify this).
>
> People have apparently had success by making connections to these vias
> via a simple interface and dumping the EEPROM from another computer over
> RS232. (ISTM that you'd need a level converter at least, but the
> schematic I found only uses pullup resistors). The password is stored in
> cleartext -- unless TPM is enabled, in which case the EEPROM data is
> encrypted.
>
> I should probably just give up, but it's really a nicely-built little
> machine and after having a look at some of the brand-new (terrible)
> Thinkpads recently I was excited to find this one (and I'm just
> stubborn). Any tips? Has anybody done this before? Or got a datasheet?
>
> One other thing: after breaking down and then reassembling it, the LED
> indicator lights on the LCD bezel don't work anymore. I'm afraid that
> they're transmitted via a bit of the LCD ribbon cable that branches off
> and ends in a little square component that rests underneath the bottom
> of the LCD assembly in the hinge area. Since that bit of the cable is
> torn (I don't remember tearing it, but it seems most likely) and I can't
> find any other connections I forgot to hook up again I'm guessing this
> is some kind of proximity interface? Does anybody know for sure? Any
> tips on the possibility of repairing ribbon cables?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill
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