Harddisk security password

[asilad]

Whenever I power up my AA1 I am requested to enter a Harddisk security password for ST9120817AS. Funnily enough this password is only recognized in upper case, although I entered it originally in both upper and lower cases. How many people have been totally f..... up by that?!

Does anybody know how I can stop my computer from requesting this password on startup and just go straight to the desktop menu instead? Doing a disk recovery did solve my 'keyring' password problem, but not my harddisk one.

[Bemk]

I don't think it's wise, but I think that doing

passwd

and filling in nothing as new password will do the trick.

[asilad]

I don't think it's wise, but I think that doing

passwd

and filling in nothing as new password will do the trick.

Not sure I understand that Bemk. If you are suggesting I put in nothing where the password should go and enter it then that does not work, it simply defaults back to prompting me to enter a password.
Or are you suggesting I go into the BIOS on startup and change my old password to 'nothing' as the new password? If you are suggesting this and it worked, why would it not be wise?
Many thanks.

[rcgreen]

Or are you suggesting I go into the BIOS on startup and change my old password to 'nothing' as the new password? If you are suggesting this and it worked, why would it not be wise?

Yes, the hard disk password is changed in BIOS setup.
You alone know whether you want to do without it.
It is a deterrent to theft. With a hard disk password set,
the disk cannot be accessed, even if installed in another machine.

Me, I think it's a nuisance and a potential disaster if you
forget it.

[Bemk]

I got confused because of another thread, where someone wanted to have NO user password, I just screwed up a bit, but using no password on the hard disk is something that's not always necessary. If you have a laptop, I'd set the password anyway. If you bring your laptop along somewhere and they nick it, your files can't be accessed. If you have a back-up it will be enough for your files to be safe.

By the way, the first rule in computer administration is back-up, the second as well, and the third and so on until we reach rule 11!

[asilad]

Yes, the hard disk password is changed in BIOS setup.
You alone know whether you want to do without it.
It is a deterrent to theft. With a hard disk password set,
the disk cannot be accessed, even if installed in another machine.

Me, I think it's a nuisance and a potential disaster if you
forget it.

Thanks guys I have entered nothing as the new password and on the 2nd attempt my AA1 now boots up without prompting for a HDD password. I have a feeling it is still looking for one though because now when I boot up, the f2/f12 options appears first, then i get a brief view of my desktop screen followed by it going blank and then the desktop screen reappears. I'm sure before it used to go straight to desktop screen after f2/f12 and not go blank but hey ho I can live with this!

A nuisance and potential disaster I fully concur with! Especially on the AA1 where if you set the HDD password in a combination of upper and lower case and then try to log in that way you are stuffed because this machine only reads what you put in, in the upper case!!! I nearly forked out over £51 to have my computer couriered back to the UK because of this odd, not advertised quirk.