IBM Laptop Supervisor (BIOS) password reset

There a few tools available to reset the BIOS passwords on IBM/Lenovo laptops they attach to the I2C lines of the EEPROM to reprogram it. However, there’s a lower tech way to reset the BIOS passwords, though it takes a bit of persistence.

This site has handy diagrams showing all the EEPROM locations. To reset the password you can just short the SDA and SCL lines on the IC. The problem is you have to short them at /exactly/ the right time. This is sometime after boot, but before the boot logo appears (I think). If you short the pins at boot the system just wont power up. If you short them too soon it’ll just halt. I also removed the RTC battery when I was doing this (just in case).

If you get everything right the system will say “Press F1 to enter setup”. Once in setup you can stop shorting the pins. From setup you should be able to enter a new supervisor password from there. If you don’t get the timing just right you’ll enter restricted setup (user?). Good luck!

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