Well a lot could be said about passwords! I have not seen all the posts but you need to clearly say the exact 4 digit IBM machine type and additional submodel code so everybody clearly knows the exact laptop you are fixing. Also identify which password you are trying to recover. I suggest the first point of call is the maintenance manual here IBM Thinkpad 600E maintenance manual http://www.linuxfocus.org/~guido/gentoo-tp600e/600e_hw_maintenance_manual.p… This will tell you about the different passwords: e.g. Power-On, Supervisor, Hard Disk .... It appears that for a 600E you can reset the Power On Password by shorting pads onthe motherboard. --------- I did find an entertaining article about hacking the Supervisor password http://sodoityourself.com/hacking-ibm-thinkpad-bios-password/ This sounds ideal if you really like soldering and have a lot of free time on your hands. Let us all know how you get on! PS: As an aside, if anybody has a good article on how exactly hard disk passwords work, please post the link. I never quite figured out the exact mechanism of storing the HDD password, and communicating it to the BIOS/OS on first access. regards marcus b.