Thinkpads Forum

I recently acquired a 770X (pII 300Mhz) but when I booted it I noticed that it had Windows 2000 installed with a password.
Any idea how to do a factory restore? or bypass admin password?
I tried to boot with a Windows XP CD and UBCD but in both cases it was unsuccessful.
It only has a DVD drive but it doesn't seem to detect my disks no diskettes no usb
I don't have another boot medium!!!!
neither have blank cds to burn a new copy of windows 2000...

Any help or comment is welcome!!
I attached a photo of the computer!

Thanks!
<a href="https://ibb.co/BsmChs5"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/VBdqFBc/770x.png" alt="770x" border="0"></a>

1. USB boot doesn't work on old models.

2. CD/DVD and floppy are the usual boot media for these devices. Network boot might be possible, but may require certain PCMCIA LAN cards.

3. Windows password can be removed with tools like http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

It's not a hardware problem...You may unmount your hard disk, and mount it on another computer, then browse and delete the sam file, which usually locates at

X:\winnt\System32\Config

try delete the sam file, or rename it

ren sam sam.bak

put the hdd back and use administrator with no password to log in.

Replace your DVD drive unit, as discussed in the following thread...

Scroll down to Pkiff's posting where he describes the units he used.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=132258

I replaced mine and immediately had a fully functioning DVD unit, 100% capable of reading/writing/burning all kinds of both burned and pressed media. No-brainer upgrade.

Regards.

Dave

panips wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:14 pm

It's not a hardware problem...You may unmount your hard disk, and mount it on another computer, then browse and delete the sam file, which usually locates at

Be careful about mounting these IDE hard drives of these very old laptops onto a newer laptop with Windows 10/11. I've had a lot of times with the likes of my ThinkPad 600 where just merely plugging in my IDE hard drive onto a USB to IDE adaptor and let Windows 10 detect it and eject it 10 seconds later renders it UNBOOTABLE by old IDE controllers, stuck on a blinking cursor. It's a fault that I just cannot explain as then the same hard drive will still boot fine on a Pentium III machine, just the Pentium MMX and early PII machines that have trouble.
As for the 770 series DVD drive, if you insert a CD, a reminder that you will need spacers in order for the CD to spin at all

kfzhu1229 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 16, 2024 12:26 pm

Be careful about mounting these IDE hard drives of these very old laptops onto a newer laptop with Windows 10/11. I've had a lot of times with the likes of my ThinkPad 600 where just merely plugging in my IDE hard drive onto a USB to IDE adaptor and let Windows 10 detect it and eject it 10 seconds later renders it UNBOOTABLE by old IDE controllers, stuck on a blinking cursor. It's a fault that I just cannot explain as then the same hard drive will still boot fine on a Pentium III machine, just the Pentium MMX and early PII machines that have trouble.

My best guess would be how the IDE HDD is initialized by the BIOS: CHS vs LBA addressing modes. The older machines would default to CHS, while the newer ones are LBA.

Thanks for the help with yours answers...
im goin to try unmount the hard drive and delete de SAM file like the friend panips says...
for the moment is the easy way to me
discard tryin to boot new os installation from ethernet port is so much level to me!
im goin to try the solution with my T42 with windows XP that is more time relative to windows 2000 i think... (trying to avoid make the partition unreadable)
thanks again and see what's happen!!!

(excuse my English is not my native language )

As for the 770 series DVD drive, if you insert a CD, a reminder that you will need spacers in order for the CD to spin at all

can you explain me this ... i dont understand....what is a spacers?
i though that cds and dvds has the same size....

I made it!!!
Deleting Sam file!

https://ibb.co/5hRZk2j
https://ibb.co/BCyQrky

Another operative thinkpad for my pleasure and collection!!!

Thanks to all people to respond the post!
Youre the best comunity
Leave a video for the machine!!!
https://youtube.com/shorts/_3URB6W8X50? ... 5c21K_BXq

lol, no surprise, and congrats on your new collection for 1280x1024 were only used in 770x and 770z, and it's the only 5:4 lcd

panips wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 11:14 am

lol, no surprise, and congrats on your new collection for 1280x1024 were only used in 770x and 770z, and it's the only 5:4 lcd

IS very impressive for the time of release the equipment that came with this panel and this resolution!
Very happy with the computer!!!
Ps. I have to renew my signature