Gossamer Forum
Home : General : Chit Chat :

Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey.

Quote Reply
Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey.
   

My friend recently purchased a Sony Vaio laptop on the cheap, he doesn't know much about PCs and he rang me @ the time, and told me everything he could about it.



I said it was a good buy, and he went ahead and purchased it. The only problem is that when he turns it on, it immediately asks for a password. This is straight after the Sony screen, before DOS even loads up.

He told me that he saw the PC working, with Windows.

I dont know if this person went into the BIOS straight after he sold it and set the password, so that he couldn't get into it.

I feel guilty for my friend who has spent out on a PC that I said he should buy, and that he now has no use for.



I would appreciate it very much if someone would be able to get in contact with me and let me know how I can get around this.

Thanks for looking.



timwishart@hotmail.com
Quote Reply
Re: [timwishart] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
Your best bet is to get the make and model of the laptop and head over to the sony support web site and do a search on bios password. If it's anything like the IBM laptops though, you're kind of SOL. I was a field tech for IBM a few years back and because of the government grade security on IBM laptops, I would have to replace the motherboard on laptops where the bios password was forgotten. Can your friend get the password from the person he bought it from?

Regards,
Charlie
Quote Reply
Re: [timwishart] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
...and here's the moral of this story:

>>My friend recently purchased a Sony Vaio laptop on the cheap<<

Don't buy things on the cheap :) .....go to the store (unless you know the person and trust them) Wink

If it is on in the bios you can check, but without knowing the password you can't turn it off so basically you need the password unless you want to do a flash on the bios and risk totally buggering it up.

As Charlie said, your best bet is Sony support but Im not sure they'll be helpful if you tell them you got it on the cheap so you may not want to let that slip :)

Last edited by:

Paul: May 16, 2002, 6:46 AM
Quote Reply
Re: Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
hmmm the wonders of firmware security.

I hope that your buddy still has some kind of warranty left on it.
Support should care then as long if the warranty still exists.

else ... mmmmm ... call the original owner hopefully that person will give out the password.

Was it an auction purchase?

good luck

openoffice + gimp + sketch ... Smile
Quote Reply
Re: [timwishart] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
[ Removed Spam ]

Last edited by:

Alex: Jul 14, 2002, 4:16 PM
Quote Reply
Re: [MyXOMOP] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
I wonder how spam became known as spam because in the UK at least, spam is a processed meat in a can Shocked

Last edited by:

Paul: Jul 14, 2002, 5:22 PM
Quote Reply
Re: [Paul] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
http://www.spam.com/sp.htm (origin of the name)

In W.W.II, "spam" varied in quality - many US veterans of that era wouldn't give you a wooden nickle for it today Tongue

...and neither would I!
Quote Reply
Re: [Paul] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
the company that makes Spam made a big stink over it's name's use in reference to junk mail...

--Philip
Links 2.0 moderator
Quote Reply
Re: [ArmyAirForces] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
>>
http://www.spam.com/sp.htm (origin of the name)

In W.W.II, "spam" varied in quality - many US veterans of that era wouldn't give you a wooden nickle for it today

...and neither would I!
<<

Thanks for the link....I meant in relation to junk mail though :)
Quote Reply
Re: [Paul] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
I've wondered the same.

Must've been a slashdot site that started the word.

Makes sense though if you think it out.

SPAM is cheap, it tastes like dog food. -->> so you post over and over on a BBS and viola. Don't spam me!

I'm pretty sure I remember the first occurances of this usage on BBSs with it later being applied to email.

I could be wayyy wrong too though. Just a conspiracy theory.

openoffice + gimp + sketch ... Smile
Quote Reply
Re: [QooQ] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
I have a sony laptop and you set the power on password in windows, so not sure how he will get into that. And if it's anything like ibm you can't reset it on the mobo either. Good Luck
Quote Reply
Re: [justAgirl] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
I guess as the post was about 12 months ago then he's probably sorted it out already Laugh

Last edited by:

Paul: May 16, 2003, 8:20 AM
Quote Reply
Re: [Paul] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
Huh - the best solution is to get a couple of big guys to go with you and ask the guy you bought it from that it was password protected when you got it. Tell him you either need the password, or the money back.
Cheers,
Michael Bray
Quote Reply
Re: [Michael_Bray] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
What happens if he has a gun with three bullets and goes bang bang bang Wink

Last edited by:

Paul: May 16, 2003, 8:23 AM
Quote Reply
Re: [Paul] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
I don't know about laptops, but at one time I had forgot what I set the boot password to on one of my older desktops and was able to get around it quite easily. just turn off the computer, move the bios reset jumper over one pin, power up, then off, move the jumper back. granted, that wiped out all the bios settings as well, but it worked nonetheless.

Philip
------------------
Limecat is not pleased.

Last edited by:

fuzzy thoughts: May 16, 2003, 9:16 AM
Quote Reply
Re: [fuzzy thoughts] Sony VAIO Laptop Masterkey. In reply to
Or just find another pc, download a flash upgrade and nuke it that way :)