Gateway P-6825 Laptop, when I power up it says Enter Primary Master HDD user Password, HDD is locked

I am working on a friends Gateway P6825 Laptop, somehow the HDD got locked. The owner does not know how to go into the BIOS to set a HDD password, I have been a PC tech for many years and this is my first encounter with this. I did some research, most say contact manufacturer, or they will not help because they think the unit is stolen. I can guarantee it is NOT.

I tried removing the CMOS battery, tried recovering the files with an external drive reader, it shows unallocated space on the disk, and shows it is not initialized.

I saw some strange fixes that I did not think were a good idea, shorting out the CMOS with a jumper wire, inserting a Vista disk, and doing a Hot swap (while powered up) with the HDD...that could cause other issues, mess up other HW I do believe.

The owner purchased a new unit, and just wants to recover data. He told me he had the HDD replaces a while back, not sure how to proceed.

Thanks in advance for any info...

Rick

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IronFly

HDD password is set or frozen?

http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/32674/~/bios-password-frozen

Rictech1

The owner did not set an HDD BIOS PW. ( He does not hav the knowlege to do so )

We do not know how a PW was set to be required in the BIOS, so we have no idea what the PW would be.

IronFly

please press F2 at boot to enter BIOS and check on security tab if HDD password is frozen or other.

Rictech1

I left a message with the owner that I have some follow up info for him. He has posession of the unit, and I thank you for the link, and I will also try the f2 and check when I get the unit back to work on further.

THANKS ! Will keep this thread open for updates !

Rictech1

Update !

I spoke with the owner at church on Sunday, He is supposed to contact me today, and he has decided to drop it off to my lab so I can work on it till i figure it out.

I look forward to the help to figure this out, this in my current whate whale! Robot tongue

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