75 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
75 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
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MiniSport Laptop Hacker (TM) - Vol. #29. December 1998
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Copyright (c) 1998 Brian Mork
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>>> ADMIN
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I've collected enough stuff during the past three and a half years that
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I finally wanted to do another issue of the Minisport Laptop Hacker. If
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you want to acquire a compendium of all issues, check one of the
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internet search engines for mlhack28.zip (the previous release) or
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mlhack29.zip (includes this file). If you're only ftp capable, check:
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ftp.cs.buffalo.edu (128.205.32.53) /pub/ham-radio
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oak.oakland.edu (198.111.3.158) /pub/simtelnet/msdos/info
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Login with the name "anonymous" and use your email address as the
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password. My primary drop point is the SimTel collection, directly
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accessible at their website http://www.simtelnet.com.
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>>> DELETING THE HARDWARE PASSWORD
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During the CMOS setup screen, there is an option of installing a boot-up
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hardware password on the Minisports. If you do this, and you forget
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your password, it's been nigh impossible to ever get access to your
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machine again. Or at least that's been true until I got a letter from
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William and Joe. Here's what Joe wrote:
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"Remove the modem cover and the back of the unit. Locate a 14- or 8-pin
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IC labeled 93C46. If you are looking at the back of the machine with
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the modem in the upper right quadrant, you should see two square notches
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at the bottom of the board. If you look approximately one inch in from
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the right top corner of the right notch, you should find the chip. (Mine
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was a 14-pin chip labeled U36). For a 14 pin chip, connect a jumper
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from pin-5 to pin-9. The board is not labeled so you need to count from
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the indentation which marks pin 1. If it is an 8-pin chip, connect a
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jumper from pin-3 to pin-9 [William<61>s notes indicate pin-3 and pin-5; I
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would check the spec sheets for the device and find which makes sense].
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Then turn the unit over on an insulated surfaced and turn it on. Go
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into setup, go to modify password, and when you receive an error, cut
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the jumper and press enter 4 times."
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That's the text book answer. Here's what actually succeeded for Joe:
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"I connected the jumper as instructed, turned the machine on, and went
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into setup (something I could not do without the jumper). The 'modify
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password' option had two choices: password and no change. I selected
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PASSWORD and pressed enter. This took me to password verification.
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After some experimentation, it appears that this is the key. With the
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jumper in place, I could get through the verification field without
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having the original password. The next field was for entering and
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confirming a new password. I entered a new password, confirmed it, then
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cut the jumper before pressing enter to write it into the CMOS. If I
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didn't cut the jumper, I received an error that it could not write to
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CMOS and the original password remained intact. It would appear that
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the jumper can be cut anytime after you pass through the password
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verification."
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>>> SCANNED IMAGES
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Concurrent with the release of MLH #29, I'm submitting mlhschem.zip and
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mlhremrk.zip to the distribution sites. Both include only scanned .tif
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images. Mlhschem has schematics and notes for the Minisport power
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supply, and mlhremrk has scanned images of the front pages of three
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articles that came out in Remark Magazine in 1989 and 1991. I have been
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unable to contact Remark Magazine about distributing the copyrighted
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text, so the best I can do is make them available one at a time to
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individuals wanting them for scholarly research.
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>>> AN ERA PASSING - AND CONTINUING
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For the die-hard MLH readers, you'll remember at the end of the last
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issue I was moving to Colorado to attend Space Tactics School, and begin
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a position as Assistant Professor at the Air Force Academy. As I write
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this, I've finished that assignment, and am in a temporary location
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while looking for more opportunities. I'm again active in the astronaut
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selection cycle while I fly for the Air Force Reserves.
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Please provide feedback! * Internet mork@usa.net
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* ARO Net KA9SNF@..qrt...
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73, Brian * 928-E Grenoble, Lansing, MI 48917
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