HP laptop minipci bios lock

Don't ask how to hack password. (BIOS Passwords)
dagarlas
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Hi, I just bought an HP nx6125 laptop and I discovered it has a bios lock which stops during POST if I insert a different minipci wireless card from the original one.

Original is a linux unfriendly Broadcom and I wanted to use and Atheros card. I resolved the problem modifyng Atheros card's eeprom, setting his device ids equal to Broadcom's ones and editing drivers to work with new ids...

Now it works but i'd prefer a different solution... because bios checks pci ids which are numeric values would it be possible to "hack" bios in order to get it working with atheros card?

for example, now it checks for this id: 14e4:4318; can I change to 168c:0013 which is atheros id?

Thanks
aindfan
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How did you set the Atheros device ID without the computer allowing you to boot?
Even if you could boot, where would you set the ID?

I may soon have the same HP problem on my hands.

Thanks!
sunbirds
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dagarlas wrote:Hi, I just bought an HP nx6125 laptop and I discovered it has a bios lock which stops during POST if I insert a different minipci wireless card from the original one.

Original is a linux unfriendly Broadcom and I wanted to use and Atheros card. I resolved the problem modifyng Atheros card's eeprom, setting his device ids equal to Broadcom's ones and editing drivers to work with new ids...

Now it works but i'd prefer a different solution... because bios checks pci ids which are numeric values would it be possible to "hack" bios in order to get it working with atheros card?

for example, now it checks for this id: 14e4:4318; can I change to 168c:0013 which is atheros id?

Thanks
maybe it's possible to hack this bios for new pci id.
sxotty
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Here are some links of interest:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/bios.html
http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31 ... i-ids.html

I have an hp ze2000z and am trying to install a broadcom bcm94306mp right now and having no luck. The above links do not work for other all brands. I have been trying to figure out hp's scheme encrypting the bios but have so far been unable to figure it out.

dagarlas, could you do me a big favor and post the pci id of the broadcom model you had? I am trying to figure out which ones will actually work b/c the driver allows like 100 different network cards, but the bios I am sure allows maybe 3-7 ... Anyway if anyone knows HP's bios scheme that would really help too.

The IBM model is like this
8086-->8680 and that is the extent of their trickiness, but I cannot seem to figure out anything for the darn HP and have been looking all through the bios with a hex editor.
dagarlas
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Hi and sorry for the late.

I just posted my howto to avoid bios lock modifying device ids:

http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php

sxotty my Broadcom ids are 14e4:4318 and 0x103:308b
edong23
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just so you know, my broadcom ids are

14e4:4320
103c:12f8

but i think there are more cards allowed by the bios than you are thinking... but i could be wrong.. just by looking at the bios updates for my model and seeing what other models the same file and package is used for, it seems like there are proably alot more of compatible cards in the whitelist. several different models including european ones, and having broadcom cards, broadcom cards with bluetooth, intel cards, intel cards with bluetooth... the bios update file is the same for so many...

but i was realy posting to thak dargarlas for the awesome howto.. it worked great with my atheros SR2... and i will be trying it with several models of saneo cards and intel cards.. but thanks for the work around.
edong23
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by the way, i dont recommend that you use the SR2 unless you really really need a long range card.. cause it is 400mW, and when i cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state... it showes to be discharging at a rate of 2300mA... while with no card in it is a rate of 1600mA... and with a 200mW saneo it is only 1800mA... give or take, of course... but for those of use power freaks, saneo makes an atheros based card, that is also 400mW (26dBm) that has a lower power consumption. it is the NMP-8602 and is capable of a/b/g..

http://www.interprojekt.com.pl/product_ ... cts_id=211

and it costs alot less than an SR2. the SR2 isnt recommended for laptops, probaby for this reason... but this one has been reported to work great in laptops.
chud
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Hi,

You may be able to get around the HP Wireless card lockout BIOS check using method (below) if you have Phoenix BIOS.
HP Pavilion 104 Unsupported Wireless Card Bios Fix

Rich
corky876
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So I just ordered a NMP-8602 for my dell inspiron 8600, and I was just wondering where edong23 found that:

"this one has been reported to work great in laptops."

I did some googling and I can't find too much info about people actually using this card in a laptop. I just don't want to mess up anything by sticking it in there. Any info would be helpful. Thanks.
fadlennium
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I have fit giga-byte GN-WI01HT Wireless mini pci adapter into my vaio PCG-GRT100..
The laptop boot up normally and the window detect the card and ask for the driver, I installed the driver only everthing seems fine but i can't find any network, so i install the software "Giga-Byte Client Utility" which state that the hardware is disabled and i can do anything about it as everything in the program is disabled.
I contacted Giga-byte and they say that the bios may lock the card !!!

Does anyone know anything that can help?
HarshReality
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I'm VERY interested in this. Does anybdy have a tools list and a condensed walk through.. I'd like to remove/disable the whitelist all together if possible and change the startup logo to include "Modified Whitelist-less" text underneath but thats for another time.....
HarshReality
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Welp, @ 15 minutes of work and my 7010 is now AB&G able... not to mention I can have it 100% Linux now rather than having to deal with ndiswrapper :)

Still going to work on obliterating the Whitelist from the thing though.

Image
nxuser2
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HarshReality,

I also have a 7010 with Bios F.20. No problem because no whitelist.
My problem is a 8220 F.0F which has a whitelist and does not work with
an atheros card. Could you give some more details of your work...
HarshReality
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Sent you a PM.
HarshReality
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On a email it was expressed curiosity how I used a Phoenix Bios Editor on my system.. I forgot but will clarify my system is a zd7010us which is making use of a phoenix bios ;)
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