[Victoria52]

I was using my husband's lap top IBM Thinkpad, and now when I try to use it, I can do nothing. There is a little padlock at the top left hand area of the screen, and other than that the screen is black. He never used locks, etc on his computer. What do I do to get this unlocked? And don't ask me to ask him, he passed away a month ago, and there are some things I need to access in his computer. Can anyone help?

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what operating system do you have? and when you boot does it go straight into that screen?

[samiko]

what operating system do you have? and when you boot does it go straight into that screen?

[Victoria52]

I don't know what the operating system is, and all that comes up when I turn it on is the padlock. Sorry I'm not much help here. My husband was LAN administrator, and I just always sub-contracted the home computer stuff to him. Guess i should have paid more attention...

[ratmilk]

If you could be bothered, take it to an IT place, and tell them the story. Or if you have Windows XP, you can tap F8 During start-up, and try get into it via safemode.

It's a little hard for us to give instructions over the internet...

Your Husband probably knew lots about Security being a LAN administrator, so he may of added some extra security, if all.

-Zac

[The_KiD]

Also not be an arse, but you say it is your husbands and he passed away, but it could be someone elses and you are trying to illegally gain access to it, there is no way for us to know and to give "password/security cracking" information out I am guessing is against the rules of this forum.

[Metal God]

Also not be an arse, but you say it is your husbands and he passed away, but it could be someone elses and you are trying to illegally gain access to it, there is no way for us to know and to give "password/security cracking" information out I am guessing is against the rules of this forum.

and suppose whatever she is saying is true, ur acting like an [bleep] to her

[Victoria52]

Yes, that's true, andyou don't know me from Adam, so to speak. It really is my husband's computer; I wouldn't waste my time trying to get into anyone's else's. I work on a computer all day at my job, and that's the last thing I want to mess with when I get home. But that's ok, you gotta' do what you gotta' do. Thanks anyhow.

[dsenette]

so does this padlock thing come up before POST? or before the Windows splash screen? are you just wanting to get files off of the disk? or actually be able to use the pc the way it is?

[Victoria52]

The padlock is ALL that comes up. I was using it before to check his emails and let people he corresponds with that he had passed away, and I think by mistake instead of shutting down I hit the padlock thing that's above shutdown on the pull up menu. There are a couple of files I need to get to, but I would like to be able to use the machine. It's a newer model that mine, and runs faster.

[dsenette]

unfortunately this sounds llike a third party software that he must have installed...there are a few ways to get around such a thing...but none of them are terribly easy.

[Shaggy]

I do suggest that you remove the battery and unplug the laptop to verify that the computer is completely turned off without any power whatsoever. Then reverse the process and boot it up again. If absolutely nothing comes up on the screen during the boot process other than the padlock, then it is likely a BIOS password. In that case your best bet is to either pursue your support options with IBM directly or take it to a computer repair facility and see if they can help you get past the problem.