Nice find - & I see you managed to find out the jumper method to reset a motherboard password, I think I used a Linux software solution a few years back, but can't remember what it was, unfortunately.

Found these, after a quick search, might come in handy for you.
http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.html
https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/CmosPwd

This is newer than my newest laptop. I'm using a core2duo processor by choice for freedom and privacy/security reasons.

I hope you are still you with the fast new gear. Once you get into the BIOS, that HP is going to FLY!!!!!

I'm very annoyed to discover that the stock Lenovo BIOS is preventing me from installing Slackware on my intended Lenovo X60 today so I'm just going to switch out hard drives and install on a librebooted one. Hopefully it will boot when I put it back in the intended unlibrebooted laptop.

32 bit Libreboot doesn't have sound without a DAC I can't afford so it would be kind of nice to leave one usable as an .mp3 player until I can press the T21 into service as the spiderweb permanently offline entertainment system.

Had a very horrible experience today. The free 4Gb USB drives that I got, tried one of them.
Initially it was on vfat file system and when I tried to copy files with a sleepy head, I was able to copy all, but then none will open, all gave an error. Also, I copied over 2Gb but it said it had only 500 Mb or so of files on it. Then I recollected the file system type and partitioned it to sda3 using gparted, it gave an unrecognized label error for long. Then went into fdisk, deleted all partitions, created a new partition. It will not mount all this time, tried to mount after each step. Finally, went on gparted and format it to extended 2 file system, it formats too fast to a Linux OS, like almost instant. When I try to copy files to it, it says full after just copying 200Mb or so. So feels like it is throwing data everywhere.
I got 4 more of these USB drives today as they are free and being discarded. Will try another one later on and see how it goes. If that also functions the same way, then I might return the lot to that recycling place along with my experience with these. Don't want others to repeat that same experience and perhaps even loose precious data.

I did get into the BIOS later on yesterday. I feel now it is time to semi retire slowly my P4 PCs, they are too slow for online use, they can be used for light offline work like reading PDFs, watching images, playing mp3 files etc.,
This will be a work in progress for me, the earlier I do this tho, better it will be, else I will be forced into this transition under pressure with a short deadline as in the past.

<i>Unable to read the contents of this file system!
Because of this some operations may be unavailable.
The cause might be a missing software package.
The following list of software packages is required for ext3 file system support: e2fsprogs.</i>

Also get the above error sometimes when trying to format the 4Gb USB drive using GParted.
Tried to lookup the hardware info, just says USB drive and has no other info. except scsi4
my HD is scsi1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCSI

Since this P4 server is quite old, wonder if this is an issue, This can be verified only by trying to format this USB
drive on a more recent PC.

Evidently there were a lot of fake USB drives out there at one time, these may be some of them, they may be usable at a lesser size/capacity, so maybe not all lost.

What I would do, using fdisk, delete partitions that are on it, give it a new MBR, then a new partition, I'd use Linux rather than vfat, write it out, then put an ext2 filesystem on it, less reserved space, that is, use the -m 0 option, check & see how much actual space is available on each of them.

Thanks for this tip, really needed this, will try this later. These USB drives made me very angry yesterday and even today, lost my train of thought. I placed big expectations on old free items and was let down quite a bit. Basically I violated my own rule and then lost out, this rule is to test used, old devices, understand their limitations before use. So, this was a very hard knock to reality for me. There is always a lesson to learn.


Tried that actually, here are the results:
root# sudo mke2fs -m 0 /dev/sdb
mke2fs 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
Found a dos partition table in /dev/sdb
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
Creating filesystem with 1013760 4k blocks and 253456 inodes
Filesystem UUID: ec117e17-f56a-4e16-b352-6792da929d8b
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

root# fdisk /dev/sdb

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.27.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

/dev/sdb: device contains a valid 'ext2' signature; it is strongly recommended to wipe the device with wipefs(8) if this is unexpected, in order to avoid possible collisions

This is from typing the p option on fdisk. I still don't feel comfortable using it, seems
same as before. So pls share your thoughts on this:
Disk /dev/sdb: 3.9 GiB, 4152360960 bytes, 8110080 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x112ddb4a

Device does not contain a recognized partition table.
Created a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x112ddb4a.

Edited to add yet again:
I tried copying files, it said disk is full around 345 Mb. So will try to make a partition of 330Mb
and see if this works ok, rest will leave as extended and make ligical partitions, this way if those fail due to lack of space, it will validate the actual space as 330 Mb approx. Still it is not bad if this works. This USB can be used to carry around small files. I can also tell others at the recycling center about this.

Edited to add yet again:
Only 260Mb of data approx. could be copied onto the 320Mb partition before it gave the out of
space error. Will try the same on another similar USB drive and see. Atleast there is some progress so far.

Edited to add yet again:
Tried to reboot PC and mount this USB drive, just hangs. It says invalid partition table and wrong signature when I tried to run Gparted for this drive.

Gparted error messages for the primary partition of 320 MB for this drive.
<i>dumpe2fs 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
Journal superblock magic number invalid!</i>

<i>Unable to read the contents of this file system!
Because of this some operations may be unavailable.
The cause might be a missing software package.
The following list of software packages is required for ext3 file system support: e2fsprogs.</i>

Edited to add again:
Tried to do everything from start on another similar USB drive. It created ext2 system on its own.
I tried to save about 300 Mb of files on it and then rebooted my PC, then mounted this USB, most directories in it were corrupt to the point that they will not even open, had an orange triangle with an exclamation mark beside their icon. All files saved on it gave message unable to open.
This set of USB drives are as unreliable as it gets, can't risk ANY data on them. Only thing they are good for is as a decoy, if someone is gonna steal some petty stuffs, keep this around and let him/her steal it.

This concerns me quite a bit as well. It is a much more common problem in Asia, but it happened to a friend of mine in Boston about a year or two ago. It probably shouldn't disturb me as much as it does that trying to research kudokoshi always involves scrolling through so many ads for businesses that "clean up the mess" for landlords.

I have no idea how many other seniors there are in this neighbourhood who might benefit from offline filesharing and a private, reasonably anonymous neighbourhood network, but this is what I spent less than an hour making:

https://piratebox.cc/

but if I different kind of router to spare, this looks like it might be more mainstream-friendly:

http://librarybox.us/whatis.php

I stopped doing "neighbourhood computer repair" when Vista came out. My landlord is a gem and does not deserve to find me or anybody else six weeks later by the smell, so maybe my old computers can help me find another, new way to contribute to my community.

ConnochaetOS:

https://connochaetos.org/wiki/

is running like a dream on my librebooted (c)2006 Thinkpad X60 now. I could not boot the install media on the X60 that still has factory Lenovo BIOS, which was what I originally wanted since 32 bit libreboot doesn't have sound. Hopefully I can just swap out the hard drives now but it's not a huge deal to flash 32 bit libreboot, so just a heads up to save someone else the frustration.

My decadeish haitus from Slackware was just a minor episode. This is much easier for me than Arch and bumbling into Slack as a rank newbie in '05ish might well be why I am so much "weirder" than the average duck.

Definitely not in a bad way, though, I was just letting myself get manipulated and shamed by people who thought I spent "too much" time on my computers. Ubuntu wasn't easier, it was just more mainstream.

Sounds like those USB drives have had a really bad time somewhere - I'd just dump the lot of them - not worth wasting any more time on them - & definately don't try using them for your files. Be aware, there were also some iffy SD cards & microSD cards.

I often use a USB to 2.5" HDD cable with bare drives, you can get powered ones too for 3.5" drives, if you haven't got one of these types of cables, it might be worth your while investing in one.

I tried to find meaning in this experience. One was for me to not expect too much from used items. The second was to thank Lord for choosing me for this, so I tried my best, experienced all these negative emotions and now get to warn those folks that these drives aren't reliable. Can tell them to test a few more for themselves to be really sure. If they have the same experience, then can tell them to trash that whole box.

Here is the height of BAD way to tech shame:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski

The Classy way to tech shame and avoid attention is by using dry art media:
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/201...-and-charcoal/

Here is a very strong medical reason also to reduce online time:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...ness-1.4856764

On a different note, imagine living in a place like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obThUqDlrvU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQF0-3-RupM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioT6pdX6o18
There is no space for old computer in such a place. However, using dry art media
one can bring the countryside and sea scape etc., to brighten their life in such a place.
Crayons, color pencils etc., will be a big plus there. No need to do bigger art due to
smaller, very limited storage space, can do miniart, this will be a lot more convenient.

Edited to add:
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right.../dp/1585429201
https://www.drawright.com/
Understanding how right brain works and learning to draw using it was strongly
suggested to me. So am looking more into it these days, it is interesting.
Helps to appreciate the finer things in life while reducing PC time (Less LCD therapy)

Those faulty USB drives were returned and the folks in charge were informed.

To clarify some, the media seems to call anyone who uses older hardware a tech shamer. There are many who prefer older hardware for different reasons, including convenience, reliving the past etc., As a retro computing user, I have no time to go out shaming other users, companies associated with the latest hardware, to each their own. Shaming anyone is a waste of my time and doesn't serve any purpose. Last but not least, the retro tech I use today was considered cutting edge and latest once upon a time. Having said this, if one wishes to escape the blazing speed of tech progress, forced upgrades etc., then consider downgrading drastically to art using charcoal dry media, now charcoal comes in various forms. One of the earlier art of humans is using different kinds of charcoal in caves:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...st-impressions

More recent art using charcoal:
https://twistedsifter.com/2016/08/st...y-casey-baugh/

New or old, if one continues to consume IT Products and services, this benefits the IT industry. However, if one stops consuming these, then it is considered not good. However, one can't continue to consume forever. Besides variety is the spice of life and one needs to dabble in other things in life also. This is the reason art is good. Most artists don't make money when alive, however if it keeps one happy and away from doing evil then this is priceless and well worth it.

Edited to add: IT is like a buffet that never ends, so helps to set some strong limits in advance.
I don't wish to do my last upgrade and die. There is a lot more to life than just IT, so using old computer with Linux to break thru this maze is awesome. Freedom is priceless.

Edited to add yet again:
https://www.refurb4less.com/hp-pavil...tb-windows-10/
This new costs 700 bucks approx. locally with tax
This is the lowest end local desktop. Wayyy too much power for someone like me.
Never even imagined will see an advt. like this in my lifetime when I got my first PC.