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Apparently someone found it funny to password protect the SSD hard disk of one of our HP ProBook laptops, and now the laptop is unable to boot. Of course the password is unknown to us, but I'd like to reformat the disk so we can reinstall the laptop.

When I boot the laptop, I get the message "3F0 error - Device not found". I took out the harddisk and placed it in a Dell Optiplex 7010, which upon boot asks for the password as well.

If I connect the SSD via a USB adapter, I can see the partitions and format them, but afterwards the drive is still not accessible.

Booting the laptop with a Linux live distribution gives me the same result - I can see the partitions just fine, so the drive seems to work.

How do I either remove the password, or more likely, reformat the SSD so I can reinstall the laptop?

Giacomo1968
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Joe
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3 Answers3

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The purpose of an on-disk password is to prevent access to the data, not to render the drive inoperable.

This means that the only way that you can return the hardware to service is by erasing the drive from scratch, using the on-controller ATA Secure Erase command.

You can boot a Linux live CD and then use the hdparm command to do this.

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

If a password is already set, you simply proceed with initiating the erasure with a new password that you select. Using your own arbitrary password will only work for the purpose of initiating a new erasure, not for any other commands that require a password.

# hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass [password] /dev/sdX 
# hdparm --user-master u --security-erase [password] /dev/sdX

(where the 'X' in 'sdX' will vary depending on your hardware).

Royce Williams
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I suggest you try a Windows system tool called diskpart.

Press "Win+R" to open the run dialog box and input "diskpart" then you can press Enter to open that. You should note that diskpart requires the administrator rights.

Wait a minute and then input "list disk" in the cmd console. The programme will return the disks that have been connected to the PC and their labels.

If the SSD you want to format is labelled as Disk 1, then input"select disk 1". Programme will return like : the disk 1 is selected disk now. (PLEASE MAKE SURE THE DISK YOU SELECTED IS DEFINITELY YOUR TARGETED SSD RATHER THAN OTHER DRIVE)

Then input "clean" and execute the command. If everything went smoothly, programme will return like Diskpart has clean the disk successfully.

Then you can format it in system tools like "diskmgmt.msc" or any other ways.

Hopefully all above useful.

Lan Nick
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If I connect the SSD via a USB adapter, I can see the partitions and format them, but afterwards the drive is still not accessible.

These are classic signs of a failed drive if the above happened without returning errors. It suggests the drive is in read-only mode in which mode the drive simply drops all writes. Certain failure conditions can trigger the firmware to switch the drive to read-only mode.

If you're really pressed to get the drive going again you'd need to try find the manufacturer MPtool and reinitialize the drive to 'factory state'.