Be careful on Ebay....

First, I did not want to post under my regular name so I set up another account. No reason to put info out here that anyone can access with Google and cross reference, am I right?

Plus I feel really stupid, so there. But I wanted all of you to know what can happen if you are not very careful.

So this is what happened…
Saw a really nice CF-29 on Ebay. Price was a little high, but it had lots of goodies and I couldn’t resist a Buy-it-NOW!

Seller had good feedback, and communication was good. No problem. Got the TB in a couple of days, but when I looked at it there was no model or serial number sticker. No problem, thinks me. Someone may have just removed it whilst cleaning or something. I never really thought about it being stolen.

Well, then I tried to get into the BIOS, but no luck. E-mailed the seller, but he said he had never needed to get into the BIOS so he did not have password.

Then I set about trying to crack the BIOS on my own, and used every bit of advice I could get to try and get into the BIOS. NO WAY. That machine was locked down tighter than Ft. Knox.

Decided to send off to Panasonic to reset BIOS at a cost of $200.00. Deal didn’t look so good now, but I was determined.

Well, I started calling every day to see when I could get the 29 back, and they kept putting me off. Finally asked to speak with a Supervisor, and found out that the 29 had been STOLEN, and was on their list to confiscate if it ever turned up in their shop.

DARN…

Well, I crafted a strong letter to the seller asking for a refund. I got lucky boys and girls. He was a real stand up guy with a good rep, and he promptly refunded my money. He acquired the machine at a storage house auction and was not aware of the history. Alls well that ends well, am I right?.

MORAL 1. Be very careful about used Toughbooks. They are very expensive machines, and usually bought by corporations or law enforcement who are really serious about keeping track of their hardware. They can be easily lifted from a truck or van and end up on the used market. I don't really know how to check for stolen. Maybe someone else here does?

Moral 2. You cannot crack the BIOS on a CF-29. If you get one with a locked BIOS, it will cost you $200.00 [if it is not confiscated], got it?

End of story

 

Thanks for the heads up on the bios. I have a password on my bios and the hard drive. I set it so if someone yanks it, it is usless. I got mine from a pawn shop, It had the charger and was new other than missing the box and disks. Anyway I figure if it were stolen it woud have been picked up by now. It still makes me leary to send it in for any service, it's still under warrenty for 2 years. I registered with pannasonic and they pulled up the warrenty info so I guess I'm alright...

 

Thanks for the warning. Don't feel stupid, I wouldn't think you did anything foolish, you bought it in good faith.

Did you still have to pay the $200?

Did the authorities want to contact you about having a stolen laptop? Are you expecting any follow up?

 

If any of you give me the model and serial from a toughbook, I can check to see if it is stolen. This is usually a stinker since most of them have the model/serials removed or the seller just won't give out that information. Just an FYI.

 

TBT how do you get service if the serial#'s removed? Or are you on your own. I'm not in this boat, just curious?

 

So did you actually go as far as to pull the CMOS battery? That does the trick on 28s.

 

It didn't work... And we can talk about that...

 

Toughbook,
Is your post correct? You said "And we CAN talk about that"

Please clarify your post.

TBTECH,
Thanks, that's a great service, especially for would-be buyers who can get that info from the seller beforehand.

 

Has not been long enough to know what kind of followup ther will be.

The factory service center waived the service fee.

I have no complaints about the Service Center. They were only doing their jobs, and were always courteous to me.

 

Just to follow up. I am not knocking Ebay here, or Panasonic.

I will continue to buy AND sell on Ebay like lots of others here.

I just wanted to share what happened in this particular case.

 

That means "NBR rules state that we cannot talk about bypassing security".

However, the CMOS battery trick does not clear the BIOS on the CF-29 according to Toughbook, so it becomes ok to state that "It does not bypass security, so we can talk about it and state such".

 

It's too bad everyone's so paranoid about getting sued these days! (i assume that's the motivation)

 

For the record. I tried the following to clear bios. none of them worked, obviously.

YMMV

Battery unplugged for 5 days.

All of the various programs floating around for download. Google is your friend.

Even tried unplugging the cmos battery and activating on/off switch to drain capacitors.

 

has anyone found a CF29 service manual yet? the 28 manual talks about how a cable can be built connecting some of the parallel port pins and PS/2 port pins. I never tried building this cable because the unplugging the battery trick works so well for the 28, but I wonder if this would work on a 29.

 

Gravitar,

The CF-29 service manual is posted on Modly's web site.

 

Maybe they beefed up security on the 29, or maybe I had a special one with additional security.

Don't know, and won't know at this point as it is gone, gone, gone...

 

You got really lucky the way it turned out for you. (note to self.. don't EVER send a toughbook back in to panasonic for ANYTHING!)

 

Indeed! http://modly.net/CF-29

 

There is another way, I know, just replace the thing e......e.....m......m.... chip.

 

(Page 4-1, section 4.3)

 

Yall are right evil bay has become infested with scoundrels The cf-28 I received off evil bay looked like the gorilla from that old luggage commercial had it that and the seller forgot to include the power adapter. I was quite disappointed. However I will perceiver and get my cf-28 to where ill be happy with it. I was glad I was smart enough to have already a battery on hand to use . I will admit it works fine.Now I'm on the hunt for an lid and a palm rest if any of yall have any let me know . Both have heavy, deep gouges where the company name that was etched into them then removed. I suppose I could smooth them out and repaint them. Speaking of I searched I really did for the post on removing the palm rest I cant find it again. I picked up a cd drive and a DVD drive to put in the caddy I plan to put internal wifi and GPS. and rubber backlit keyboard. Id love to some how fit an antenna into the rim location since mine didn't come with one not sure if it will be wireless or a GPS one. So far you guys have taught me so much. I will admit you have scared me a bit too.ergo the internal GPS process. The post's about yall building that tough book for the Marine made me cry. Yall are as we said in the army when I was in simply OUTSTANDING.

 

I had mine gone over by a guy who has been doing the IT on tB's since the cf-25. He helped set the password for the bios and hd lock out. He says the ONLY way around the HD lock out is to stick the actual hd platter in another drive assembly of the exact same configuration. He says the bios unlock is called a new mother board

 

The palm rest is not easy - I experimented on a 600Mhz parts unit. It is put on with double face tape. Very good double face tape if I might add. I did get it off though with a skinny putty knife that I put an edge on. It will come off in three pieces. The two sides and the center are all separate pieces. This is good if you only need to replace one area. I suppose if you take your time you could do a clean job but will take some work. After you get it off you will have all the double face tape to deal with. Let me know how you make out if you tackle it, mine is still in the TB drawer waiting to have the tape removed and going to try and get the grey off to repaint. I have also seen a few that will simply use contact paper or a thin laminate to cover your existing palm rest. Not sure how well it would hold up but lot easier to change out if it needs it. Hope this helps and have fun -

 

Mmm the contact or laminate sounds like a sound idea I do wonder how a dipping in plasti dip would turn out .

 

Confection works the best, I think the anme is correct. I know they used the stuff in Movie sets and its coated so it doesnt peel from water etc. Its easy off and stays on and comes in all colors including camo patterns.

 

Naaahh... all they do is remove the BIOS chip, reflash it, then solder it back in. I've seen a couple hacksites on it; of course, if you want to fix it without soldering, THEN you need a new MB.

This is as far as I'm willing to go into this; discussion of bypassing PW security of any sort is verboten on this site.

mnem
Geekitude is measured in many things; how much soldering equipment you have... how many oscilloscopes... how when the doorbell rings, do you think "I hope that's FEDEX with my new Mobo/Processor/ToughBook..."