Accessing data of a "dead" computer

new posts, a 10 year old PC it is.
( T400)
I guess the shop is closed? or you want us to do wild guessing? what are you asking
what's wrong? well it's dead, next is testing.

Most PCs this old are now dead. (yah)
in order of early deathh(sic)
Big battery bad and shorted long ago. remove it.
CCFL back lamps DEAD. ( most are now)
RTC coin cell dead.
(when you said dead, I think , silent fans and no screen text ever)
sure it ran ok before, but when last week , 5 years ago?
12 steps, see em>? how far can you get.? here.
http://pcdied.com/dead-PC.html

your manual is here.
http://tim.id.au/laptops/lenovo/thinkpad%20t400%20r400.pdf

looks as though the user profile might be corrupt. Try booting into safe mode or another user log in. If you can access safe mode create another account. Reboot computer normally and log into the new account. If new account works then you have a corrupt user account that would need to be fixed or just transfer all data to new account and remove old account.

Back up your most important data to an external storage device in case anything goes wrong while changing the BIOS settings. Remove any disc that is currently inserted in the IBM Thinkpad X41's disc drive.
2-Shut off the Thinkpad X41 laptop. Turn the laptop back on and wait for the "To interrupt normal startup, press the blue Access IBM button" message to appear on the screen.
3-Tap the blue Access IBM button at the top of the keyboard. Click the "Access BIOS" button when the "Rescue and Recovery" menu appears.
4-Click "Yes" and wait for the BIOS to load. Type in the current BIOS password for the IBM X41 and press Enter.5-Navigate over to the IBM's "Security" heading by tapping the right arrow key twice. Scroll down to the "Supervisor Password" listing and press "F5."6-Type the IBM's current BIOS password and hit Enter. Leave the next field blank if you want to completely remove the BIOS password, or instead type in a new password to replace the old one. Press Enter.7-Press "Escape" and then highlight "Restart" and press F5. Navigate to "Save changes and Restart" and press Enter.

Hi and welcome to Fixya1

To reset the machine back to the factory settings, just follow these steps:

1. • 1 Shutdown your machine and make sure that the charger is plugged in before doing the reset. Turn on the machine.
     
   • 2 Press the blue Access IBM button on your ThinkPad keyboard at the screen prompt. The screen prompt reads "To interrupt normal startup, press the blue Access IBM button." This interrupts the Windows reboot process.
     
   • 3 Double click "Recover to Factory Contents" at the Access IBM predesktop menu.
     
   • 4 Follow the recovery wizard prompts to initiate the factory restoration process. Your ThinkPad will automatically reboot upon completion.
     

Hope this helps!

Takasashi

This a virus! If you don't have important files better to revert it back to factory settings. When the system restore option is still accessible you can try this as a quickfix
If you're a computer savvy person try deleting these files and entries, else call IBM Thinkpad software support: %UserProfile%\Application Data\hotfix.exe %UserProfile%\Application Data\thinkpoint.exe

Remove the following associated registry entries:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PAV HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "thinkpoint" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon "Shell" = "%Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Application Data\hotfix.exe"

must take your computer to a Lenovo authorized servicer or a marketing representative to have the password canceled. If you forgot your hard disk password, Lenovo authorized servicer can not reset your password or recover data from the hard disk

bull 5 years, you bought with lies of amazon. 2008 made is 10 years to 2018. and all batteries are dead, CMOS and big one
worse big one shorted,
?
or is owner ship duration? 5
rule one remove that relic old huge battery first and run on AC power pack alone(even forever)
what you did is backwards, totally battery is the last test after the whole PC runs perfect again , see?

lenovo R52-nnnnn NO nnnnnn told. sadface.
try are
ThinkPad R52 Series
(MT 1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,

1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862,

1863, 1870

12 PC based off R52, laptop.

still screen dead right, say screendead or black %100
say of fan blowds
tell beeps or flashcodes of any LED
or text errors to screen
and if BIOS is dead.
if all that dead that is power failing
we push the power button for 10 full seconds and release
that is the intel super secret safe reset.
still dead 100%
battery big still out, keep it out.
and AC pack disconnected for overnight
this is the HARD power reset.
this reset undoes power surge and latchup events.

still dead try new AC power pack did you use the wrong pack
shine flash light on screen see data CCFL tube are dead.
as all are this old frankly , die at 20,000 hours many do;

power pack 16vdc 72watts 4.5amps, only
wow free schematic leaked out,whooo hoooo

https://manualmachine.com/lenovo/r52/8197122-schematics/

Your computer has been protected by a Power On password.
If you didn't set this password then ask the person who set the password on the computer.
This password is near impossible to crack, try various names, pets, kid's names, family names/places, street names etc. There are no back door passwords and the password is not stored in the BIOS and removing the BIOS battery won't erase the password.
The password is stored on an EEPROM chip and you need electronic knowledge to build an EEPROM reader, then pull your laptop apart, solder the reader to your laptop, connect the reader's connector to a working computer, and run a program to read the contents of the EEPROM, identify the password from the downloaded data, unsolder the reader, put the laptop back together, boot up and insert the password. You can now enter the BIOS and change the password or remove it.
For further info goto http://sodoityourself.com

The Power On password and the Hard drive password are designed to prevent unauthorized access to the laptop and the data that is stored on its hard drive.
Removing the hard drive from the protected laptop and inserting it into another laptop will not work, you still cannot access the data on the hard drive without the correct password.

the following data is from the hardware maintenance manual for the thinkpad 600 series and is readily available from http://www.lenovo.com/support


Symptom or error FRU or action, in
sequence
161
Dead battery.
1. Go to “Checking the
backup battery” on
page 12.
2. Backup battery.
3. System board.
163
Time and date were not set.
1. Set time and date.
2. System board.
173
Configuration data was lost.
1. Select OK in the error
screen; then set the
time and date.
2. Backup battery.
3. System board.
192
Fan error.
1. Go to “Testing the
computer” on
page 7.
2. Measure the voltage of
the backup battery. If
the voltage is not
correct, replace the
backup battery.
3. Fan.
4. System board.

Try this:

Press and hold F1; then power on the computer. Hold
F1 until the “Easy-Setup” menu appears.
If you have set a password, the “Easy-Setup” menu appears
after you enter the password.

Plagiarized from:

http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/topic9023.html