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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?

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    The password has been set on the SSD itself. On a built-in chip/part of the firmware. The short answer for you: With great difficulty/almost impossible. It'll be far easier for you to replace the disk and re-install, but you'll have almost zero chance of getting the data back from the locked disk.
    – Kinnectus
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 10:27
  • @Kinnectus: I have no need for the data on the locked disk, I just want to use the disk again. Is it possible to reset the SSD to a clean state? Replacing the disk is not possible, as there is no budget for new drives. If I can't reset the SSD, then the laptop will be tossed out, so it would be really nice if I can reuse the SSD!
    – Joe
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 10:34
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    No budget for new drives so throw the entire, more expensive laptop away and, what, replace that? Logical. each to their own. Honestly, you'll waste so much time trying to reset the password than will be worth your time simply replacing it. a laptop SSD is less than £100.
    – Kinnectus
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 10:43
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    @Kinnectus - "BitLocker is software encryption" - This isn't true. BitLocker will use the broken implementation of a device that supports self-encryption when possible. This is one of those discoveries that happened in 2018. It isn't to say this is a weakness of BitLocker itself, just that, BitLocker doesn't always use software to perform the encryption. To make it clear, BitLocker can use a hardware or software encryption, entirely depends on the configuration.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 11:41
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    @Ramhound, good call. Didn't Microsoft, recently, U-turn that Group Policy setting because of the vulnerability...? I.e. The new default setting is to enforce software encryption...
    – Kinnectus
    Commented Feb 5, 2019 at 13:14

3 Answers 3

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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).

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  • those were my thoughts as well. It's OK to loose the data, but one should be able to reformat the drive and start again, so to speak. Anyway, thanks for the commands, I tried them with linux live CD but no luck I fear. Both commands give me a similar error message, which is Issuing SECURITY_SET_PASS command, password="1234", user=user, mode=high SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[] If I run hdparm -I /dev/sda, there is no security section in the output, which strikes me as odd...
    – Joe
    Commented Feb 6, 2019 at 10:29
  • See superuser.com/questions/1213715/…. The drive may actually be frozen. Sleep the machine (without rebooting), wake it back up, and try again.
    – Royce Williams
    Commented Feb 6, 2019 at 15:33
  • Thanks! After booting in Kali, I tried to sleep the machine and wake it again. Nothing changed in the hdparam -I output. I also tried to disconnect the SSD while running and reconnect it again, but with the same result. Still no security section in the output of hdparm -I. It's really frustrating since I can see the drive just fine in linux, and attached via a USB adapter in Windows, I can create & delete partitions, read, write, delete data, but as soon as I try to install Windows on it, the install process fails to find the drive. On boot, the 3F0 error - Device not found still occurs.
    – Joe
    Commented Feb 7, 2019 at 11:39
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    That sounds like there may be an actual hardware problem with the drive, then.
    – Royce Williams
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 16:22
  • I fear the drive is lost indeed. Since I can't keep spending time on fixing it, both laptop and drive will be scrapped. Thanks for the help anyway!
    – Joe
    Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 6:57
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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.

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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'.

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