Specifications
Chapter 2-6
• The numbers 0 to 9.
• The letters A to Z (not case sensitive).
The password is stored as scan codes.
Electronic Serial Number
The electronic serial number is a ten (10) byte string which matches the manufacturing serial
number on the bottom of the notebook. The BIOS must display the electronic serial number in
the boot screen and in Setup. The format of the line should be
Serial Number: SSSSSSSSSS
where SSSSSSSSSS is the electronic serial number. The format of the serial number is:
CCYWWNNNNN
Where
CC is a two character country code (TW for Taiwan).
Y is the year of manufacture (7 = 1997, 8 = 1998, etc.)
WW is the week of manufacture (1 to 52)
NNNNN is the unit number (see below).
Unit number is a number from 00000 to 99999 and is incremented for each unit produced.
The unit number is reset at the beginning of each week. Before displaying the serial number,
the BIOS must check for the special
′
invalid
′
serial number (INVALID000). If this special serial
number is detected, the BIOS should display the message:
INVALID ELECTRONIC SERIAL NUMBER
ENTER THE SERIAL NUMBER NOW:
The BIOS must then force the user to enter the serial number and program the entered serial
number into the EEPROM. The BIOS must perform validity checks on the serial number
entered.
System boards sent to service must be preprogrammed with this invalid serial number. This is
to insure that when a service technician swaps a new main board into a system that he/she
sets the serial number to match the serial number of the system.
This same electronic serial number is used for the serial number returned by the SM BIOS.
Software Password Backdoor
Because users occasionally forget their password we need a method of removing the
password for them. This method must involve little risk to the security of the password system
in general.
The method is that the User calls up Customer Support, Support tells them to press some
*special key combination which causes a
′
secret code
′
to be displayed, the user describes this
to support representative who then use their secret decoder ring to generate a
′
super-
password
′
which they tell the user to type in. This removes (deletes) all passwords (user and
administrator).
During the password request process, three failed attempts to enter the backdoor password
will also cause system turning off.
The back door password process can only be held on the cold boot.
Thermal management
There are two types of cooling techniques used for thermal management. The first type is
passive cooling where the CPU speed is reduced or other devices power consumption is