Remove Lo Jack from BIOS

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by anarchist9027, Aug 9, 2013.

  1. oldsh_t

    oldsh_t MDL Expert

    Dec 23, 2009
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    Well from doing some reading and searching on the net, it seems that there are not to many people, with the knowledge to mod a BIOS, willing to do such a thing. Maybe that is why you are not getting any response from the people here at MDL. It all boils down to is this stolen or not?? Yea I know you say it is not stolen, but saying is not proof. People here at MDL are on the up and up and would hate to be involved, (maybe) helping someone steal something.

    Now I am not say you have stolen this laptop but things just don't sit right. You say you bought it and paid for it with you student loan money. But the school will not remove the lojack. That is the part I don't understand?? That would be totally illegal on their part. That would be like buying a car from a dealer but they refuse to give you the keys so you can drive it.

    I am afraid that you may be between a rock and a hard place on this one. Even if you change the chip you will have to flash it and the new flash will probably have the lojack in it and can be reactivated by the school. From the reading that I have been doing, many of the manufactures have been installing this in their BIOS for some time now, and is there if someone wants to activate it.

    Short of learning how to mod your own BIOS..... I am afraid your stuck!!
     
  2. anarchist9027

    anarchist9027 MDL Expert

    Oct 30, 2010
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    Well I have the proof that it is not stolen and its called a receipt from Everest University. People here at MDL know how to trust people and know what people they can trust. If you can tell or not, I'm not a noob on the forums, I'm an established member with a reputation.

    I never said I purchased it with my loan money, I said I purchased it straight from the university (Meaning it probably belonged a former student). The only thing I mentioned about loans is that if it is included in your loans, it should be yours.

    The BIOS chip has a unique UUID so when I do swap it out, it will be good to go and as long as the BIOS chip is clean (meaning no lojack activation), I'll be good to go. And if worse comes to worse and I have to replace the motherboard in case the BIOS swap is unsuccessful, I'll just have to take that road.
     
  3. MrMagic

    MrMagic MDL Guru

    Feb 13, 2012
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    I worked in a PC repair shop, and one year we had a load of customers asking us to remove the BIOS password from their laptops they had bought from the local school

    They were genuine, not stolen, but the school didn't know the passwords

    It happens
     
  4. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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    "I also found this on my new Toshiba. The easiest way to disable it is: find rpcnetp.exe in the system32, properties, security, change the system permissions to all deny. It won't run after that." > Saw this in an earlier thread about CompuTrace.
     
  5. anarchist9027

    anarchist9027 MDL Expert

    Oct 30, 2010
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    Didn't work. I even booted up in MS DaRT to access the file and change the permissions. Its a no go.
     
  6. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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    I do believe this is the first time I have become this aggravated by someone else's computer. I did a search on "disable LoJack torrent" and found Spyvision v1.5, an app claiming to disable the LoJack software. I did scan it with VirusTotal which returned a report of 2/47, meaning 45 antivirus engines gave it a clean bill of health. As two of them didn't, that would be your call on whether to try it or not. (Fighting mixed feelings here - a part of me wants to see LoJack defeated. On the other hand, if I were the owner of a prized laptop with LoJack installed, I naturally would want it function as designed).
     
  7. anarchist9027

    anarchist9027 MDL Expert

    Oct 30, 2010
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    I have downloaded Spyvision 1.5 from their website and WOAH, it detected the Lojack, removed it, and so far so good. I have been checking for Lojack software in its usual spot and NOTHING!!
    Thank You for the heads up on Spyvision!!! :worthy::worthy:
     
  8. oldsh_t

    oldsh_t MDL Expert

    Dec 23, 2009
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    Well it has been a few days now. Are you still up and running??
     
  9. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

    Feb 27, 2011
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    it seems the soft is legit. but does the blocking at the software level.. not in the bios lojack module.
    so if its formatted it will need reload of spyvision 1.5
     
  10. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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    Yes, the Spyvision site states reinstalling the OS means running the app. again. Well, all these years I was convinced LoJack was bulletproof. Glad it worked. (And again, Computrace/LoJack is not the enemy here. None of this would have been necessary had the jerks at Everest College honored their agreement).
     
  11. goldfinger

    goldfinger MDL Junior Member

    Dec 29, 2010
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    Don't buy a chip and solder it. Get an SPI programmer and flash it with the stock BIOS. I think I paid under $25 for a programmer and a clip to do in-circuit programming. It has turned out to be one of the most useful tools I have. Good luck!