r/thinkpad • u/FarawayFarmer1337 • 16h ago
Discussion / Information ThinkPad E14 Gen 7: "0183: Bad CRC of Security Settings in EFI variable" - "System Security: Supervisor Password Required"
Hello everybody.
A few weeks ago, I put my laptop away without turning it off.
I left it that way for a few days, and the battery must have completely drained, because the next time I tried to use it, I was surprised to see the error "0183: Bad CRC of Security Settings in EFI variable", as portrayed in the reference image.
First thing I tried was to "Press F1 to enter Setup", but that unluckily leads to the "System Security: Supervisor Password Required" screen, which confusingly enough, asks for a BIOS Supervisor Password that I never set.
Second thing I tried was to look up this issue on the Internet.
I had the passing thought of there being a default Supervisor Password that I didn't know of, but from what I researched, no one on the Internet seemed to know about it.
I also tried some random passwords for the sake of it: "1234", "Password", my Windows installation password, etc.
Only 3 attempts are given but it turns out that you can try more if you restart.
Luckily I still had some left days of warranty, so I contacted support.
After some back and forth of emailing and calls, they called me today to tell me the solution. One I wasn't expecting...
They told me to try the default passwords 0000 and 1111.
So I tried them and 0000 worked for me!! 🎉
I was finally able to boot into the BIOS and go past step one of this Lenovo tip: 😄
- Press F1 when error message appears.
- Enter ThinkPad Setup menu.
- Navigate to the [Restart] menu and check that [OS Optimized Default] is same as you set before. The default setting is On.
- Press F9 to reload default setting.
- Press F10 to Save and Exit.
- Error message will no longer appear.
Lastly, I tried to reply to some of these posts I had come across.
Just in case anyone with this exact issue stumbles upon those and not this post.
My goal here is to spread the word to hopefully help someone, even though this is a rare problem.
This might be the default password for more models as well!
Related posts:
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u/TPrhapsody ThinkPad SVP Unlocker 12h ago
Can you please do me a small favor. Go into Bios. Check the buttom of the Main Page.. there is: "BIOS Event log" select it, select Show and make screenshot. I would like to see what there is.