According to my manual there are different types of password, i.e. Power-on password, which can be reset and Hard-disk password. Quote:-The hard disk password helps you protect the information stored on your hard disk drive. Even if your hard disk was removed from the computer, the info stored on it cannot be accessed without the hard disk password....now the bad bit.... If you forget the hard disk password, there is no way to reset your password or recover data from the hard disk. Neither an IBM authorized reseller nor IBM marketing rep can make the hard disk drive usable.... this warning is repeated a few times. I am aware that the password is written into the hard disks firmware. It also is referred to on the IBM.com site but I cannot seem to find it. I do know that it says the hard drive will have to be replced. Sorry for the bad news.
regards Michael