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Ichnafi's avatar
Ichnafi
Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
Mar 26, 2018

Big-IP i4000 bricked after downgrade from 13.1 to 12.1. Harddrive is locked by ATA password

Hi all,   after booting the 12.1 partition out of a 13.1 test installation, my machine is bricked. Being connected via console, the device keeps asking for a Hard Drive Password which i don't know...
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Ichnafi's avatar
Ichnafi
Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
Mar 29, 2018

I've got it running again. Support says that

 

RMA process is rejected in those cases due to the issue was caused by an external factor

 

I have no idea in what way a reboot to another software using the GUI is a issue caused by external factor.

 

I solved my problem by guessing the password. So for all of you who run into the same problem, the ultra secure password with

 

the main goal [to] protect the hard drive, even, for internal administrator

 

is: f5

 

After that I was able to wipe the disk with the integrated disk-wipe utility (press "e" on startup) and perform a clean install from external DVD-Drive.