Hello phil_l,
We are investigating your report and hopefully we can provide an answer to your inquire shortly.
Regards.
PV
Hello,
I have the same setup (DZ77BH-55K, BIOS Version 70, Intel 520 SSD),
and I can confirm that there appears to be no way to set
the HDD password.
This is quite sad since this feature was the main reason for me
to get the Intel board and SSD...
Any news about this issue?
Thank you
Kai
I too purchased this motherboard just for the ability to use the encrypted SSD, and I also purchased an Intel SSD for the sole purpose of using encryption features.
Upon inserting an encrypted disk with a password set for another computer, it killed my computer. Intel is issuing me an RMA.
Displays "Enter Password to unlock system" and after typing in a password (which has never been set), it displays a "Password check failed. Fatal Error... System Halted" screen.
When can we expect support for ATA security extensions in this motherboard or other Intel motherboards? The fact it recognizes password protected drives, and prompts for a password while not actually allowing an unlock of the motherboard is quite misleading.
Even if Intel doesn't ever support ATA security extensions, would it be possible to have a BIOS / UEFI that doesn't lock the entire system if there is an password protected disc?
Support for ATA security extensions is a big deal for a lot of people, software based disk encryption is less secure and some people are legally mandated to have encrypted disks. Where are the options for someone to have a secure, high performance desktop? Where are the options for someone to use an encrypted Intel 520 SSD with an Intel motherboard?
Hi
I'm hopeful Intel are working on it. The DZ77GA-70K has a firmware update out today and in the release notes it says Hard-drive password added to the Visual BIOS. The BIOS's on these boards are all very similar so I would hope a firmware update is on its way for our board.
I completely agree with your comments, it's poor these boards have been released without proper support for something that's been around for a long time (ATA Security commands) especially when Intel are promoting their 520 and 330 SSDs to a wider consumer audience singing the praises of built in hardware encryption.
Regards
Phil
Hi Phil,
Did you manage to try out the HDD password support in the new BIOS version? I'm hoping on getting a Z77 motherboard which has HDD password support for my Intel 520 drive, but I'm having problems finding one. It seems crazy that these drives are touted as having ATA password support but the desktop boards can't use it.
Hi
No new BIOS yet for this board. The current BIOS has options to set a HDD password but only when set to IDE mode, and then this only shows up in the classic BIOS, not the Visual, so as it seems half baked I didn't want to risk enabling a password and getting stuck, as someone else has, with a machine they can't boot.
Here's hoping Intel are picking up on this and we get a new BIOS soon with this working, I'll post back as soon as we have.
Regards
Phil
Thanks Phil, that's a big help. I'll keep watching this thread 
Are there any other desktop motherboards that you know of which support an HDD password?
I actually did get the computer to boot by using the clear CMOS jumper and pulling the battery out at the same time. Just pulling out the battery won't clear the random? password that locks the system.
Hi
smaerg wrote:
Thanks Phil, that's a big help. I'll keep watching this thread
Are there any other desktop motherboards that you know of which support an HDD password?
Not sure about other motherboards as support seems few and far between in desktops, while pretty comma in laptops.
Hoping Intel sort this out soon so I can get my data protected, one of the reasons for an Intel SSD in the first place.
Regards
Phil
Hi
Just an update. With BIOS version 83 we get options to set the Master and User password in the BIOS now and this is working correctly for me. Note there is no mention of this in the release notes which seems odd and not very professional of Intel.
It was a little scary enabling it, as once enabled I rebooted and was just looking a blank monitor with a small blue rectangle in the top hand corner and no boot. Assuming this was a corrupted graphic of a please enter password prompt I typed the password blind on the keyboard and thankfully it booted into windows fine.
It seems there is a bug when graphics optimisation is enabled in the BIOS which turns off the splash screen that means the log in prompt graphic is corrupt. When I turned off graphics optimisation in the boot menu I see the hard-drive login prompt correctly. I'm using the i7-3770 CPU and built in graphics, no other graphics card in stalled. Both a DisplayPort monitor and the second HDMI connected monitor showed the same problem.
Hope that helps others.
Regards
Phil
Hi Phil,
thanks for the update. Just to make sure, I read your post as that you are talking about the BIOS Admin & User PW, and not the HD-PW?
Question: Did you try to attach your potentially encrypted (HD-PW protected) disk on a different computer to check if you can read the data there?
I am still unsure if this Board really has the HD-PW option or not. For me it would be sufficient if the board would recognize a HD with a set HD-PW and query the PW during boot time. The board documentation on the bios sucks really big time as it does not list all the implemented feature as other MoBo docs do.
And I kind of dislike buying a MoBo just to test if it has all the critical features I am looking for. BTW - I also want to use the Intel SSD520 and I am looking for a suitable board....
Thx
Hi
This is the hard-drive master password and password.
I've not tried the SSD on a different computer.
The drive SMART data reports that security is set on the drive correctly so it appears to working good.
Regards
Phil
Many thanks for the clarification, Phil. Much appreciated.
