Where is the Winbond TPM Trusted Platform Module on an IBM Thinkpad T43?

[rollerbladegirl]

Where is the Winbond TPM Trusted Platform module on an IBM ThinkPad T43?

Some background in my thinking that it is findable:

Recently someone installed Windows XP Pro from a Microsoft CD which had a scratch in it's surface. The install was onto an IBM laptop. The next few times that the laptop was started it did not show *any* TPM activity.

Background History before this event:

Previously with XP Pro installs to that laptop; when the laptop was restarted it attempted to use a wireless connection to [where ever...]. When the wireless did not make a connection, the laptop notified the user that it had a problem and would NOT start Windows XP Pro except if the user pressed the "ESC" key manually. Every time the laptop was started or restarted. This quickly got old. Start from cold (or Restart)/Refuse to start Windows/Get aggressively intrusive message/Press the ESC key to start XP Pro.

Later:

Then one day, after finding a deep scratch on the Authentic Microsoft Windows XP Pro install disk, and wanting to work with a replacement/new/test hard drive, XP Pro was to be installed again, the disk was cleaned and all but the deepest scratches removed. That one scratch was very deep. The install of XP Pro went OK, and when XP Pro was started, it did not have any aggressively intrusive message telling the user that "they" had a problem. The laptop started, started Windows XP Pro, and worked fine.

Then:

One day, the hard drive with the *not-aggressive* *non-existing* interruptions to starting Windows, was taken out. That hard drive was then hooked up via usb converter to another laptop that had those aggressive interruption messages at *it's* starting and the user copied some files (maybe game files? something...) between the two hard drives. When the nice hard drive was put back into the easy to start laptop, it acted mean and gave that nasty interruption message and refused to start until the user hit the ESC key.

It looks like the hard drive that had the TPM being mean and nasty and interrupting each startup of Windows, somehow "infected" the nice hard drive and made it mean and nasty and then it interrupted each startup of Windows on that laptop.

Conclusion:
If the TPM is software (executable or data file etc.) then where is it and what are the file names that it uses?

• It is not on the list of un-installables in the Control Panel.
• "tpm" and "*tpm*" are not found via a Windows Explorer search.
• "tpm" and "*tpm*" are not found via a registry search.

Where is it?

It might be a data file that the laptop's hardware looks for and when not found, it goes on with Windows startup? That is what I am thinking. But then what data file(s)?

Exactly what data files?

Update:

Over time some people have been looking for a way to remove TPM (Trusted Platform Module) from XP Pro, and how to keep it off of the hard drive.

The answer, when found, might apply to other operating systems, but one thing at a time, XP Pro for now. Maybe other operating systems after that.

Please take this seriously and if you do not know the answer ask around elsewhere and post the answer here.

Thanks.

[SwissProgrammer]

Great question.

I find it wrong that no one (here) has told how to get rid of the TPM from an old system like XP Pro. Lots of "know it all's" claim that no body uses XP any more. But, no one has told how to do this (here). You should find the answers and post them here.

Thanks.

Here is some help.

Quote:

The Embedded Security Subsystem

The Embedded Security Subsystem is a chip on the ThinkPad's mainboard that can take care of certain security related tasks conforming to the TCPA standard. It was first introduced among the T23 models and is now under the name "Embedded Security Subsystem 2.0". It is an integral part of most of the modern ThinkPads. The functions of the chip fall into three main groups:

Public key functions
Trusted boot functions
Initialization and management functions

End Quote.

There is a start.

Lets see what you find.