How to disable the smartcard reader on the J7xx??

This may sound a bit surprising, as everyone is looking for the way to get the smartcard reader to work.
But frankly I don't think I need that level/kind of security. What gets me, actually, is a popup window asking for a smartcard (in japanese). I don't know whether it's a hardware or ROM issue. The smartcard slot on my 728 seems a bit sensitive as that window will show up if I put some pressure on the casing around the slot.
So the question is, how to disable it once and for all? Do I need any particular app or registry hack to achieve that?
My 728 is running on the Japanese ROM, so I can't make much of those jp messages.
Thanks!

Edited by MrSB 2010-02-10 2:39 PM

No solution everyone? For now I use a sloppy trick by inserting an unwanted smartcard and then cutting off the protruding part. I can still take it out easily with scotch tape. At least the slot is fed now and won't cry that easily...

There must be "SmartCard" key in HKLM/Drivers, delete it firstly backing it somewhere (just in case).

I have my doubts that that'd work, Alt Bass. I'd expect the system just to reload it from ROM, thereby regenerating the registry key.

There's little possibility of this, unless there is some restore utility set to start with OS (what is also almost impossible).

I think he means it will reload during a hard reset...

Surely it will but Geek didn't mention anything about hard reset.

Thanks for the hint. I did try deleting the key in HKLM/Drivers/BuiltIn/SmartCard and reboot. Nothing changed. This is the only key I can find. Is there a proper key to modify?

I just think disabling the smartcard interface will save both troubles and power. Wrong?

PS
I also thought of a more brutal way by deleting scard.dll, but it's read-only so I can't do anything with it even with TotalCommander.

Edited by MrSB 2010-02-19 5:08 AM

This is what I suspected would happen. No, I wasn't just referring to a hard reset. I assume that scard.dll is in ROM, so wouldn't the key be hard-coded as well?

How about a simple hardware hack...removing the electronics physically...pulling a wire or something...

Could you please tell what do you have in \Windows\StartUp and in HKLM/init?

For startup, there are two shortcuts, hpbod.exe and hpinit.exe. I've searched over the internet and only found one spot just asking what they are...

And here is the key in HKLM/init:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\init]
"Depend20"=hex: 01,00
"Launch01"="RedGear.exe"
"Launch10"="shell.exe"
"Launch20"="device.exe"
"Launch30"="gwes.exe"
"Depend30"=hex: 14,00
"Launch50"="explorer.exe"
"Depend50"=hex: 14,00,1e,00,2d,00
"Launch45"="hpinit.exe"
"Depend45"=hex: 14,00,1e,00


I've tried deleting the shortcuts and the key related to hpod and hpinit. Booting up gets slower but other than that nothing seems to go wrong.

Edited by MrSB 2010-02-21 4:47 AM

Problem solved. It turned out to be a minor contact issue.
I am not a technician in any sense. I don't know the actual mechanism an structure of a contact smart card reader. So pardon my unprofessional explanation.

My dirty fix:

1) Locate the smartcard reader components and find the metal contact. It seems to me that as soon as the metal contact touches the copper foil on the board the circuit will activate card reading .




2) The real problem here is the metal contact somehow got bent and was too close to the touching point. So pressing on the keyboard or the casing around this area may push the metal contact against the copper foil.






3)A straightforward but unprofessional way to get around this problem is to block the space between the metal contact and the copper foil as a kinda insulation so no connetion can be made. I didn't try lifting the end of the metal contact for the fear that I might damage the delicate parts and perhaps the problem would persist or got even worse...




It works anyway.
Maybe it is useful for users with machines having similar problems.

Edited by MrSB 2010-03-12 4:31 AM