IBM Netvista Anti-Tamper

I am working on a client's PC. He tried to replace his old cdrom with a dvd burner but severely damaged the IDE cable. This required me to remove the cover to replace the cable with a new one. Only trouble is I have tripped the hardware anti-tamper device and now the keyboard and mouse are disabled when Windows boots. I have contacted IBM directly but since it is out from under warranty they won't even talk to me unless I pay them $1063.00. No lie, just to ask a freaking question. That is wrong on so many levels.... I will never own anything made by IBM ever again after that load of crap, and I thought Dell was bad... Anyway does anybody know how to defeat the anti-tamper device? It's a little daughter board that attaches to the mobo and a case switch. I have access to the bios and have it's password but the supposed *clear* feature apparently doesn't work as I still get the "system has been tampered with" message. It won't boot at all without the board installed and clearing the cmos has been tried with no luck. I have verified that the switch is working and has been made with a meter. Anyone have any ideas that won't cost my customer a grand?