Unknown Bios Password Blocking Boot-up

October 20 | Doc Savage

[Doc Savage]

Can anyone tell me how to delete or bypass a forgotten bios password which blocks my CPU from booting.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

That was a lot better than my suggestion, which would have been "FORMAT C\:"

[metalboy]

HA HA~~ That`s what I was going to say! I`m going who is this guy, a moderater? No, he`s a member since yesterday.. WAD IS DIS? COMP USA? READ DA SIGN BUSTER!! Anyway, since this ain`t an official FReep subject, let me bash Susan Estrich some more..

"Don`t drink the milk!"

"Why not?"

"It`s spoiled!"

David Blaine the magician emerges from his box after 44 days without food or Kobe Bryant updates...

"Bunny..Bunny..I would like to obtain a chocolate bunny."

Meanwhile in an unrelated story, Joey reaches day 78 in his glass..

"I do this for the children."

 

[js1138]

This may be a dumb question, but are you sure this is the BIOS requesting a password? On every system I've ever seen, the only time you have to enter a BIOS password is when you're actually trying to enter the BIOS to make changes, and someone has set a password to prevent unauthorized changes.

Not a dumb question, but probably not relevant here. The motherboards I'm familiar with have separate passwords for boot and bios update.99.9 percent of everyone has never seen password protection on the motherboard. I first encountered it when building a machine for my son at college. He had seen kids screw with each other's machines and didn't want anyone messing with his.

Of course kids know the jumper pin trick, so you also have to have a strong case with a good lock. Some motherboards also detect when the case has been opened and display a warning.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

You know I havent tried that debug from dos to reset it, but now not sure it would work; how would you get to dos?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Maybe a safe mode boot?

[JoJo Gunn]

stevenprice
Since Oct 17, 2003

[djf]

Actually, when I remove the battery, I usually short the battery posts for a few seconds. That always has cleared it for me, sometimes it's not an easy task to find the regular cmos short jumpers. You end up spending half an hour downloading a PDF copy of the manual (if you can even find it)

[general_re]

On every system I've ever seen, the only time you have to enter a BIOS password is when you're actually trying to enter the BIOS to make changes, and someone has set a password to prevent unauthorized changes.

Not a dumb question, but it's not a situation most people encounter. A lot of systems have an option for a BIOS-based boot password that requires you to enter the password before the computer will boot, as this one is. You see it most often on corporate-type desktops - e.g., IBM - although it's generally not enabled by default. Next time you're poking around in your CMOS settings, see if your machine has such an option - you might be surprised. Just try not to forget the password if you enable it ;)

[general_re]

The previous suggestions for removing the CMOS battery and removing the correct jumper are the only way to clear a CMOS password.

Not the only way - as long as it's socketed and not soldered to the mobo, you can always yank the BIOS chip and replace it with a new one in a pinch. Most mobo manufacturers will happily sell you a replacement, and it's not even that expensive - $20 or so, typically.

[derlauerer]

I think you misunderstood the problem: He can't get as far as booting into any mode (DOS, safe, full, whatever) because the BIOS password won't let him. A BIOS password, if set, prevents a system from booting until the correct password has been entered.

The advice to open the appropriate jumper on the motherboard is the best way to fix this problem. Removing the CMOS battery will work, but it will also reset the configuration parameters in the BIOS, returning them to their factory defaults. If those have not been written down somewhere (which seems unlikely in this case), then rediscovering what they were, so as to make the system behave as it is expected to, could be an interesting exercise.

Replacing the BIOS chip would also work, as an "if all else fails" option.

[John123]

This may be a dumb question, but are you sure this is the BIOS requesting a password? On every system I've ever seen, the only time you have to enter a BIOS password is when you're actually trying to enter the BIOS to make changes, and someone has set a password to prevent unauthorized changes.

This is not a dumb question but you are talking about Gateway here. I have two of them and you can set up the BIOS to ask for the password as soon as you turn on the computer. Gateway sometimes doesn't make it easy to customize a computer... (sigh).

[John123]

That was a lot better than my suggestion, which would have been "FORMAT C\:"

Your idea wouldn't work at all because the BIOS password is stored in the motherboard, not the HD. :)

[Skooz]

He isn't disrupting the site. He's also a do-it-yourselfer. No telling what he would run into at the computer repair shop; they're getting as bad as auto repair shops.

It's a simple question. No big deal, really.

[Recluse]

No tomato paste for me. I use mostly chopped green chilies. In the big can. Also some chopped tomatoes.

Also, never use the store chili powder.

[Destructor]

Should've bought a Mac.

[EggsAckley]

Needs more anchovies.

[Range Rover]

Good point. Haven't ever had to swap one out. I imagine that my machine's life cycle has been short enough to avoid it (or I've just been lucky).

[general_re]

It doesn't happen very often that you really need to replace one - any power spike that's large enough to fry the BIOS is large enough to fry everything else on the mobo as well, so there's not much point in trying to resurrect the BIOS in those cases. Mostly, I think they get blown the way I blew mine - user error. In my case, thinking about what I was going to be doing next, instead of paying attention to the thing I was soldering at the moment ;)