[RedBloodedAmerican]

If you got win9x, you can try this if you dont want to open your pc:

Restart your computer in MS-DOS mode.


When you get to the C:\> or C:\WINDOWS> prompt, type DEBUG and press Enter.


A hyphen (-) prompt will appear waiting for you to enter commands.


Enter the following commands, pressing Enter after each one. Note: the o is the letter o and stands for OUTPUT.


o 70 2e


o 71 ff


q


After the q command (which stands for QUIT), enter Exit.


Then try to enter your BIOS at bootup. The password prompt should now be gone. you should now have full access to it again. However, you will now be at the default BIOS setttings and may want to change them to your preference. You may also want to have your drives autodetected again.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

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

[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.