Discussion on:

Two quick tips for getting past a lost BIOS password

I debugged my BIOS password to make it an error and skip the password....but how do I get it back to normal with no password?

When I installed Window XP Professional on my note book, I installed a password. After virus effect, I want to clean and reinstal window XP. But I cann't clean as when I enter the password which I remember, it didn't work. So, please explain me how to recover my password.

Yeik

I need the program fast because i cant get in my bios anymore because i forgot my pass. On the computer is the whole hospital administration so please be quiq, you might save 1000 peoples lives

could u plz send me that tool plzzz!!! ^_^

many times i need to remove some problems in computers especially with deepfreze how can i do this

ok another way to hack BIOS passwords w/o resetting everything and if you are alone and have 5-10 minutes is... (i will post my entire guide)

1. Shut down computer
2. Flip switch on power supply to off
3. Remove all wires
4. Remove pins on case
5. Open case
6. Find anything that says something about ?BIOS?
7. Find (Normal 1-2, Config 2-3)
8. Remove jumper pin from 1-2
9. Put jumper on 2-3
10. Reconnect keyboard, monitor, and power cord wires ONLY (only used items)
11. Put case back on (optional)
12. Put pins back on (optional)
13. Flip switch on power supply to on
14. Boot computer
15. (Computer will automatically go to BIOS setup, and display an otherwise inaccessible page, where an option is to ?Remove all passwords?, press enter when this item is highlighted, and again to OK it)
16. Save configuration
17. Shut down computer
18. Flip switch on power supply to off
19. Remove keyboard, monitor, and power cord wires
20. Remove pins on case (if you did step 12)
21. Remove case (if you did step 11)
22. Find something that says ?BIOS? again
23. Take jumper pin off of Config 2-3
24. Put jumper pin on Normal 1-2
25. Put case back on
26. Put pins back in
27. Reconnect all wires
28. Flip switch on power supply to on
29. Boot computer

This should sucessfully override BIOS w/o having to delete all settings... it is only tested so far on desktops, on a Intel D845PESV with BIOS version P04, dated 10/20/02.

I have a IBM Thinkpad x31 and i lost bios passwd ...on my mainbord in not any jumper ...and its imposible to reset bios with bios batery ...who can help me ?????

can you send me the program please my email is paxon311@hotmail.com

Hi ahevans, could you please send me the bios hack. I need it for a Toshiba laptop.
Thanks.

ps my email is tahirkheli@gmail.com

could you please send that to me. ive been strugling for weeks. my email is flalenpeel@excite.com. if anyone could help i would really appriceiate it .

I Would like you to send the bios hack .exe in my email.
I'm Mryaya21351@yahoo.com

Trying to recycle an Inspiron 3800 Laptop for a needy student on Stony Brook University Campus and cannot get past Admin Pasword to open Win2000.

Thank you,

Barry

pls help to retrive or change my bios password and i want to make non accessable other drives like d,e,f,g,h....except os drive to others how can i make it pls help me

This problem is more difficult when you consider notebooks. They don't have switches suggested. Does anyone know what to do with a Dell or Toshiba notebook with a lost poweron password?

Thanks,

Shem

Dell, at least, call the support desk for your product. If you can prove it's yours, the tech calls the L2 queue and they supply the tech the password based on system service tag, bios revs/strings, etc. On a somewhat related note, tried to get pasta password on a DEC Hi-Note Ultra 2000 at one point so I could wipe the drive and return it to the lessor. No jumpers, took out all the batteries, no good...called Compaq. Good luck getting an answer on those. I never did. Users who don't remove passwords should be gently escorted to the roof and pushed off...

Toshiba notebooks are easy(or they were up to a year ago, they may have changed since then). Power down, put a loopback plug on the parallel port, power up, shut down. Finished!

This will work on the older Toshiba laptops and you need the correct type of loop back plug from Tosh.

As instructions on how to make the loop back are on the internet, Toshiba has changed its method for password removal.

I know that for a Toshiba you have to send the newer machines back to the factory and they clear the password there and it costs $50 or $100 or so. Although if you can get the machine booted into a command prompt you can use the debug commands in aprevious post and it usually will work. I think the debug script is the best thing to use. Although the memory ranges he specifies is rather short. I don't remember exactly, but I previously would use something like this.
debug
-o 70 00
-o 71 ee
-q
That will make sure that you clear everything in your bios settings. Basically what happens is you force a rewrite of the stored bios information from the Flash ROM.

To get by the "Password ?" message on a Toshiba Sattelite notebook you can make a "Key" disk using a HEX editor,
If you need any more information email me

I prefer remove the battery. I've done many times and it always works

One trick I use is whenever the client wants the BIOS password enabled I copy it onto a post-it and put it inside the system. This way it is available in an emergency. Clients are always losing the motherboard manuals which we inform them are valuable and must be saved. They don't listen. With this trick we can gain access to the BIOS with relative simplicity. If the client changes the password after our note is installed then we are already inside the computer to mess with jumpers or battery depending on the motherboard.

Knowing now that a 10k path will discharge CMOS, I would look for points to which to apply resistor; battery in place, because battery will not suffer from 10k across it momentarily.

A 10K resistor across the battery isn't going to do much of anything else, either. Except run the battery down just a bit faster, of course. "Discharge the CMOS"?? Not in this particular dimension, I'm afraid.

Another way to get past that lost BIOS password is to find and locate a BIOS cracker on the Web. Depending on the BIOS (Award or Phoenix or whatever) that is on your motherboard, just search any major search engine for a BIOS cracker. Typically, it's a small download that you put on a floppy and boot from, and the BIOS password is displayed on screen. I have a side job doing repars, upgrades, etc, and this little tool has helped me a number of times when a customer failed to tell me about the password.

I looked for ages trying to find the battery on one machine - eventually locating it hidden inside the RTC (real time clock).
Sometime this is a plug in module, or - if you're unlucky, its soldered in !!

Some motherboards have the security password flashed into an eprom so removing the battery doesn't always work. If you cannot identify your motherboard there are utilities on the internet that can do it for you and you can then refer to the manufacturers website for information.

I find swapping the jumper works very well in such a case and is alot let hassle, as some of the battery holders are very week,,as you are probably aware,,,thanks for the interesting tips,,mick

FIRST I TRY AND GO TO THE INTERNETS FOR YOU SUMIT A SEARTN WORD AND IT WILL PICK UP YOUR PASSWORD. OR THEY WILL RE SUMIT YOU A NEW PASSWORD.I DON'T THINK THAT I WOULD UNPLUG ANY FOR I PROBLEY MESS IT UP OR FORGET WHERE IT WEN BACK TO .

FIRST I TRY AND GO TO THE INTERNETS FOR YOU SUMIT A SEARTN WORD AND IT WILL PICK UP YOUR PASSWORD. OR THEY WILL RE SUMIT YOU A NEW PASSWORD.I DON'T THINK THAT I WOULD UNPLUG ANY FOR I PROBLEY MESS IT UP OR FORGET WHERE IT WEN BACK TO .

I've been there, on a notebook, no jumpers. No accessable internal battery. Tried all the passwords I have on my cheat sheet. There must be an EPROM in there. I can't get past the password login any suggestions???
Please help

There's a program you can find over on www.windrivers.com and other sites that will kill the CMOS so you can get in and redo the setup.

hi,
please teach me aboutboth hardware and software development. that's all thank you very much....

your client:

We recently ran into this problem with a Panasonic Toughbook CF-47. The laptop was set to boot from C: but the NT4 OS was missing kernel files, effectively rendering the computer useless. The way we eventually got around the problem was to unplug the hard disk. This forced it to boot from the A: drive, then ran KILLCMOS (a google search will find several sites that have this program). Once KILLCMOS was run, the bios defaulted to A: as the boot drive and the password was gone. Hope this helps. Panasonic wants $115.00 just to reset a password - go figure...

Unfortunately I have forgotten my CMOS password and now I am unable to work with my PC. What can I do? Please help.

Hi..I was wondering if pressing the Off and On button about 3 times would also clear the CMOS and BIOS password instead of taking the battery out and changing the jumper..But in this case I would have probably done the same thing. Please let me knowif the other could help also..I have done it once and it worked. Just to let you know.. Thanks again .

Sincerely,

Jesse Albin

As pointed out in the tip, motherboard manuals tend to get misplaced or lost. This can make it impossible accomplish anything with a motherboard (including resetting the BIOS password).

One superb resource for help is motherboards.org. You can find information for 'mystery' motherboards that can lead to all of the information you could ever ask for!

This site has saved my posterior many times, and I thought I would pass along the info.

I am in the coin op trade (Video games) that use the same soldered batts as older motherboards do. We have to clear a games memory from time to time (Its version of BIOS) and have also used this to do the same for the older computer motherboards that have a soldered in batt and you do not want to un-solder it, or don't feel you have the skill to do it.....SHORT IT!. This also assumes you have a ground strap and use it correctly.
Take a jumper wire or aligater jumpers and clip the positive and negative sides of the batt for 30 seconds (POWER OFF AND UNPLUGGED!) while keeping a finger on the batt. After 30 seconds, the memory or BIOS is reset, but it could take a little longer. Remember that finger on the batt? If it gets too hot to touch, unclip it!
This has worked 100% for all our video games and old computers. This is only to if you do not have a reset jumper, or can't find which jumper it is.
Harry
Coin Operated Machines

If you were working for me, and you pulled a stunt like that, the next thing out of my mouth would be:

"YOU'RE FIRED!!!!"

Here are a couple of problems I have seen in my time as a tech.

Some motherboards rely on a metal clip to hold the CMOS battery in. This clip can also double as the Positive (+) terminal for the battery. I have seen them get broken by less experienced tech and have broken them a time or two myself. Usually a jewelers screwdriver will get the battery out.

Other PC makers (IBM) incorporate a Hard Drive password in their laptops. If this gets set and forgotten, you only have two options: Replace the drive or pay IBM to remove it. If you send it to IBM dont expect to get any data from the drive, it will all be lost.

A quick read of the posts in this discussion indicates to me that the point of having a bios password is pretty much lost on most PC's. After all, it's a security measure, right? If it is this easy (one jumper? remove the battery? download a password list?) to hack, then there is NO security. It's worse even, because it's a false security.

So, never mind setting the BIOS password. If you have a need to secure your machine, put it in a locked closet, and use a secure operating system, and configure the user security correctly.

Apparently only two companies discussed here have 'done it right' and have built their machines so that there is no access without the password (Dell and Compaq). But this only causes people to complainthat it's 'too hard' to hack the password.

It's not supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be impossible.

This won't help those of you with dufus users, but since there is no real reason for the user to be in the BIOS, pre-set the setup password to something that is the same for every unit, and which only the IT staff has access to. or a different code for each unit, but again, limit access to the master list. not only will the puny users never set a password that locks out the system, but they'll never screw with the BIOS, either.

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It's not supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be impossible
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The trouble is, to make it impossible, you would have to make it completely inaccessible. Which renders it useless. It's like the lock on your front door knob. It keeps most people out, but it is no security against the determined burglar or locksmith. You'd have to brick over the door to make it "impossible". But then, you can't get into your house! Hey, welcome to the real world; it's not perfect, Deal With It!