Resetting BIOS password - Hardware & Software

I have a netbook from a friend that needs to be formatted. Problem is that there's a BIOS password on it and I can't choose to boot up from USB. To make matters worse, [i]there is no branding on this laptop[/i]. Nothing, not even a model number. The only thing I found was a serial and 'PSN' (product number?). The PSN is N011X-043US-BBN2702G16XX. So far I've tried unplugging the CMOS battery(?) but it still persists. Help!

How long did you leave the CMOS battery out? When we had this while I did work experience with the techs at my school we had to leave it out for a hour or two. Also if it turns out it's a Toshiba, apparently pressing esc a lot ( about 100+ times) before the password screen shows up can somehow get past it. You find out some weird security flaws when Googling fixes sometimes...

replace the laptop with one which doesn't have a password on the BIOS. From there you should be able to format without issue. If you have any more problems just say.

maybe you shouldn't steal

[QUOTE=hexpunK;18067497]How long did you leave the CMOS battery out? When we had this while I did work experience with the techs at my school we had to leave it out for a hour or two. Also if it turns out it's a Toshiba, apparently pressing esc a lot ( about 100+ times) before the password screen shows up can somehow get past it. You find out some weird security flaws when Googling fixes sometimes...[/QUOTE] Yeah I left it out for about 10 minutes, I'll let it sit longer. [editline]05:46PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Appox;18067512]replace the laptop with one which doesn't have a password on the BIOS. From there you should be able to format without issue. If you have any more problems just say.[/QUOTE] Gee thanks.

Try this guide: [url]http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.shtml[/url] Also, the battery should be left out for around an hour. I heard that shorting out the battery contacts (make sure the computer is off before trying) works sometimes, but I suggest doing research before trying that.

[QUOTE=R2Bl3nd;18068570]Try this guide: [url]http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.shtml[/url] Also, the battery should be left out for around an hour. I heard that shorting out the battery contacts (make sure the computer is off before trying) works sometimes, but I suggest doing research before trying that.[/QUOTE] Oh man I laughed at some of those backdoor passwords, especially the Phoenix ones, as that is a common BIOS system. Even a two year old could get into your PC :ohdear:

Leaving the battery out for almost 2 hours still didn't work. I'll start trying some other things. [editline]07:18PM[/editline] BIOS is AMI version 2.4 [editline]08:05PM[/editline] new plan swap hardrives with my netbook to install OS

Swapping hard drives won't work. It will just BSoD on boot.

Take out the cmos and the power cord then try to turn on the laptop and it will be like leaving the battery out for like 3 hours. My desktop can almost turn on just from power left in the capacitors. [editline]11:28AM[/editline] That is the cmos battery.

[QUOTE=CombineGuru;18077276]Swapping hard drives won't work. It will just BSoD on boot.[/QUOTE] Well right now I'm running through the text portion of the installer while having the drive connected to my desktop. It's copying all of the setup files over to the drive, so when that's done I'll put the drive back in the notebook.

[QUOTE=compwhiziitothemax;18082376]Well right now I'm running through the text portion of the installer while having the drive connected to my desktop. It's copying all of the setup files over to the drive, so when that's done I'll put the drive back in the notebook.[/QUOTE] Yeah but it will detect all different hardware and will BSoD on boot. [sp]Unless you are very lucky. [/sp]

It didn't BSoD, it just didn't bootup because the bootup config was different. I've had enough fucking around with this thing.

Take out the HD then insert the usb drive that can be booted off of, then if usb is anywhere in the boot sequence it will eventually boot up. Unless if usb isn't there... have you found out if usb is in the boot sequence?

That's what I'm going to try later.

if taking the cmos battery out for a day doesn't work, [i]most[/i] motherboards have terminals that you can join (with something conductive like a screwdriver), connecting the terminals will discharge the cmos capacitors if taking the battery out doesn't work. You might have to power up the machine with the terminals connected. This will reset the cmos and remove the password. The terminals may or may not be marked. Common markings are things like clr_cmos, xxx, clr, cmos_reset etc netbooks are a fucking pain to do this with beacause their design usually means taking it into 100 pieces to get to the terminals. If it's fairly modern you may need to take it into an authorised dealer/repairer of the laptop to remove the password (if it uses a proprietary BIOS like the newer Toshiba (Tecra A9) laptops do. The cmos password in some cases can be stored on a seperate chip, and the motherboards lack the terminals. It works in theory as theft protection as some of the laptops have biometric boot security.

I heard dell used to have a serial connector reset thing, not sure anymore, since there aren't a lot of laptops with serial connectors.