bios password

[protechpc]

I have an older DELL. The bios requires a password, and the customer does not know what it is. I reset (?) the bios by removing the battery and power, however now I can't even get it to boot to windows unless a password is provided. Any ideas on how to get around it?

[Sixpac]

There should be a bios jumper on the motherboard to disable the Bios. If you have the manual for the board it will tell you where the jumper is.

The jumper will be 2 pins. If you find it then take the jumper (with the system off) and move it so its on both pins then turn on the system and wait a couple seconds then turn off the system. Then move the jumper back to where it was and turn on the system and the bios password should be gone. (This also might reset your bios to its defaults setting so you might want to check those out too).

Hope that helps.

[protechpc]

Thanks sixpac. Actually, I found it. On the Dell MB there is a 3 position jumper. Pins 1 and 2 are normal use and jumpered. Applying the jumper to pins 2 and 3 will allow the user to go into configuration mode. Once in config mode, you can choose an option to remove all passwords. Shutdown the system and return to jumper to 1 and 2 and boot to normal.