Bios password

[yaroa]

So today I came home from work and my daugther greets me with "Daddy I cant get into my computer".
It turns out that she went into set up and installed a password. The problem is that now when the comp. is booting up, it ask for a password but when she try to type it nothing happens, the keyboard is working because if I hit the delete key, it start going to set up but then againg the password prompt come in but nothing "come out of the keyboard".

[Sharpy]

Looks like you have to clear your bios. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

[yaroa]

Thanks guys, I was hoping there was another solution but to reset the bios.
This is an old Gateway comp. wich my daugther use for homework. I have the manual in front of me, but the instructions for jumper pins are very suscint. I've narrowed it down to two jumpers one says clear CMOS and the other is FLASH recovery mode boot. So wich one is it? http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[neo_otyugh]

clear cmos

[Dominus]

What type of BIOS is it? Most BIOS manufacturers have skeleton-key passwords that work on all their systems.

Can't remember any of them offhand, but I know they exist.

[Algee7]

CYM

[Emc2]

Definately clear CMOS, as that's where it stores the pw, along w/ a few other things. It runs off of the battery mentioned above.

[Paul V]

I just did this myself because my BIOS decided not to allow my password (and I don't know why).

I could not find a clear jumper so I pulled the battery, 15 seconds later I reinstalled and redid BIOS settings.

[Missing the point]

I know a quick fix for this, if you can find it. Somewhere on the Motherboard, there should be a password reset jumper. I am not sure what to do with it, but read your manual. I think you enable it, and it bypasses the password. I know this from school, when me and my teacher overclocked a Celeron 366 from the classroom. We had to do this to get into the BIOS, so we could adjust things.

[Sharpy]

That jumper resets your bios to default if your not sure check your mobo manual.
Otherwise turn off your computer then open the case and look for your battery (usualy like a watch battery but bigger then find a 3 pin jumper next to it and move the jumper along one pin [..]. to .[..] wait a few seconds then move it back hopefully your password has been cleared.
If your really unsure get someone who knows what there doing.

[Ed_S]

Or, if it IS the watch-type battery, just pull the battery & leave it out about 15 minutes... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Ed

[Pulse]

I had a similar problem when I bought this PC second hand. I did not have the password to access Bios. After speaking to a couple of people I was given a web address where you can get a program which shows you the password. Unfortunatly, it will only show the first 3 digits of the password. This was ok in my case as the installed password was only 2 digits long. http://www.spaceports.com/~command/cracking.html

[yaroa]

Ok guys, first of, thanks once more for your help. I tried to clear the CMOS following the instructions on the manual, without any luck.
This is a very old computer with a 60mhz cpu, (Gateway2000 with a baby AT mb., like I stated in another post, my daugther uses it for her homework. I'm thinking about getting a FIC 503+ MB, with an AMD 500 cpu and salvage the rest (HD,CD ROM etc). So now I need your opinion about this http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Paul V]

Unplug from the wall and pull the battery. Wait overnight to be sure -- the CMOS cannot hold a charge with no power. If there is still a password in the morning then there's a backup battery you need to remove.

[yaroa]

Cant remove bat, its integrated onto the mb (not one of intel best work).

[narayan]

I agree with Dominus. Check the BIOS manufaacturer for a "default" password.

[Pepto]

I know some motherboards have a password jumper that you can pull out (mine is marked PWD on the mobo) and it will override the power on password. *Shrug* Just a thought... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Pepto

[yaroa]

Ok guys I think that I've exausted all avenues with this problem, anyway it was time to junk/upgrade this clunker, so I ordered a mb/cpu/mem combination from mwave (see my previous post).
Thanks to all for your help. Now if you have any pointers about FIC mb.... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif