What is a Bios password?
Bios password is a type of security protection measure to stop unauthorized person making hardware configuration changes on system devices (Example: BIOS’s allow you to require a password to be entered before the BIOS setup may be accessed) Meanwhile, bios password also use security protection such as Some BIOS’s allow you to require a password be entered before the system will boot. The Bios password information is normally store on a CMOS battery.
You may forget your motherboard bios password. Here is a tutorial that will guide you through some steps on how to remove or reset BIOS Password.
To remove the bios password on CMOS battery, first you need unplug all the power source and USB cable. Then open the desktop casing as you will need physical access to the motherboard and then find a circular, mostly silver metallic object on the motherboard. This is how you will locate the flat, circular and metallic CMOS battery.
Once you locate the CMOS battery, remove the CMOS battery. Avoid to touch it with your fingers and leave it about 120 seconds. This will flush the CMOS memory which stores the BIOS password and all other configuration. After that, plug back the CMOS battery.
Then all bios password will be clear and the computer will warn you that the CMOS configuration could not be found. Then you can either reconfigure it yourself or restore defaults. Restoring the default configuration should be fine in which devices hardware setting will be set factory default setting. In some cases, if you get weird error messages during boot up now, you will need to go to “Load BIOS Defaults” in BIOS and save the changes to fix them.
You will notice that the BIOS Password has been cleared and you can boot without it. You may reset the BIOS password to something else by going into the BIOS configuration and setting a new User Password (The Supervisor Password controls access to the BIOS, NOT the computer!).
For Laptops -
Dealing with laptops may be sometimes a little bit difficult as they are tricky devices especially it is a new model. If it has a security chip on the motherboard do not worry about it. You either have to physically remove the chip or contact the mfg for the “master” password. If you can boot up off of a cd or floppy try any of these methods:
Create a Win98SE bootable media “or anything that lets you boot into MS-DOS” and boot off of it. When the A :\> prompt appears type debug and press enter. You will then only see a “-”. Type o 70 2E “include the spaces” and press Enter. Type o 71 ff “include the spaces” and press Enter. Type q and press Enter.
Here is a list of common mfg backdoor passwords:
- AWARD BIOS – AWARD SW, AWARD_SW, Award SW, AWARD PW, _award, awkward, J64, j256, j262, j332, j322, 01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598, HLT, SER, SKY_FOX, aLLy, aLLY, Condo, CONCAT, TTPTHA, aPAf, HLT, KDD, ZBAAACA, ZAAADA, ZJAAADC, djonet.
- AMI BIOS – AMI, A.M.I., AMI SW, AMI_SW, BIOS, PASSWORD, HEWITT RAND, Oder.
- Other passwords you may try (for AMI/AWARD or other BIOSes) – LKWPETER, lkwpeter, BIOSTAR, biostar, BIOSSTAR, biosstar, ALFAROME, Syxz, Wodj gvs.
Here are a few more tips:
- Depending on the manufacturer of your motherboard, it may be possible for you to use what it is called a “backdoor password” to bypass the password problem.
- Remember that passwords are Case Sensitive. The last two passwords in the AWARD BIOS list are in Russian.
- Sometimes the bios reset jumper has a “handle” and is colored a bright color to make it easy to locate. Also, look in your case near the bottom. If it is a manufactured computer then it probably came with a little sticker with the jumpers and the location of the reset jumper.
- Still if all this does not work and you’re really stuck, the PC manufacturer can often give out a “reset password” if you can prove you are the owner. This works with Dell but they usually charge for this service.
Here are some Warnings:
- In rare cases, the battery may be soldered into the motherboard and very difficult to remove. If this is true, you may need to find a jumper near the battery that achieves the same result. If you don’t know which jumper it is, you can test all of them. Unplug (really unplug, not just power off) the computer, and start a methodical change in all the jumpers positions, change one, count to ten, change it back, move on the next. After completing the lot of them (on older motherboards this could take a while) plug the PS back in, and boot up. You may risk damaging your computer with this procedure if you are not careful.
- Some notebooks such as IBM’s ThinkPad become useless when the BIOS password is being tried to reset.
- Don’t just start pulling jumpers on the motherboard. Make sure you know where it was and in what position in case anything goes wrong put it back.
- If you turn your computer on and it makes strange noises or beeps, you should not proceed and should contact the vendor, manufacture or a computer expert.
