4 ms·

It reminds me of how I set a boot password in the BIOS on my HP laptop. I now have forgot the admin password in order to remove that "feature". I have no idea h

by _RPM 10y ago

It reminds me of how I set a boot password in the BIOS on my HP laptop. I now have forgot the admin password in order to remove that "feature". I have no idea how I can fix it. The laptop is bricked. I can't install Linux on it because it is set not to boot from USB or CD/ROM

witty_username 10y ago
> I have no idea how I can fix it. Just disconnect the CMOS batteries; you can find tutorials online. Or you can take it to a computer shop, it should be a simple fix.
- _RPM 10y ago
  Where are those located?
  - witty_username 10y ago
    The grey coin-sized CMOS battery is alongside the motherboard. I suggest you look at the many guides and videos, just search "removing BIOS password".
    - _RPM 10y ago
      That will work for sure? I'd have to really start taking things apart.
      - whamlastxmas 10y ago
        Almost certainly yes. I have taken apart many laptops, it's usually not more than 5 minutes reading a guide/video and another 5-10 minutes of work.
      - jerf 10y ago
        Check HP for the service manual for your laptop. This is generally a standard goal the manual will give steps for. Usually all you need is a screwdriver of the right size and a bit of guts to pull apart bits of plastic, though I find my confidence that I'm not destroying anything is greatly enhanced when I'm following the manual and have reasonable confidence all the screws are out properly.
      - jz_ 10y ago
        Not for sure. That trick is kinda old. I had a Pentium III based HP laptop that stored the password on a chip that didn't require a battery to evade such a trick. The only fix was using the backdoor password that could be generated by using the serial number of the laptop (HP required proof of ownership, but I had dumpster dived this from their offices). The backdoor password was retrieved by wiring 50 USD to a fellow in the czech republic who had the keygen tool HP support would use.
DanBC 10y ago
What's the model number of the laptop?
- _RPM 10y ago
  Not exactly sure because I don't have the laptop on me. Do you have model specific advice I should know about?
besselheim 10y ago
I had the same issue with a second hand HP laptop. However, I could still log in as administrator on the Windows install, enabling me to dump the flash memory used to store the BIOS firmware and configuration, which included the password hash. Some reverse engineering later, and I was able to brute force the hash successfully. So that could be an option if the password is not stored in battery-backed memory, and you have a bit of time on your hands to get stuck into the BIOS internals.

by _RPM 10y ago

witty_username 10y ago

> I have no idea how I can fix it. Just disconnect the CMOS batteries; you can find tutorials online. Or you can take it to a computer shop, it should be a simple fix.

_RPM 10y ago
Where are those located?
- witty_username 10y ago
  The grey coin-sized CMOS battery is alongside the motherboard. I suggest you look at the many guides and videos, just search "removing BIOS password".
  - _RPM 10y ago
    That will work for sure? I'd have to really start taking things apart.
    - whamlastxmas 10y ago
      Almost certainly yes. I have taken apart many laptops, it's usually not more than 5 minutes reading a guide/video and another 5-10 minutes of work.
    - jerf 10y ago
      Check HP for the service manual for your laptop. This is generally a standard goal the manual will give steps for. Usually all you need is a screwdriver of the right size and a bit of guts to pull apart bits of plastic, though I find my confidence that I'm not destroying anything is greatly enhanced when I'm following the manual and have reasonable confidence all the screws are out properly.
    - jz_ 10y ago
      Not for sure. That trick is kinda old. I had a Pentium III based HP laptop that stored the password on a chip that didn't require a battery to evade such a trick. The only fix was using the backdoor password that could be generated by using the serial number of the laptop (HP required proof of ownership, but I had dumpster dived this from their offices). The backdoor password was retrieved by wiring 50 USD to a fellow in the czech republic who had the keygen tool HP support would use.

DanBC 10y ago

What's the model number of the laptop?

_RPM 10y ago
Not exactly sure because I don't have the laptop on me. Do you have model specific advice I should know about?

besselheim 10y ago

I had the same issue with a second hand HP laptop. However, I could still log in as administrator on the Windows install, enabling me to dump the flash memory used to store the BIOS firmware and configuration, which included the password hash. Some reverse engineering later, and I was able to brute force the hash successfully. So that could be an option if the password is not stored in battery-backed memory, and you have a bit of time on your hands to get stuck into the BIOS internals.