NEED HELP! Customer locked out of her Acer Aspire 3680.

[Alan]

NEED HELP! Customer locked out of her Acer Aspire 3680.
I hope no one minds me posting this question here but I am at a loss to
solve this issue and hope someone here can help. My customer is locked out of
her Acer Aspire 3680. She hasn’t used it for a few months and has forgotten
the password. I have searched the net for possible solutions and tried
everything I came across that appeared to make sense but other than sending
the laptop to Acer for them to unlock it at approx £100 plus postage and VAT
I have no idea.
I have tried and had no luck with the following:
• I have opened up the back to try and find the CMOS battery
• I have disconnected 4 connectors that look like they could lead to a CMOS
battery for more than 30mins
• Phoenix backdoor passwords: PHOENIX, CMOS, BIOS and phoenix
Any help would be much appreciated
Regards to all Alan

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

NEED HELP! Customer locked out of her Acer Aspire 3680.
I hope no one minds me posting this question here but I am at a loss to
solve this issue and hope someone here can help. My customer is locked out
of
her Acer Aspire 3680. She hasn’t used it for a few months and has
forgotten
the password. I have searched the net for possible solutions and tried
everything I came across that appeared to make sense but other than
sending
the laptop to Acer for them to unlock it at approx £100 plus postage and
VAT
I have no idea.
I have tried and had no luck with the following:
• I have opened up the back to try and find the CMOS battery
• I have disconnected 4 connectors that look like they could lead to a
CMOS
battery for more than 30mins
• Phoenix backdoor passwords: PHOENIX, CMOS, BIOS and phoenix
Any help would be much appreciated
Regards to all Alan

Acer may have to replace the BIOS chip.. send it back to Acer..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Acer may have to replace the BIOS chip.. send it back to Acer..

Huh? Why?

ss.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Huh? Why?

Oh right, just reread it, and realised that he is talking about a BIOS
startup password.

ss.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

NEED HELP! Customer locked out of her Acer Aspire 3680.
I hope no one minds me posting this question here but I am at a loss to
solve this issue and hope someone here can help. My customer is locked out
of
her Acer Aspire 3680. She hasn't used it for a few months and has
forgotten
the password. I have searched the net for possible solutions and tried
everything I came across that appeared to make sense but other than
sending
the laptop to Acer for them to unlock it at approx £100 plus postage and
VAT
I have no idea.
I have tried and had no luck with the following:
. I have opened up the back to try and find the CMOS battery
. I have disconnected 4 connectors that look like they could lead to a
CMOS
battery for more than 30mins
. Phoenix backdoor passwords: PHOENIX, CMOS, BIOS and phoenix
Any help would be much appreciated
Regards to all Alan

She could try hypnosis, to recover the password.

ss.

 

[Alan]

She could try hypnosis, to recover the password.

ss.

Thats funny!

 

[Tim Slattery]

I have tried and had no luck with the following:
• I have opened up the back to try and find the CMOS battery
• I have disconnected 4 connectors that look like they could lead to a CMOS
battery for more than 30mins

It sounds like you haven't actually found the battery. It's got to be
there, it would be about the size and shape of a quarter (a silvery
disk about an inch or so in diameter). Look in the system or
motherboard documentation. Maybe you can find documentation about that
motherboard at Acer's web site.

 

[Alan]

It sounds like you haven't actually found the battery. It's got to be
there, it would be about the size and shape of a quarter (a silvery
disk about an inch or so in diameter). Look in the system or
motherboard documentation. Maybe you can find documentation about that
motherboard at Acer's web site.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(Shell/User)
(e-mail address removed)
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

Looks like finding the cmos battery is the key. I am looking for dissemble
instructions for the Acer Aspire 3680 but not having much luck. I have to be
careful not to damage it in any way

 

[Kerry Brown]

With many laptops the BIOS password isn't removed by clearing the CMOS. The
only way to remove it is by sending it to a factory authorized repair
center. I'm sure there is a procedure but as a security precaution to make
stolen laptops unusable it is a closely guarded secret. It is different for
different brands and even different models of the same brand.

 

[Michael John Ruff]

Hello

For most ACER laptop if you remove the underside of the latop and then
screen next to where the second memory slot is there is DIP switch which has
written next to it remove password or such like, move the DIP switch to this
postition power up the machine and password is removed I had to do this on a
travelmate and works great. Before reassembling change the DIP switch back
to the original position.

Regards Michael

 

[the wharf rat]

It sounds like you haven't actually found the battery. It's got to be
there, it would be about the size and shape of a quarter (a silvery
disk about an inch or so in diameter). Look in the system or

Not on a laptop. On a laptop it's going to be a long lumpy or round thing in an odd
color, kind of like a big resistor. And it may be soldered into place.

Anyway, you usually can't remove a laptop bios password by removing power,
because it's stored on a seperate chip. Now, Acer OEM's for IBM/Lenovo, and in any case
most of this stuff's standard parts. All Acer will do is replace the chip
which they may or may not be willing to sell. One thing you could try is find that
chip and simply call parts&service and request that part number. Another would be to
get the numbers on the chip itself and try to match them on a site that DOES sell these.
Look on, say Ebay, to find a couple of password chip sellers.

The last resort is pull the chip and find an EEPROM writer

 

[Michael John Ruff]

Hello

Just had a look on the service manual for thsi model and the jumper is on
the bottom of the board.

Regards Michael

 

[Bruce Chambers]

NEED HELP! Customer locked out of her Acer Aspire 3680.
I hope no one minds me posting this question here but I am at a loss to
solve this issue and hope someone here can help. My customer is locked out of
her Acer Aspire 3680. She hasn’t used it for a few months and has forgotten
the password. I have searched the net for possible solutions and tried
everything I came across that appeared to make sense but other than sending
the laptop to Acer for them to unlock it at approx £100 plus postage and VAT
I have no idea.
I have tried and had no luck with the following:
• I have opened up the back to try and find the CMOS battery
• I have disconnected 4 connectors that look like they could lead to a CMOS
battery for more than 30mins
• Phoenix backdoor passwords: PHOENIX, CMOS, BIOS and phoenix
Any help would be much appreciated
Regards to all Alan

What did Acer's Tech support tell your customer when she called them?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Not Me]

I see everyone talking about BIOS password and the battery or reset
jumper/switch.
Did I miss something?
The poster didn't specify BIOS password, is it possible they just need the
Windows password?
There are several bootable CDs that will reset that...
Resetting the BIOS password won't affect the Windows password.

 

[Michael John Ruff]

Hi NotMe

Yes they did mention in the first post about tried reseting BIOS, removing
battery etc.

Regards