bios password

[YellowDog]

The owner of an Acer 5220 laptop managed to forget his passwords. His
name was one of the users. He had also a password for the guest user
and the administrator.
Problem is I can't get in the bios to change the bootlist, it refuses
to boot from the cd/dvd drive. This laptop has no floppydrive either.
I tried some backdoor passwords but they didn't work. There seems to be
no cmos battery on the motherboard.
How can I get this machine to boot from the cd/dvd drive for a clean
install and how can I delete the bios password?

YD

 

[GT]

The owner of an Acer 5220 laptop managed to forget his passwords. His name
was one of the users. He had also a password for the guest user and the
administrator.
Problem is I can't get in the bios to change the bootlist, it refuses to
boot from the cd/dvd drive. This laptop has no floppydrive either.
I tried some backdoor passwords but they didn't work. There seems to be no
cmos battery on the motherboard.
How can I get this machine to boot from the cd/dvd drive for a clean
install and how can I delete the bios password?

If there is no battery on board, then there must be a way of reseting the
BIOS. Check the manual / internet for the motherboard or laptop model number
and find the jumper that will do it.

 

[CBFalconer]

The owner of an Acer 5220 laptop managed to forget his passwords.
His name was one of the users. He had also a password for the
guest user and the administrator.

Problem is I can't get in the bios to change the bootlist, it
refuses to boot from the cd/dvd drive. This laptop has no
floppydrive either. I tried some backdoor passwords but they
didn't work. There seems to be no cmos battery on the motherboard.

How can I get this machine to boot from the cd/dvd drive for a
clean install and how can I delete the bios password?

Contact the manufacturer, convince them that you are the owner of
the laptop, and MAYBE they can and will help. Otherwise tough.
This is all arranged to reduce the incidence of laptop thievery.

 

[Derek]

If there is no battery on board, then there must be a way of reseting the
BIOS. Check the manual / internet for the motherboard or laptop model
number and find the jumper that will do it.

pull the hard disk and format it on your desktop (suitable cables are
available) with luck the boot priority should default to the CD failing that
do a bare install on the desktop and replace the drive in the laptop. Before
you get to that tho' contact the ACER service centre and explain the problem
ideally with the end user present in case questions need to be answered
Derek
theres more info at
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3571907&body=MAIN

 

[Urrrrurth]

I'd try to reset the CMOS...

There should be a jumper to allow you to reset the CMOS.
Doesn't that work anymore ?

Otherwise try this
http://forum.vnunet.com/thread.jspa?threadID=103443&start=0&tstart=0
and read it through especially the end bit with the six zeros password
000000

 

[GT]

pull the hard disk and format it on your desktop (suitable cables are
available) with luck the boot priority should default to the CD failing
that do a bare install on the desktop and replace the drive in the laptop.

Formatting the hard disk externally (or internally) won't make any
difference to the BIOS password! You will have a nice clean hard drive in a
system that can't boot!

 

[Derek]

Formatting the hard disk externally (or internally) won't make any
difference to the BIOS password! You will have a nice clean hard drive in
a system that can't boot!

As I read the OP it is not a preboot authentication password that is causing
the problem just a common or garden Bios password there to prevent
modification to bios settings and should have no bearing on the OS booting.
So provided the bios priority is set HDD>CD/DVD when no OS is found on the
HDD the machine should default to access the CD if it aint the case and only
HDD is set then a basic OS install should, provide access to the cd to load
the correct drivers or even copying the Win CD to the HDD and making it
bootable would be an option all worth trying if nothing else works. or even
wipe the HDD sys it and use a command line bios killer to return it to
factory settings maybe a program like 'Killcmos'
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2969.html
its all way down the line of trying everything else until you get deperate
I'm not above using debug to cause the bios to have a hissy fit and reset .
Lots of stuff is impossible until you find the right solution.
Derek

 

[YellowDog]

When I remove the harddisk the laptop will start up from a cd/dvd. When
during startup the HD is connected again I was able to format it.
However it's not possible to instal any system on it. The laptop still
won't startup from the cd/dvd when the now formatted HD is in place.
When starting op with MSDOS on a cd andtrying to acces the C: drive the
system goes crazy running loads of text over the screen again and again.
Could there be a harddisk password something that blocks of any attempt
to install anything on it?

 

[GT]

As I read the OP it is not a preboot authentication password that is
causing the problem just a common or garden Bios password there to prevent
modification to bios settings and should have no bearing on the OS
booting.

You are correct, I had focussed on the original question - "how can I delete
the bios password"! This is why i didn't think formatting the hard disc
would help!

 

[Paul]

When I remove the harddisk the laptop will start up from a cd/dvd. When
during startup the HD is connected again I was able to format it.
However it's not possible to instal any system on it. The laptop still
won't startup from the cd/dvd when the now formatted HD is in place.
When starting op with MSDOS on a cd andtrying to acces the C: drive the
system goes crazy running loads of text over the screen again and again.
Could there be a harddisk password something that blocks of any attempt
to install anything on it?

Maybe there is something living in the MBR ? Try replacing the
MBR, or use a better "eraser".

This is one way to erase a drive.

*******

http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=129

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.comp.hardware/msg/70611e7925a22f31?dmode=source

*******

If you have access to a Linux LiveCD, you could also use
the DD command. For example, in Knoppix, this would delete
the first block on the disk. Bump up the count, to erase
more of the disk. I've used "count=10000", to restore
a disk to a state where it would accept an installation.

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

Sudo is needed with a Knoppix CD, to gain root access.
In other Linux situations, you may already be logged in
as root, in which case the "sudo" can be removed. In
addition, you should adjust the output file name (device)
to suit the device being erased. The raw device might not
be /dev/sda in every scenario. And it would help to only
have the disk connected, that you wish to erase. It is
much more risky to have multiple disks connected, as you
could really mess up another disk if you select that
one instead.

There is even a Windows version of "dd", but for obvious
(risk) reasons, I've never tried this.

http://www.chrysocome.net/dd

Using "dd --list" with that one, you can see how Windows
names disk drives. So that would give some idea of all
of their names. Perhaps an option like that works in the
Linux version as well.

If a Host Protected Area is being used, I think even
DD could not touch it. The HPA would have to be
removed first. But I'm not certain that the HPA
concept would prevent an installation. The MBR
seems a better place to hide something.

Paul

 

[YellowDog]

Maybe there is something living in the MBR ? Try replacing the
MBR, or use a better "eraser".

This is one way to erase a drive.

This is getting somewhat technical. Yes I have a Knoppix bootable dvd.
I'll try to understand what you have written and see what I can do with it.
English is not my native language so it takes some more time to
understand everything.
I'm not familiar with Linux either but I'll give it a try.

 

[Derek]

When I remove the harddisk the laptop will start up from a cd/dvd. When
during startup the HD is connected again I was able to format it. However
it's not possible to instal any system on it. The laptop still won't
startup from the cd/dvd when the now formatted HD is in place.
When starting op with MSDOS on a cd andtrying to acces the C: drive the
system goes crazy running loads of text over the screen again and again.
Could there be a harddisk password something that blocks of any attempt to
install anything on it?

Time to get down and dirty with it then if you can fdisk the hdd ( delete
the partition ) so it is not accessable to the bios that should allow the OS
disk to run in the Cd drive I am getting suspicious that there maybe more
that one drive partition fdisk should show it up if thats the case either
way it is worth trying.
Derek

 

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs "CBFalconer" typed:

Contact the manufacturer, convince them that you are the owner of
the laptop, and MAYBE they can and will help. Otherwise tough.
This is all arranged to reduce the incidence of laptop thievery.

That's what I was thinking and why I never attempt to <cough> aid and abet
<cough>, I mean, *answer* these types of questions.
--
Shaun.

DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me
offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it.
If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to
me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-)

 

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs "kony" typed:

Are there even laptops that don't have a battery onboard?
Seems like not finding it <> not having one.

Every laptop I've dismantled has had a battery. However they've all been a
couple years old at least. I suppose that it's feasible that more modern
machines use a capacitor instead, to stop people disconnecting the battery
in an attempt to bypass passwords.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me
offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it.
If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to
me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-)