Mark L. Kahnt wrote:
Some older machines (486's and before) allowed you to hold down the INSERT key during the POST which would reset the BIOS to the defaults. Of course, this is absolutely useless information for more modern machines, but thought I'd throw it out there for everyone's consumption.Anyone remember how to clear a password on a BIOS? I've got a box from a client that has stopped booting from CD, and this client is ready to move to dual-booting but this is his main desktop box and it needs some cuffing around the BIOS. The password was put on by the vendor of the box, who then went broke three months later. I need to get Windows working (certain key files were clobbered by yet another virus - including explorer.exe - likely others, but I'm finding them one-at-a-time) to at least extract some key data before re-partitioning, and currently, for some strange reason, Windows can't see the cd-rom at all (while 2DiskXWin does, so I know that the hardware is okay - only M$ is $crewed ;) Yeah, it's all complicated - simply put, I need to clear the BIOS password, and I've forgotten the normal trick (other than removing the battery and disconnecting the power supply, and hoping the CMOS is static RAM rather than EEPROM - which one guy I know used a number of years back for his garage-built line of boxes.)
If the machine will boot off CD, you can pop in a KNOPPIX CD and use it to get to the network and save your data off the hard drive this way. If it won't boot off the CD but will boot off the floppy, Tom's Root Boot might be of value.
But simply taking the hard drive out and putting it in another machine temporarily would probably be the quickest, easiest way to back up whatever you need.
Like others have said; pop out the CMOS battery and then short the socket terminals with a 10-ohm resistor to reset the BIOS (or if you're feeling brave, just put the battery in with reverse polarity for half-a-second or so -- I don't recommend this, but my hardware guru does it all the time and it seems to work for him). If you don't drain the capacitors in this way, it could be days before the BIOS resets just by simply removing the battery.
Or find the reset jumper; look for markings on the motherboard, different color jumpers, and/or the manufacturer's web site.
Kent