Re: Resetting BIOS to factory defaults when you donīt have access to i
- From: "Twayne" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:42:50 -0400
"Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost> wrote in message
news:OyU7OW7PKHA.4580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
dareys wrote:<...>
<snip>
<snip>
One man's tough penalty is another man's quality security.
I don't consider it radical. If there was an easy back door to
bypassing the laptop's supervisor password, that password wouldn't do
you much good if unscrupulous people have physical access to your
laptop.
This is similar to the situation with the Windows Encrypting File
System: if you forget your password (and haven't taken the suggested
backup steps), nobody -- not even you -- can access the encrypted
data.
This has been an interesting thread; and it's hard to believe someone
hasn't yet popped in with some methods to reset BIOS passwords. In the
several PCs I have owned myself and the many more I've done repairs on
for others, I've never come across one where the BIOS password couldn't
be removed, or reset to blank.
My current desktop for instance; you only need to remove a jumper from a
header for more than 90 seconds, then replace it and restart the
computer. The jumper is just an easy way of disconnecting the CMOS
battery and its capacitor, that keep the CMOS RAM charged so you can
replace a battery without losing all your settings: I traced it out.
On my laptop you have to pull the battery out and leave it for a jew
minutes, seems like it was sthree minutes, then plug it back in and go.
All you really need to remember is that "power off" means actually
disconnected by the power cord; not just the computer's power swithch
turned off, because power switches don't turn off the trickle chargers
for the CMOS battery amongst a couple of other things.
From what I've seen and read, any home PC is capable of having its
BIOS password reset.
For those who know the names of their BIOS etc., here are a few links
that tell one the different methods of resetting a BIOS password. The
needed information to do that is also included in the paperwork provided
with almost every computer delivered to any customer. It's no big
secret, just something people don't think of until it's too late, most
of the time.
I also seem to recall someone saying the password was kept in an
EEPROM, which isn't quite accurate, but close enough. It's a CMOS
static RAM chip actually, and operates much as an EEPROM. I suppose
some could actually use an EEPROM, but I'd be surprised to find one;
they're current hogs for the most part and CMOS has troubles interfacing
with them. But it is possible to easily write to them using simple
cktry in a PC - all the needed voltages are certainly present for an
EEPROM.
Someone else somewhere IIRC mentioned a PROM, but I can assure you
the passwords aren't kept in a PROM. PROMs by definition cannot be
reprogrammed, period - you program them once and that's all. And they
are programmed in an external station, not where they'll be used. PROMs
are the cheapest, but the cktry to program them isn't, and you can only
program them once.
Anyway, for anyone interested, here are some links I picked from Google
that I'm familiar with and don't consider them dangerous in any way:
http://www.wikihow.com/Break-a-BIOS-Password
http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/BIOS_hack.htm
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000235.htm
http://www.technibble.com/how-to-bypass-or-remove-a-bios-password/
http://www.dewassoc.com/support/bios/bios_password.htm
http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.shtml
Caveat: CMOS cktry is THE most sensitive of all the components in a
computer to static surges, even the type that aren't strong enough to
create a visible "spark". Use good static practices whenever you work
around the CMOS battery or anywhere inside a computer, for that matter.
BTW: CMOS is not the battery type; it is the technology material for
manufacturing the components used to create the cktry the battery is
there to maintain memory for. It stands for: complementary metal oxide
semiconductor.
HTH,
Twayne`
.
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