Password-B-Gone (off topic)

[Daniel Lindholm]

Just take out the battery. The default BIOS-settings will work good enough.
Thats something you could tweak later if neccessary.

Another way (not recommended though) is if you have to equal computers with
the same specs and boot the one without password, exchange the bioscircuts
(while the computers are running) and run one of those small utils that
snatches the biospassword. Then you have the password so you can boot it. I
wouldnt recommend this though. I would go for the first suggestion.

I've done this a couple of times when that virus erased the flashrom bios.
It worked, but I guess it was thanks to a great deal of luck.

Setting the resetjumper gives the same result as taking out the battery.
Since I guess you dont have the manual for the motherboard, just take out
the battery.

If you are really unlucky the worse that could happend is that the BIOS
later dont automatically detects the harddrive and if you then dont have the
harddrivespecs you will either have to:
a) search the web for the specs.
b) install the harddrive in another computer to see if that one recognizes
it.

Good luck. Just mail me if you need further assistance.

Daniel Lindholm / Sweden

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Goodale" <rrg@unlv.edu>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 8:14 AM
Subject: Password-B-Gone (off topic)


> <<OFF TOPIC>>
>
> A question for the more "digitally minded".  In an effort to exploit the
> never ending waste of the university I picked up a number of computers
> today.  I rescued them just a scant few moments from being crushed and
> deposited in a recycling dumpster.  When I came home and sorted through
> it I found both some trash and some treasure.  The trash was real trash
> but the treasure are fully functional computers and monitors.  It is
> truly amazing how universities chant their liberal "save the earth and
> environment" crap and tell the public how their budget is never enough
> and at the same time crush perfectly good and usable computer
> hardware... and other amazing things.  This of course is another story.
>
> Anyway I have some identical Dell computers.  I got one up and running
> with no effort at all, just plugged it in and hooked it up to a
> perfectly good discarded monitor.  Windows 98 popped up beautifully and
> I proceeded to clean the system.  Unfortunately it isn't always this
> easy.  Some computers have a password at start up, (before windows
> boots).  Of course I have no way of knowing what the passwords are so I
> am stuck.  My question is:  Does anyone know how to purge a BIOS
> password?  I know I could temporarily remove the bios battery but that
> would also delete all the other BIOS data.
>
> Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.
>
>
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV
>
>
>
>