'system power-on' password

[stefbin]

hello,

some time ago i was sitting behind the computer of a friend, but i couldn't get the system to boot up or even the power turned on ... then my friend said it had a password and pressed a keysequence on the keyboard and the system turned itself on and booted ... (but he didn't know how it 'worked' or could be configured)

can this be done with every computer or is it a bios setting and depends on motherboard, or something else ?

thx

 

[Mnementh]

It can be done with 99.9% of PC's, it's a setting in the BIOS, how you access the BIOS depends upon the PC and the motherboard/BIOS manufacturer.

When you turn the machine on look for a message saying something like Press F2 or DEL to enter SETUP, press that key while the message is on the screen to enter the BIOS.

Every BIOS is different but the setting you are looking for is normally under security settings or something similar and you are looking for a "POWER ON PASSWORD" Beware if you set this password and forget it it is highly possible you will not be able to use your machine again, some PC manufacturers set them so if you enter one even clearing the BIOS doesn't remove the password meaning a very expensive service call to remove it

**DISCLAIMER**

Do NOT mess around with the BIOS unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing you can seriously affect your machines performance even to the extent of stopping it from booting I will take no responsibility if you enter your BIOS and make changes and mess up any settings, you do this at your own risk

Mnementh


Oh and welcome to the Forum

 

[stefbin]

thx !!

it's for my laptop, and i have been looking in the bios already, but couldn't find anything like that before ... there are about 5 things i am able to change there, at most

anyway i will try again with your info

 

[Mnementh]

Which laptop?

If it is a Dell or an IBM do not EVER forget the password or you will have a very expensive paperweight, as for other laptops you might have the same issue you might not. Clearing the CMOS on an IBM or a DELL does not remove the password

Mnementh

 

[stefbin]

it's a gericom laptop (european brand)

thx, i found the option in the bios, it was not visible at first, but when you set a 'supervisor password, you get a new option to enable it for 'boot up' ... so that's what i did

but i still can get the system to start up when i press the power button, not like that other computer of my friend, there i could press the powerbutton all i want, the system would start as long as the password was not typed on the keyboard ...

thx also for pointing out the need to be careful with things like this, some ppl might just be fooling around ... and like you said, that is not something to fool around with !

 

[Joemonkey]

your friend could have just had the power switch disconnected from the motherboard as an extra safety measure

 

[stefbin]

everything was connected, just press the password on the keyboard and there it went ...
or do you mean it was some special kind of device that makes the keyboard the 'primary power switch' ?

anyway, i didn't see anything strange at the back of the case ...
(i can't ask him, because he doesn't know anything about computer hardware, and i can't take a look at it myself because he lives in another country and i was there just on holiday)

i found it a very interesting feature, and would like to know more

thx