unknown password at boot up (notebook)

[hdophan]

Hello Dear support

I am the happy owner of a Gericom Radeon Masterpiece notebook

I always have been satisfied with the device.

Now, I have a worse problem :

Yesterday, for some reason, I could not start my Windows XP as I usually do : I
have a multiboot system on my computer (Linux, Windows XP , Windows 2000 and
Windows 98) : I first thought the problem was related to the Windows XP OS, but
after many different trials with the other OS present on the notebook, I could
notice that none of the OS could start.

I then thought to a hard drive failure problem (because none of the OS started)
but when I tried to access the BIOS Setup, something quite amazing happened :
NONE of the settings (usually available) were accessible with the cursor, and
hitting the up, or down (or left and right) arrows on the keybord could only
allow me to navigate horizontally through the different menues available in the
BIOS Main setup screen, but appart from scrolling through the menues, all the
options (main, system, hardware, energy, etc...) were disabled (greyed out) on
the screen.

ONLY ONE OPTION WAS ACCESSIBLE (and CHANGABLE) : the PASSWORD option

SO I decided first to disable the "USER" password (My computer is set up with a
User password)

The very bad surprise occured at the next startup of my computer : the system
asked me for a password, although I had just dissabled it in the BIOS :

since that time, I never managed to access my computer anymore : none of the
password was accepted by the system

I now have a brand new notebook (purchassed 4 months ago), which is critical to
me (I use it as a professional machine, every day), and which I can not access
anymore

I really believe it is a BIOS stability problem (unwanted electrical
discharge ? electrical problems due to the heating ? (temperatures in France
have never been as high as they are these last days), battery discharge
problem ? bios short circuit ? known problem ?)

I don't know why, when I attempted to access the BIOS Setup (as I often do),
all the settings were greyed out (except the "password security settings) ?

- can you help me sort this out ?
- is there an option (even tricky) to reset the password ?
- can I temporarily use the notebook internal hard drive on another laptop ?
- is ther any official (or unofficial) password recovery procedure available ?
(I have to break the warranty seals to do that !)

PLEASE HELP ME QUICKLY !

Best regards

hdophan

 

[Mr N8]

Access the motherboard, and pull the CMOS battery, or set reset CMOS jumper, if available. Most likely there is either an access panel on the bottom of the laptop, or you will have to remove the keyboard. Leave the battery out, or turn on with the reset jumber moved to reset. If using the batter method, leave it out for 5 minutes, and replace. Turn the computer on, and all bios passwords and settings should be cleared.

Hope this helps.

 

[hdophan]

Well, I'd love it to be as simple as that (and I'm almost conviced it IS as simple as that...)

but the problem is that all the panels and any "openable zone" at the bottom or on the sides of the notebook are protected with a "warranty void if removed" seal :

So I do hesitate to break them, although I'm almost sure that if I manage to access the mainboard, I'll probably find the CMOS, the backup battery, and, may be, if I'm lucky, a jumper to reset it !

well, anyway, If somebody has another miraculous Idea to tell, I will try it with pleasure !

(the last possibility will be to bring it back (RMA) to the manufacturer, but I'm afraid it will be long, long, long...)

 

[IamElectro]

It may have reset itself to a factory default password. I can remeber quite few years back if you reset a bios that was password protected it reset to a default password. That password was usually the name of the bios manufacturer.
Examples being" Phoenix, Award, etc"

Try contacting the tech support office for the manufacturer this may be an option. They may also give you permmision to break the warranty seal.