View Full Version : Laptop PC Power on password
having a play round with me laptop, I decided to set up the passwords as I carry it in my car often. having set up the power on password to a hard one to remember......"password", I powered it off and back on . Guess what It has locked me out and does not accept the password. Anyone know a way around this one. Its a Compaq Armada M700, if that helps narrow a solution down. Cheers.
Psycosis
15-02-2003, 00:16
You can wipe them off usually by taking out the battery off the motherboard, laptops are a little bit more complicated to find the battery cause you haveto take it all apart.
There are programs about that can reset the BIOS password.
marty_t3
15-02-2003, 00:23
I assume you've tried the capslock when putting in your password??
if so...
Download a new flash bios from the internet and put it onto a bootable disk. It'll rewrite the bios info and clear the password.
Otherwise.. as already mentioned... remove the cmos battery (and the main one) and leave it overnight. Put it back together in the morning and the password wille be gone. Just let it configure itself when it next boots up and it'll be fine.
marty_t3
15-02-2003, 00:25
oh... you can usually find the cmos battery under the one of the screw off cover on the underside IIRC. It's been a while since i worked on an Armada.
Tried the caps lock, no joy. even tried my Compaq Restore Disk for my Deskpro... still no joy. Will rip it to bits in search of battery tomorrow. Any further advice is welcome. Though having a Comcrap laptop and Desk top is asking for trouble I suppose :D. No wonder the workers set up the website www.compaqsucks.com
Most new laptops store the password in non volitale memory mean that taking the battery out is likley to make no difference.
Also the laptop will be very unlikley to boot from a floppy disk.
In short i would say you are shafted.
One option is that the password is to long (Some laptops only have a six char password, IBM 240 as an example)
Try not typing all the chars.
Other options...
A few companys on the web can send you a replacement chip that has no password set, but you would need to find a VERY VERY VERY VERY good person that can SMT solder (Local repair shops will not be able to do it i would expect)
Sending it to compaq, they might have the ability to overide the password with a code based on the processor id of the laptop (However i have only seen this on their handhelds)
Sorry but you are likley to have to put up some serious cash to get it fixed.
C.
Its a company laptop, so if push comes to shove I will send it to head office for the IT guys to fix. I just would rather fix it myself if possible and save the agro, as it took 3 weeks for them to get drivers for my printer installed on it and I really can't survive that long again without it.
That might be good news as they may have set an admin password on it.
If it does not have an admin password it is back to costing a few £££ to fix (They may not be very happy with you).
Best to say that the password has been set for ages and it has only just stopped accepting it (I do not think that the password set date is stored (Why would you want to store it?))
C.
marty_t3
15-02-2003, 00:49
Removing the battery will work...
Got this from a review site for the M700.. looks like quite a few people have had the same problem
First, the BIOS. As many of you know, most computer companies offer the added "feature" of being able to lock your machine down in the most basic level of your computer, the BIOS. Compaq offers this as well. However, with most BIOS equipment, resetting the password often involves changing a jumper setting in order to reset the password. Compaq has not added this feature. The only way to reset the BIOS password is to remove both power and the BIOS battery itself for several minutes in order to clear the password. This is a very lengthy process. For those of you that think this is a good thing, remember that BIOS passwords are only good to stop the less educated computer user, so the added security for such a password is negligible. Therefore, Compaq scores a little lower with this one. And believe me, I looked for jumpers all over that bad boy...
Wooooooooooooooo hoooo! Cookies the man!!!!!:D
6 digits - passwo was the password.
Thanks again folks, and may I add why the feck was there no prompt from the PC when i typed in more than 6 digits.
Checkout the compaqsucks.com website.
Time to disable passwords :D
Whether or not my Company would have been happy with me or not was not an issue. After all, I am never happy with them so it would be a change for them to feel the way I do. I just shudder to think if it takes 3 weeks for HP printer drivers, how long would it have taken for this one :D
Now its hitting me with this:
Invalid system disk
Replace disk, and then press any key.
Trouble is no disk is actually in it
:(
put one of the restore disks in an see if it starts to load from that.
c.
Just keeps coming up the same
Go in to the bios and see what the primary boot device is set to.
C.
Here we go
Boot options
quick boot >enable
multiboot >disable
Boot order:
Notebook multibay - First
Notebook hard drive - Second
Notebook ethernet - Third
F10 = Accept, ESC = Cancel
set hard disk first and restart it.
C.
Still giving me the Invalid system disk error
If the hard disk is a quick remove type pull it out and push it back in again when the laptop is off.
C.
held by one screw, removed and pulled hard disk. replaced and restarted.....Still the same.
Put cd drive in to it, Put the rebuild disk in to the cd drive and set this as the first boot device.
Going to have to say its time for bed.
If you can try this ,post the results and i'll have a think about again in the morning.
C.
Cheers, I will try that, then im off to bed too ! :D
Still no go......
Non system disk or disk error
replace and strike any key when ready
Im off to bed, will check for updates tomorrow.
Thanx for all your help and advice m8
Sorry but i think i'll have to say a trip to the it department might be what it is after.
C.
amcluesent
15-02-2003, 17:24
You could try resetting the BIOS. With the unit off, hold down the “Fn” key turn on the unit and keep the “Fn” key held down, start tapping “F11” and the system should reboot and you should see it say “162 – Option Not Set” and the BIOS have been reset.
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