OT-Computer nerds request

Are you sure it's the bios that's protected? I bought 2 IBM laptops, and one had BIOS protection, and the other had hard drive password. I put in a different drive and it worked in the one that had the HD protected. Still have the BIOS protected one, unfixed.

Really.

I got over 100,000 hits with "compaq presario bios password".

It looks like you will need to remove the battery.

Which battery? Does a 1250 laptop have a ram battery or is the security on a non volitile chip?

Compaq made literally hundreds of Presarios..most being desktops. Desktops are easy(most)

Gunner

Some laptops have password access protected by hardware chips. I think IBM's are especially bad for that. Buy the wrong laptop and you may never get in.

Hope you don't have one of these.

Wes S

Depending on which species of 1250 this is it should have a lithium battery on the motherboard that you can pull to reset the bios.

Wonder if you can download a bios update and it would crack it.

Call HPQ and see what they can do. Maybe a back door.

Like pressing keys when doing something - or power up with key(s) pressed.

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Gunner wrote:

If you can find the BIOS maker - maybe a call to them and get a new Bios chip!

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Steve Walker wrote:

Found on Google, Compaq HP say: "Power On Password -

The Power On password is set in the System BIOS options. It prevents unwanted users from accessing the computer. By default, HP does not set the Power On password. If you set the Power On password in the System BIOS options you will be prompted for it immediately after you power on the Notebook PC. If this password is forgotten, a repair at an HP certified repair center is required to reset the computer. Please contact HP to schedule a repair. This service is not covered by the warranty.

Drive Lock The Drive Lock password protects the data on your hard drive through encryption. If your computer is stolen, the data on the hard drive is inaccessible without the Drive Lock password. This password can not be reset. If it is lost or forgotten, the hard drive must be replaced. Please contact HP to order a new hard drive. This service is not covered by the warranty."

One word for Hp/Compaq....SPLASH! Oh, you don't live near the Great lakes, improvise!

Time for the O/A garbage bag trick! Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Wonder why you can't format the drive when it has a drive lock on. In a sense it would continue the protection. I would think format would look at the hardware and go for it. Run it from CD.

Worth a try. Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Dan wrote:

It cant FIND the drive. I believe the bios settings are corrupt.

Gunner

So MAYBE the hard drive is actually fried ....

Gary

According to Martin H. Eastburn :

Re-partition from some other OS (perhaps from a boot CD for installing that OS) -- which won't honor the lock which Windows puts on it. Then, you can be clear to re-format under Windows -- if that is what you want.

Or maybe you can go back to something like MS-DOS 3.1 -- if it will handle a disk that big.

Good Luck, DoN.

According to Gerald Miller :

Or perhaps -- set it up downrange, and see what round will do the best job of splattering it all over. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

The Armada/Evo/Omnibooks are good, its just the presario and pavilion that are trash, just like any other tools, you can buy the business grade or the cheap toy grade, the presario and pavilion are the cheap toy grade. Back to the original question, the Compaq business line you used to be able to clear the boot password by removing all batteries (the little cmos battery and the main power battery(s)) and tap Fn-f11 while powering on and it will reset all settings. Fn-f11 will reset all but the password with the batteries in but removing all the batteries tells it to clear the password also. that may work on the presarios too.