Lost BIOS (Setup) Password

Normally there are many possible passwords for a computer:

  1. A password on the PC's Setup (many computers show 'Press Delete for Setup')
  2. Do not confuse this with any password used to login to Windows
  3. Do not confuse this with any password to connect to an Internet account.

The object of the PC's Setup, is for the user to make changes to the PC's Basic Input/Output configuration or Setup (BIOS). This setup assists the user to give/find configuration information for a new or replacement Hard Drive or to make changes to the way the main circuit board (Motherboard) behaves. In short it handles all Basic Input/Output

Password on Setup not known/lost

Several times every year I am approached by people who want to get into the computer's Setup (386 PCs and above), but who cannot do so because a password has been set which they have forgotten or never known, here are some resolutions:

  1. Most modern motherboard have a CLEAR CMOS pins which when shorted with a jumper will clear old BIOS user settings. Enable this and then restart. In BIOS setup re-detect your hard drive(s) and save-restart.

In cases of old motherboards:

  1. If the setup uses American Megatrends BIOS, try AMI as the password, if unsuccessful, read on.
  2. If the CMOS battery is removable, then remove it and leave the PC for 24hrs, reboot and you will be able to access Setup.
  3. If the battery is not removable:
    1. Check the motherboard manual for the clearing CMOS.
    2. If the motherboard is very old, it may have a dip-switch of jumper for this purpose.
    3. If neither 1 or 2 above applies:
      1. You can use Qbasic or Basic to POKE 0's (Zeros) into the area of memory holding SETUP data.
      2. Or... place a wire at the negative end of the battery and on the case and leave overnight. This should cause Setup info to be lost, including the password).
      3. Or...quite often if you take out a major component e.g. the Hard Drive and replace this with a totally different drive, the PC will automatically present or ask for Setup (irrespective of any previous password).
    4. On re-entering Setup, if all settings have been lost, you should re-detect the hard drive and ensure that the floppy is 3.5" 1.45MB, and reset the date and time.
      1. If you have no autodetect for the hard drive, then take the drive details (it's drive number and any other data specified on the drive), then if Cylinders, Tracks, Heads, Precomp..etc is not shown on the drive, use the Internet to contact the manufacturer (e.g: for a Seagate or Connor drive, use http://www.Seagate.com or Fujitsu which is a very common brand). Once at the site got to technical or drivers page and download the drive information which has that drive number.

(whilst the methods above have proved successful on many occasions, PC Relief are not liable for any problems caused by the use of this information)