Help needed laptop bios

[BuzzKillington]

I know this should be in the system issues thread but I need this fixed asap, I'm working on a laptop for a "client."

After deleting god only knows how much crap in safemode I was able to fix the bluescreening issue in regular startup. I decided to reformat because this computer was FUBAR'd to say the least.

Well, I popped in dban since my buddy has my copy of wipedrive and I wasn't able to access the boot priority. I tried going into the BIOS and it was of course passworded. I looked up backdoor passwords and it gave me a list... I bet you can see what happened after that. Yep, system disabled.

I've never gotten this before so I'm not entirely sure how to fix it. Am I really going to have to open this laptop up to pop the battery?

[BuzzKillington]

I contacted emachines/acer trying to get ahold of the master password and they said they wouldn't help me unless I paid 199 for a BIOS reset.

WHAAAT?!!?!!!

[Bopher]

Yeah it sounds like you're going to have to open it up. I think on my dell the battery is right behind the speaker bar in the front edge.

[SXRguyinMA]

$199 for a bios reset? thats EFFING RETARDED. F EMACHINES lol :D

[Bopher]

$199 for a bios reset? thats EFFING RETARDED. F EMACHINES lol :D

Thats what we used to say at CC about them, lol.

[BuzzKillington]

This laptop has a huge door on the back and exposed quite a bit but no cmos. I checked under the keyboard and there's a black panel covering everything so if I can't find a program to do it for me I'm gunna have to take it apart. Dammit...

I found a password cracker and it comes up with 1C1 except the password has an ogonek. As far as I'm aware, only vowels have ogoneks so I don't even know where to begin with that.

EDIT: Is there software out there that can change the boot sequence rather than going through the BIOS?

[BuzzKillington]

I pulled the cmos battery for about 10 minutes or so and the pw is still there.

o.O

[Trace]

30 minutes, pull the battery and CMOS battery and a/c adapter.

all power has to be gone

[BuzzKillington]

Well, I of course pulled the ac and battery but sheesh, 30 minutes? haha

I just pulled the cmos and let it sit for... 2+ hours? Still a password. fduaffhdusvuifdsnv

[Diamon]

Well, I of course pulled the ac and battery but sheesh, 30 minutes? haha

I just pulled the cmos and let it sit for... 2+ hours? Still a password. fduaffhdusvuifdsnv

After pulling all the power try to power it on. That should effectively remove any electricity left.

[NightrainSrt4]

I found a password cracker and it comes up with 1C1 except the password has an ogonek. As far as I'm aware, only vowels have ogoneks so I don't even know where to begin with that.

You sure the hook is pointing right and not left? C can have a cedilla, as in Ç, which would fit right in with your password 1C1 (1Ç1).

You can find the encoding for Ç (http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/00c7/index.htm) and ç (http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/e7/index.htm) in these links.

[BuzzKillington]

How would I type that into the BIOS though? It just beeps if I hold alt for anything.

Here's what I get if I try going straight to the boot priority:
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3460/20100805142231.jpg

[Luke122]

It's an Emachine laptop? Or an Acer? What model?

Acers (most of them) have a reset jumper that you can short to reset the bios/clear passwords. I've had maybe 50% success with it though.

If it is an Acer, let me know, and I"ll post instructions on the reset.

[BuzzKillington]

It's an emachines.

[mDust]

It's an Emachine laptop? Or an Acer? What model?

Acers (most of them) have a reset jumper that you can short to reset the bios/clear passwords. I've had maybe 50% success with it though.

If it is an Acer, let me know, and I"ll post instructions on the reset.

Yeah, every desktop motherboard I've owned has had a password reset jumper. I would think it would be the same with laptops. It will probably have to be partially disassembled to get at it though. I'm assuming it's out of warranty and that's why the company tried to rape you. If not, then make sure the owner is OK with losing the warranty.

[BuzzKillington]

Ya it's been out of warranty for a while now. I didn't see any jumpers near the cmos but maybe I wasn't looking for it.

[BuzzKillington]

I have an idea but I'm not 100% sure it will work.

What if I pop out the hdd, put it in an external hdd case and wipe/reinstall OS then put it back in the laptop and continue to reinstall the new drivers and such from there?

Would that work? I've never done it before.

[SXRguyinMA]

if you could get it to install to the external drive I don't see why not

[diluzio91]

i would reccomend esata, because im 99% sure you can boot right onto an esata drive, i dunno about USB

[mDust]

What if I pop out the hdd, put it in an external hdd case and wipe/reinstall OS then put it back in the laptop and continue to reinstall the new drivers and such from there?

Would that work? I've never done it before.

I've tried installing XP and Vista from another computer and then put it into my desktop. It failed hard. I didn't look too much into it other than making sure I had the drives configured properly and other bios settings matched. I couldn't get it to boot. If you can get it to work, let me know how you did it.

[SXRguyinMA]

I've swapped a working drive into a computer that a drive failed, and the only thing I had to do was re-activate windows because the hardware was significantly different

[mDust]

I've swapped a working drive into a computer that a drive failed, and the only thing I had to do was re-activate windows because the hardware was significantly different

I suck at computers.

[SXRguyinMA]

lmao

[BuzzKillington]

I've tried installing XP and Vista from another computer and then put it into my desktop. It failed hard. I didn't look too much into it other than making sure I had the drives configured properly and other bios settings matched. I couldn't get it to boot. If you can get it to work, let me know how you did it.

Ya, what he said. It's stuck in a loop. Wont boot. Wonderful!

I don't know wtf to do now. All this bs just because someone locked his ****ing bios! I'm ****ing pissed!!!!!!!!!!

[mDust]

I don't know wtf to do now. All this bs just because someone locked his ****ing bios! I'm ****ing pissed!!!!!!!!!!

You should find and shoot him. When the cops ask you why you did it, scream at them 'HE LOCKED THE BIOS, MAN! HE LOCKED THE F****** BIOS!!!'

[BuzzKillington]

Any other ideas on what to do? I know there are pw crackers that can hack the hashcode that pops up after 3 failed password attempts but I can't find one for download and people that do have them want like 30-50 bucks for it and I don't even know if they're legit.

[mDust]

Any other ideas on what to do? I know there are pw crackers that can hack the hashcode that pops up after 3 failed password attempts but I can't find one for download and people that do have them want like 30-50 bucks for it and I don't even know if they're legit.

Have you tried '12345'? Or other common, stupid passwords?
Other than that, you'll probably have to hand it back to the client and either wish them the best of luck or recommend somewhere else they can take it.

[BuzzKillington]

I've tried them all it feels like. I've probably been locked out 30+ times. I found a harddrive for sale on ebay that's prepped and ready to go from another d620... that should work right?

[BuzzKillington]

Any dos/linux gods out there that could perhaps tell me the command to tell it to boot from a cd from this screen?:

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3460/20100805142231.jpg

[Drum Thumper]

What's the model of this laptop?

[BuzzKillington]

It's an emachines d620.

I GOT IT!!!!!!!!! Beyond happy right now! I found a script that decodes the 5 digit key. :DDDDDD

[mDust]

I GOT IT!!!!!!!!! Beyond happy right now! I found a script that decodes the 5 digit key. :DDDDDD

BRAVO! That's pretty intense computer repair service you offer. Now charge that client what you're worth!: $300/hr over around 20 hours!

[BuzzKillington]

Haha, thanks man, I appreciate the complement. I'm actually only charging him 100 bucks. I just refuse to say I couldn't do anything. :P

[Diamon]

I just refuse to say I couldn't do anything. :P

This

[Commando]

Really interesting thread.

I had this issue a couple of years ago. On a Dell laptop. The bios was locked out. The problem was exactly the same, removing the CMOS battery wouldn't reset the CMOS.

The way I got around it was; looked up the model on google w/ CMOS reset, and found the way to short the CMOS with a paperclip. There was no physical jumper to be seen but there was a factory way to jump it, you just needed to know which 2 tiny spots on the board to connect with a paperclip.


It was interesting.

TD

[BuzzKillington]

I read about that but I already read it was risky so I did my best to avoid it. I'm glad I put it off because now I am the owner of a great addition to my tools. Here I thought I was awesome for having the Geek Squad disk. :oP

[Drum Thumper]

Here I thought I was awesome for having an AOL disk. :oP

Fixed.

[mDust]

Fixed.

ROFL

Nice one.