I decided to install light version of Linux on an older PC that’s just been sitting in a closet for a number of years. For some reason, I password protected the BIOS and have no clue what password I used.
I read that removing the CMOS battery should reset it to factory settings. I removed the battery last night and just put it back in and it still wants a password to get into the BIOS. Are there any other options to get in or is this PC just a paperweight now?
This is going back 20 years now, but usually there was a BIOS reset using those little jumpers. Then you need to edit the BIOS for your machine.
A pain but at least the computer is not a paperweight.
Odds are you can still find the motherboard spec to do the reset.
The little jumpers I was talking about look like this and fit carefully over 2 pins as per instructions.
ETA: On some motherboards, there is a little reset button next to it.
The battery isn’t the way to do it. The BIOS settings need to hold even when the battery dies. (I can’t remember the last time I saw a motherboard battery die.)
Over the years it has become trickier and trickier to bypass BIOS passwords. 10-20 years ago you could buy a little chip off eBay and replace the original on the MB for some laptops. But they got wise to that.
If you want to boot off a different media, check to see if that is allowed. E.g., F2 enters Setup, F11 enters boot options. But that would be a really lucky stroke if that was allowed.
Why is it a paperweight? Can’t you boot into the original OS? Maybe setup a Linux partition, etc. from within that.
Yeah I suppose, but I was wanting to use a new SSD that I purchased for this purpose, not the old one. I’m not sure how I could install an OS onto a blank drive unless I can change the settings to boot from USB.
I’m gonna open it up again tomorrow and hopefully i’ll find either the jumpers or the reset switch that [What_Exit] referenced.
I still don’t understand why removing the CMOS battery didn’t clear it. Could it still be getting something from the power supply? I just say that because i’ve read not to open them up or play around with them unless you know what you’re doing because they can hold a significant charge for quite a while. I may be completely off base with that theory. Just thinking out loud.
Don’t open the power supply, no reason to. However the power supply would have a large plug assembly plugged into the motherboard. You can detach that if you want.
Oh no. I wouldn’t. Just wondering if it would continue to give power to the MB till drained even with the CMOS battery removed…
\1. You can change the settings in the MS-Windows boot loader to add booting another OS. I use this method on all my dual boot boxes. (I hate, hate, hate the Linux boot loaders. LILO was bad enough, GRUB is somehow even worse.)
\2. Think is terms of a stolen laptop. If you could just clear the CMOS, a thief could clear any boot protection, run their own boot stick, go into the drive of the laptop and do whatever they want. E.g., reinstall the OS fresh and then sell the laptop. And if the laptop’s drive is not encrypted they can access all the files. (And even if encrypted they might still be able to get access.)
So laptop makers have increasingly made such thief access harder and harder.
You don’t even need those jumpers. You just need to make an electrically conductive connection between the two little metal poles. In the past I have just used a screwdriver to touch both at the same time for a minute (although some screwdrivers may be made out of a non-conductive metal).
Intel lists the battery method as a way to do it.
Are you talking abut Bitlocker and its ilk? If someone merely wanted an old stolen drive, typically one can just remove it from the laptop and re-format it.
Found the jumpers to clear CMOS. I’m all set.
Very cool. Glad that worked.