Dell BIOS Password

redagent001

redagent001

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Unfortunately, I could not find anything close to what I am experiencing with a Dell laptop windows 8. Typical issue of someone putting a BIOS password on and never remembered setting it up. Have no idea what I was talking about. But they want me to fix it. lol

I have already read that removing the CMOS battery but that didn't work and I tried this a lot. Then I read that jumping it by shorting it out. Now, the problem I am getting to is I can not locate the jumper or chip to do such a thing.

Are there any key words or labels I can spot. I did see a few of you mention CLK or CLR. Are there anything else I can look out for. They do not have a warranty either checked.

OR

Someone told me I might even have to find the chip and unsolder it and then solder it back. Hmm. not sure if I want to go that far.
 
probably won't work but worth a shot. try these "master" passwords: I think you can try each one on it's own for 3 total tries.

mzns1g6q
hi2wi1ka
jo3hUcn3N30VAaJ0
 
It provides the System Disabled Label with this 82841410AFD8C4CF.

I do appreciate it but the following did not work.

mzns1g6q
hi2wi1ka
jo3hUcn3N30VAaJ0
 
To clarify, did you have the AC power adapter unplugged and the battery removed when jumping the cmos battery? If the laptop has any other power source it might not work. Also, how long were you jumping it for? I'd recommend 60 seconds.

Supposedly bootable disks exist that will allow you to get the password -- but these are a waste of time in my opinion, since they work on just a few motherboards and are mostly incompatible with common hardware.
 
I had a client once with the same problem, if i recall correctly i have to use a special programme to provide an unlock code using the service tag. Can you confirm the service tag is correct? The passwords i get are dependant on the suffix (-595B, -2A7B and -D35B) which is often missing. Here is what i get bear in mine they are case sensitive:

Input: #2SBVQY1-2A7B
14.08.2015 18:48 DELL service tag: 2SBVQY1-2A7B password: jo3hUcn3N30VAaJ0
Input: #2SBVQY1-D35B
14.08.2015 18:48 DELL service tag: 2SBVQY1-D35B password: hi2wi1kaN30VAaJ0
Input: #2SBVQY1-595B
14.08.2015 18:52 DELL service tag: 2SBVQY1-595B password: mzns1g6qN30VAaJ0

I suggest leaving the power cord out and battery out for ten minutes and try again. What bios is on there? have you got a serial number? The only other option is to reset using the jumper.

Taking the battery out will not work. When a laptop is locked with password, a checksum of that password is stored to a so-called FlashROM - this is a chip on the mainboard of the device which also contains the BIOS code and other settings, e.g. memory timings. For most brands, this checksum is displayed after entering an invalid password for the third time. in your case its 82841410AFD8C4CF.
The dramatic 'System Disabled' message is just scare tactics: when you remove all power from the laptop and reboot it, it will work just as before. From such a checksum (also called "hash"), valid passwords can be found by means of brute-forcing.

The bypass mechanisms of other vendors work by showing a number to the user from which a master password can be derived. This password is usually a sequence of numbers generated randomly.

Some vendors resort to storing the password in plain text onto the FlashROM, and instead of printing out just a checksum, an encrypted version of the password is shown.

Other vendors just derive the master password from the serial number. A few vendors have implemented obfuscation measures to hide the hash from the end user - for instance, some FSI laptops require you to enter three special passwords for the hash to show up (e.g. "3hqgo3 jqw534 0qww294e", "enable master password" shifted one up/left on the keyboard). Some HP/Compaq laptops only show the hash if the F2 or F12 key has been pressed prior to entering an invalid password for the last time.

Depending on the "format" of the number code/hash (e.g. whether only numbers or both numbers and letters are used, whether it contains dashes, etc.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think ultimate boot cd for windows used to have a bios killer, I think parted magic does also if you can get the machine to boot from it, but even if you do get it to boot from it, hit or miss if it will knock the password out. Seems like I did this once and one system worked fine, the other one could not get running.
 
ohio_grad_06 said:
I think ultimate boot cd for windows used to have a bios killer, I think parted magic does also if you can get the machine to boot from it, but even if you do get it to boot from it, hit or miss if it will knock the password out. Seems like I did this once and one system worked fine, the other one could not get running.
Click to expand...
From memory you need the bios password to change the boot order. I had this problem when installing the OS for a client. Hence why i know so much. i did hours of research
 
Why not contact Dell? If the client is the original purchaser there should be no problem getting them to reset it.
If the current owner is not the original owner and doesn't have the original owners information... now you have a problem
 
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