On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 03:47:10 +0100, Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@schestowitz.com>
wrote the following to uk.comp.misc:
> Marcus Houlden wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 12:15:57 +0100, Cheeky <me@privacy.net>
>> wrote the following to uk.comp.misc:
>>
>>> A mate of mine has kindly given me a laptop that's surplus to his
>>> requirements (Compaq Evo N600c). Unfortunately he's forgotten the
>>> power-on password.
>>>
>>> Does anyone know if it's possible to reset it?
>>
>> Yes. There's a service manual at
>>
> http://h200004.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00091009/c00091009.pdf
>> which gives the following instructions:
>>
>> 1. Remove the main battery and the AC adaptor
>> 2. Remove the backup battery (under the memory expansion slot; it's
>> probably a disk a bit bigger than a 10p)
>> 3. Leave the machine for 5 minutes
>> 4. Replace the backup battery
>> 5. Reconnect the AC adaptor. Do *not* replace the main battery just yet
>>
>> The password will be cleared, and so will the BIOS settings. If you can,
>> go into the BIOS before you start and write down the settings
>
> I did this a few months ago and got told off for removing the batteries and
> jeopardising the board. Apparently you should have a jumper, which took me
> a while to find. Just take off the little plastic piece to remove password
> protection altogether.
I imagine the service manual would have mentioned it if there was one, but
the official advice in this case was to remove the battery and reset the
CMOS. IME the main use of BIOS and power on passwords is to stop people from
fiddling with settings (such as at a school or a lockdown corporate
environment) rather than to stop someone accessing the HD (which can be
easily removed and put in another machine).
mh.
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