System Password- Help!

[solodude23]

Ok, so first of all, is the following picture something that a user sets or is it some hardware malfunction of some sort? I would think a system password would be something setup intentionally, but the entire "Drive 1 not found" part throws me off.

Around 6 months ago my brother OD'd on cocaine and since then has had brain damage and short term memory loss. Tragic, but thats not the point right now. He is getting better, can walk, talk, etc and wants to be able to use his old computer again. He does remember his User account login password for Windows on his comp, but we have no idea how to get passed this part. He can't remember whether or not he had a system password set before at all, not to mention the password itself.

During the passed 6 months the computer has been just stored I believe, and we just recently hooked it up again.



Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

[Zrix]

I believe someone has set a password for BIOS. Its not something thats on by deafult.

Its possible that the part about Drive 1 missing is forcing the computer to access some protected boot menu, and thats why you havent encountered it before.
Have you checked why it cant find the harddrive? Broken, loose wires etc..

[daranz]

If you have a manual for the computer's motherboard laying around, or whatever else Dell gives you, check how to reset the BIOS. It usually involves moving a jumper somewhere on the motherboard (and the manual tells you where that jumper is). That should reset any passwords set in the BIOS, and then you can actually see if it boots off the harddrive.

[JustMe]

Originally Posted by daranz

If you have a manual for the computer's motherboard laying around, or whatever else Dell gives you, check how to reset the BIOS. It usually involves moving a jumper somewhere on the motherboard (and the manual tells you where that jumper is). That should reset any passwords set in the BIOS, and then you can actually see if it boots off the harddrive.

^^^yeah it has jumpers inside, works great, if you cant find the manual , look for the service tag, go to dell site & support, the manual is on there online, you just need that tag #

[xW0LFx]

simple...

to bypass the login (only works once u boot windows)

turn off computer
turn on obvously
continue to press F8 until a screen pops up asking what you want to boot using
select safe mode
when it boots it will have an admin user account, just click it and then ur in and can change his account password to something he remembers


as far as the drive 1 not found make sure in the bios its set as the primary drive and the pins on the back of it are on primary not slave

[Fenix16]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]xW0LFx

simple...

to bypass the login (only works once u boot windows)

turn off computer
turn on obvously
continue to press F8 until a screen pops up asking what you want to boot using
select safe mode
when it boots it will have an admin user account, just click it and then ur in and can change his account password to something he remembers

Wouldn't be much help as it appears that the pss is protecting the BIOS not windows. No drive = no OS. Can't say too much without repeating whats already been said, but yes there is usually a point on the motherboard where completing the circuit with a small piece of metal (ie. paper clip) will reset the BIOS.


As far as getting it running, at least temporarily, try throwing a restore image onto an external and boot from that. Or even the OS cd's if you can find them.

[Harrod200]

On the motherboard should be the brand and model (hopefully not just Dell), try to look up the board schematics and that should show where the Reset CMOS jumpers are. Sometimes there aren't jumpers, just pins; in that case just bridge the pins with a coin/screwdriver and power up.

You'll still need the windows login but that'll get ya past the CMOS pass. You'll still have to fix that drive not found tho, but that should be pretty easy to diagnose once in CMOS.

Been said but still valid.

[Undies]

Unplug the computer. Remove the CMOS battery and keep it removed for 60 seconds to let any residual charge dessipate.

Replace the battery and the default Bios settings will be loaded and the pc will start.

Good luck.

[[R-DEV]Deadfast]

It really looks like a BIOS set password.

Some mobos got universal password that works all the time, no matter what PW you set.
Look into the manual.

If you can't find it, do what the others said - reset the CMOS.
The jumper to reset should be marked as "Clear CMOS" or similar, most likely somewhere close to CMOS battery (round battery, big approx as a coin).
If you have hard time finding the jumper just pull out the battery for few mins.

EDIT: Beaten to it


And BTW: would be appreciated if ppl could find some other free hosting for images - imageshack is going nuts lately - this pic was loading like 5 minutes.

[solodude23]

Thanks all! I actually got a password to work (lol) My bro remembered, but we would still like to remove it so thanks everyone!