I have a Del Inspiron 600M. When I turn it on, it goes to, “This computer is
protected by [some sort of serial number] password authentication system.
Please type in the primary or administrator password.”
Well, I was always able to get in before, but now it will not accept my
administrator password. Can you tell me why or can I override this so I can use
my laptop again?
In this excerpt from
Answercast #8, I talk about how a BIOS password is set, how difficult it
will be to recover, and speculate about causes.
]]>
<
I had a Dell XPS420 for some time and it had a jumper on the motherboard. There would be a pair of pins with the letters PWD or something like that printed onto the motherboard somewhere close and there was a connector which if you took it off and started the computer would reset the password, allowing you back in. Since you can do this, there was also a way to lock the box using a padlock so you couldn’t open it to reset the password. I’ve seen those latches on other Dell boxes as well, so I suppose those probably have a jumper like that as well. You should probably check the manual, or look for it yourself if you’re confident and you know what you’re doing.
Mike’s right: most motherboards (at least the ones that I’ve worked with) have a BIOS reset jumper. Normally, you shut down the computer, short the jumper pins (by moving the jumper over one; the third is a “dead pin”), wait a few seconds, move it back, and restart the computer. BIOS settings, normally including the password, will have been reset.
You can Google “Reset bios on Inspiron 600m”
There are quite a few posts on how to do what you seek. I don’t remember which one, but it does work. I’ve done it in the past. I know it’s alot harder to do on a laptop than a desktop. It involves downloading a iso file & burning a disk you run at start up on the damaged machine.
Leo’s right, someone put that P.W. on there. I’d find out who & I doubt they’d ever do it to anyone else again! This is why I NEVER LET “FRIENDS” BORROW ELECTRONICS, PERIOD.
Hope this helps, keep us posted. J.
@John
If your BIOS is locking you out of your computer, it wouldn’t allow you to boot from a disc, so it’s not likely that downloading an .iso would work.
I had a similar problem that kept occurring with my dell that I always assumed was a virus (even though my anti-virus software never detected anything). My desktop is not password protected, but after I rebooted, it would ask me for a password. It would allow me to boot into safe mode though and I followed the directions on major geeks to eradicate malware (specifically combofix) and once that ran, my computer booted fine..