[Mtzfarlo]

Hello!
I have an HP Compaq NC6000
For some reason my laptop has taken it apon its self to put an Administrator Bios password on my computer! This is the third time it has done it in the past 7years.
The first 2 times it was easy to get off. A friend of mine brought over an Active Boot disk and it was easily fixed.I havent had a problem accessing my Bios for almost 3 1/2 years and all of a sudden its now asking me for a password! I dont know what could be causing it to lock its self but I am now starting to resent my computer
The problem I am having now is I need to reinstall my windows because I am running out of room on my computer and its really slow.I tried to boot from cd by accessing the Bios and thats how I found out once again there is another Bios password GRRRR
So I tried to start installing XP from the desk top screen ( which seemed to be a bad idea) I wanted to delete the partition and start out fresh but the computer said no because I need some of the files or something ...cant remember exactly what it said. So I tried to install on top of the old one hoping that it would wipe the old one out and start as fresh as possible but It told me I cant do that either because I would have to operating systems on the same partition and would cause problems. The only other option it gave me was to make a new partition on the unpartition space. I don't know how that works or if it is a good idea being that I only have 6.73gb of room left. Not sure if that matters . .not even sure if thats a low amount. It just seems low to me and I know how much crap has been put on the computer in years that hasnt been removed LOL
So I oborted that mission because I wasnt sure if I could do that option.
So Really my BIG questions are WHY does my computer add Bios password on its own? What could be causing it to do this?How can I prevent this in the Future?
My other BIG is I cant boot from disk anymore because I cant access the Bios! So I was wondering if there was any other way to convince my computer to boot from disk the next time it starts up? Like is there some command thing I could do or anything that could let me boot from disk?
If there isnt any other way to boot from disk, does that mean the only way left is to remove the password and to do that I would have to take my computer apart? I really dont want to do that! The whole idea scares the crap out of me!
So any help from you would be Awesome!
Thank you for your time
Mary

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A computer BIOS does not assign itself a password - it requires human intervention. Someone must have had access to your PC to do that.

Many computer's have a "one time only" button you can press to bring up a "Boot Menu" - with mine it's by pressing and holding F11 at the splash screen, but mine's an unbranded, built-to-order PC, not an HP one. On my splash screen it tells me which key to press for the "Boot Menu". Have a look at your splash screen for any clues.

If there's no such boot menu key, you can reset the BIOS Password feature to the default (no password) by doing this:

1. Disconnect laptop from mains power supply.

2. Remove the main battery.

3. Remove the CMOS battery inside the laptop (little round button-type battery) and leave it out for 30 minutes.

4. After the 30 minutes has passed, replace the button battery and fasten all covers in place
but do not attach the main battery.

4. Connect mains adapter to the laptop, switch on and you should be able to get into the BIOS Setup without a password.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 13 December 2010 - 03:00 AM.

[phillipcorcoran]

A computer BIOS does not assign itself a password - it requires human intervention. Someone must have had access to your PC to do that.

Many computer's have a "one time only" button you can press to bring up a "Boot Menu" - with mine it's by pressing and holding F11 at the splash screen, but mine's an unbranded, built-to-order PC, not an HP one. On my splash screen it tells me which key to press for the "Boot Menu". Have a look at your splash screen for any clues.

If there's no such boot menu key, you can reset the BIOS Password feature to the default (no password) by doing this:

1. Disconnect laptop from mains power supply.

2. Remove the main battery.

3. Remove the CMOS battery inside the laptop (little round button-type battery) and leave it out for 30 minutes.

4. After the 30 minutes has passed, replace the button battery and fasten all covers in place
but do not attach the main battery.

4. Connect mains adapter to the laptop, switch on and you should be able to get into the BIOS Setup without a password.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 13 December 2010 - 03:00 AM.

[Digerati]

[quotename="Mtzfarlo"]For some reason my laptop has taken it apon its self to put an Administrator Bios password on my computer! This is the third time it has done it in the past 7years.
[/quote] [quotename="phillipcorcoran"]A computer BIOS does not assign itself a password - it requires human intervention. Someone must have had access to your PC to do that.[/quote]I agree - the only way this could happen is if someone sat down at your computer, rebooted into the BIOS Setup Menu, set the password, then saved and exited the menu. If you keep personal information, such as banking or other information on your computer, you need to change your computing habits so no one but you can gain physical access.

If you don't feel comfortable disassembling the computer, you should take it to a reputable shop. That said, if this computer is 7 years old, it may be time to start budgeting for a new computer - one only you use and one that has a modern, more secure operating system, ie; Windows 7.