BIOS PASSWORD AND LOCKED HARD DISK RECOVERY
If your computer won’t boot without a password or you need a password
to enter the computer set-up or change the settings, then you have a
BIOS password set. BIOS is an
acronym for basic input/output system. The BIOS is the basic
instruction set that “teaches” the computer how to access disk drives,
keyboard, display, etc. The BIOS is typically placed on a ROM chip in
the computer, hence the term ROM BIOS. The ROM BIOS allows the computer
to boot itself. The BIOS is required to boot the computer. Thus, if
the BIOS is password protected, the computer will not boot (or you will
not be able to enter or change the BIOS settings.)
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There are a number of different BIOS types, but most PC’s have a BIOS supplied by one of four companies:
American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI),
Award, Inc., Phoenix Technologies, Inc. or
IBM. Award Software became part of Phoenix Technologies in September 1998 –
their main website is the Phoenix Technologies site.
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Additional security features have been built into laptop computers.
These usually include a hard disk password and a more secure BIOS
system. For more information about laptop BIOS passwords, review our
security chips page here.
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BIOS passwords can be set to require the password before booting the
computer or to require the password only to enter and/or change the BIOS
set-up (which might be required in order
to upgrade the computer.)
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RECOVERY IF YOU CAN BOOT THE SYSTEM
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If you can boot the system, BIOS password recovery is usually easy.
The first thing you will want to do is to use a BIOS password cracker to
recover the actual password.
There are a large number of BIOS password crackers available from a
variety of sources. Some BIOS crackers only work with certain BIOS
versions and some work better than others.
You may have to try a number of crackers before you find one that
works.
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Some BIOS’ have pre-installed backdoor passwords that enable access
to the system if you have lost
or forgotten your password. Attempting to regain access to the
computer by using one of the following
backdoor passwords should be your first step if you have lost or
forgotten your BIOS password and cannot
boot your computer. If you are able to regain access to your system
by using a backdoor password, you can
then use a password cracker to reveal the stored password or enter
the BIOS setup to change the password. These backdoors are more likely
to work on older desktop systems. We are not aware of any name brand
laptops or notebooks that have backdoor BIOS passwords.
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At boot-up note the BIOS provider (Award, AMI, Phoenix, IBM, etc.)
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For Award BIOS’ try these backdoor passwords:
AWARD_SW j262 HLT SER SKY_FOX BIOSTAR ALFAROME Lkwpeter j256 AWARD?SW LKWPETER syxz ALLy 589589 589721 awkward CONCAT d8on CONDO j64 szyx |
For AMI BIOS’ try these backdoor passwords:
AMI BIOS PASSWORD HEWITT RAND AMI?SW AMI_SW LKWPETER A.M.I. CONDO |
For PHOENIX BIOS’ try this backdoor password:
phoenix |
These backdoor passwords have been provided to you free of charge. If you have attempted to use these backdoor
passwords on a system (even just as a test), we would appreciate knowing whether these backdoors have worked for you.
Please email us at pwcrack@pwcrack.com
with the BIOS ID number, whether or not the backdoor worked, and which
backdoor worked. This
information will help us assist others in the future. The AMI or
Award BIOS ID appears at the bottom of the screen after power on.
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In BIOS’ with a release date of December 19, 1996 or later, Award required OEM customers to
configure their own security default BIOS passwords using the Award MODBIN.EXE utility, version 4.50.60.
If you are aware of any other backdoor BIOS passwords please let us know at
pwcrack@pwcrack.com.
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If you are unable to recover the password with a BIOS password cracker or a backdoor there may still
be options available. However, we recommend that the additional work only be attempted by a qualified
technician.
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RECOVERY IF YOU CANNOT BOOT THE SYSTEM
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If you cannot boot the system without the BIOS password, then using a BIOS password cracker is
not going to work (since you cannot run the program.) You should first attempt to gain access
to the system by using the backdoor passwords listed above. For many desktop type PC’s, BIOS passwords
can be reset by removing the CMOS battery for a number of hours. However, care should be taken when
attempting recovery in this way since this method may also clear any BIOS customizations and render
PC components inoperable.
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LAPTOP AND NOTEBOOK RECOVERY
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Most laptop manufacturers have provided additional safeguards for
their computers. We are not
aware of any simple BIOS recovery program that works on laptops, nor
are we aware of any simple
backdoor passwords for these machines. BIOS passwords in most
laptops are stored in a special
chip on the motherboard and the only way to bypass this password is
to replace this laptop security chip. Laptop BIOS passwords cannot be
bypassed or reset by removing or shorting the CMOS battery. Further,
doing this may cause other system errors and complicate the recovery or
your system.
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We offer a full-range of replacement laptop security chips. These
chips will allow you to bypass the laptop BIOS password. Note that
these chips will require soldering on the system board (a hot air
soldering kit is also available.) Since these chips store the laptop
BIOS passwords, replacing the laptop security chip will remove the
BIOS password. However, if a hard disk lock password has been set, it
will remain. Passwords can be recovered from
the original chip removed from the system board using our Password
Recovery Service (PRS) for an additional fee. Since the BIOS
password and hard disk lock passwords are usually the same,
recovering the BIOS password from the old
chip may allow you to access the hard disk. However, this is not
guaranteed, since these passwords can be set independently. All
replacement chips include detailed instructions.
Password Crackers, Inc. cannot take any responsibility for damage to
system boards, computers or data.
More information about our security chips and our chip password
recovery service are available on our
security chips page.
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One exception to the above chip information is the Toshiba Security Access Key. The Toshiba Key allows for the
immediate bypass of the BIOS password from most Toshiba models without soldering.
More information on the Toshiba Key is available on our Toshiba security chips page.
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HARD DISK LOCKS
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Some laptops provide a utility to lock a hard disk with a password.
These passwords are not the same as BIOS passwords. Moving a locked
hard disk to another machine will not
unlock it, since the hard disk password is stored in the hard disk
firmware and moves with the hard disk. Also, adding a new (unlocked)
hard disk to a locked machine may cause the new hard disk to become
locked.
Also, note that hard disk lock passwords cannot be removed by
reformatting the disk, fdisk or any other software procedure (since the
disk will not allow and reads or writes to the disk, it cannot be
reformatted.)
Usually, the BIOS password and hard disk lock passwords are set the
same by a user and we can recover the BIOS password directly from the
laptop security chip (after it is removed from the system board.)
However,
it is possible that the BIOS password and hard disk lock passwords
may be set different. In this case the BIOS
password will not unlock the hard disk. You can test to determine if
your hard disk is locked by attempting to access it in another laptop.
Password Crackers, Inc. offers a service that can unlock most models of laptop hard disks. Detail are available on our hard disk page.
content from:- http://www.pwcrack.com/bios.shtml
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BIOS PASSWORD AND LOCKED HARD DISK RECOVERY
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