Ever purchased a 2nd hand computer to only finxd that its bios is protected with a password , or even worse , you cant boot because its asking for a password?
The best way of overcoming this problem is to open the computer , find the CMOS battery (flat circular battery that sits on the motherboard) , remove it for 1 minute and then reinsert it. This should clear all passwords.
However , if you have a laptop , accessing the CMOS battery can be very difficult , sometimes requiring you to almost fully disassemble the laptop to get to it!
Manufacturers implement so called "Backdoor" passwords which, depending on the make of the bios , are default passwords which can be used to bypass a user set password.
Ami - Updated 17th September 2009
A.M.I., ami , amiami , amidecod , CMOSPWD , AAAMMMIII, AMI?SW , AMI_SW, BIOS, CONDO, HEWITT RAND, LKWPETER, MI, PASSWORD , AMI.KEY ,KILLCMOS,amipswd , AMISETUP, 589589, AMIPSWD, AMI?SW, ami.kez ,AMI, AMI!SW , ami°
,AMI_SW ,helgasss ,aammii , bios310, AMI~ , BIOSPASS
Award
One reported Award backdoor BIOS password is eight spaces. Other reported Award backdoor BIOS passwords include
01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598 , ALFAROME, ALLY, ALLy, aLLY, aLLy, aPAf, award, AWARD PW, AWARD SW, AWARD?SW, AWARD_PW, AWARD_SW, AWKWARD, awkward, BIOSTAR, CONCAT, CONDO, Condo, condo, d8on, djonet, HLT, J256, J262, j262, j322, j332, J64, KDD, LKWPETER, Lkwpeter, PINT, pint, SER, SKY_FOX, SYXZ, syxz, TTPTHA, ZAAAADA, ZAAADA, ZBAAACA, and ZJAAADC.
Phoenix
BIOS, CMOS, phoenix, and PHOENIX
Other Manufacturers
VOBIS & IBM - merlin
Dell - Dell
Biostar - Biostar
Compaq - Compaq
Enox - xo11nE
Epox - central
Freetech - Posterie
IWill - iwill
Jetway - spooml
Packard Bell - bell9
QDI - QDI
Siemens - SKY_FOX
SOYO - SY_MB
TMC - BIGO
Toshiba - Toshiba
New! Added September 17th 2009
Advance Integration: Advance
Amptron: Polrty
AST: SnuFG5
Biostar: Biostar
Q54arwms
Compaq: compaq
Concord: last
CTX International: CTX_123
CyberMax: Congress
Daytek+Daewoo: Daytec
Daewuu
DELL: DELL
Digital Equipment: komprie
Enox: xo11nE
Epox: central
Freetech: Posterie
HP Vectra Serie: hewlpack
IBM: IBM
MBIUO
sertafu
IBMAptiva: press both mousekeys
Iwill: iwill
Jet Way: spoom1
Joss Techn.: 57gbz6
Technolgi
MachSpeed: sp99dd
Magic-Pro: prost
Megastar: Star
Micron: sldkj754
xyzall
Micronics: dn_04rjc
M Technology: mMmM
Nimble: xdfk9874t3
Packard Bell: Bell9
QDI: QDI
Quantex: teX1
xljlbj
Research: Col2ogro2
Shuttle: Spacve
Siemens Nixdorf: SKY_FOX
Speedeasy: lesarot1
SuperMicro: ksdjfg934t
Tiny: Tiny
TMC: BIGO
Toshiba: 24Banc81
Toshiba
toshy99
ToshibaLaptops: press left Shiftkey
Vextrec Technology: Vextrec
Vobis: merlin
WIMBIOS v2.10: Compleri
Zenith: 3098z
Zenith
Zeos: zeosx
Old HPs (really old, around the time HP formed) had the 8 space passwords for a backdoor for the BIOS and for "technician" login of the windows reinstall partition, when they implemented that. technician level login allowed reinstall without asking for a cdkey, and also had a few interesting utilities. however it was removed shortly after it was implemented due to useage abuse, so its rare.
Some old MSI motherboards have "microstar" or "microsta" (depending on character length available)
Some old Packards had a keyboard shortcut during POST, that went into the BIOS without checking for password. but I dont remember exactly, something like Alt-f10. Google might help with this one.
Hopefully this will be of some use to those people with password protected bioses
The best way of overcoming this problem is to open the computer , find the CMOS battery (flat circular battery that sits on the motherboard) , remove it for 1 minute and then reinsert it. This should clear all passwords.
However , if you have a laptop , accessing the CMOS battery can be very difficult , sometimes requiring you to almost fully disassemble the laptop to get to it!
Manufacturers implement so called "Backdoor" passwords which, depending on the make of the bios , are default passwords which can be used to bypass a user set password.
Ami - Updated 17th September 2009
A.M.I., ami , amiami , amidecod , CMOSPWD , AAAMMMIII, AMI?SW , AMI_SW, BIOS, CONDO, HEWITT RAND, LKWPETER, MI, PASSWORD , AMI.KEY ,KILLCMOS,amipswd , AMISETUP, 589589, AMIPSWD, AMI?SW, ami.kez ,AMI, AMI!SW , ami°
,AMI_SW ,helgasss ,aammii , bios310, AMI~ , BIOSPASS
Award
One reported Award backdoor BIOS password is eight spaces. Other reported Award backdoor BIOS passwords include
01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598 , ALFAROME, ALLY, ALLy, aLLY, aLLy, aPAf, award, AWARD PW, AWARD SW, AWARD?SW, AWARD_PW, AWARD_SW, AWKWARD, awkward, BIOSTAR, CONCAT, CONDO, Condo, condo, d8on, djonet, HLT, J256, J262, j262, j322, j332, J64, KDD, LKWPETER, Lkwpeter, PINT, pint, SER, SKY_FOX, SYXZ, syxz, TTPTHA, ZAAAADA, ZAAADA, ZBAAACA, and ZJAAADC.
Phoenix
BIOS, CMOS, phoenix, and PHOENIX
Other Manufacturers
VOBIS & IBM - merlin
Dell - Dell
Biostar - Biostar
Compaq - Compaq
Enox - xo11nE
Epox - central
Freetech - Posterie
IWill - iwill
Jetway - spooml
Packard Bell - bell9
QDI - QDI
Siemens - SKY_FOX
SOYO - SY_MB
TMC - BIGO
Toshiba - Toshiba
New! Added September 17th 2009
Advance Integration: Advance
Amptron: Polrty
AST: SnuFG5
Biostar: Biostar
Q54arwms
Compaq: compaq
Concord: last
CTX International: CTX_123
CyberMax: Congress
Daytek+Daewoo: Daytec
Daewuu
DELL: DELL
Digital Equipment: komprie
Enox: xo11nE
Epox: central
Freetech: Posterie
HP Vectra Serie: hewlpack
IBM: IBM
MBIUO
sertafu
IBMAptiva: press both mousekeys
Iwill: iwill
Jet Way: spoom1
Joss Techn.: 57gbz6
Technolgi
MachSpeed: sp99dd
Magic-Pro: prost
Megastar: Star
Micron: sldkj754
xyzall
Micronics: dn_04rjc
M Technology: mMmM
Nimble: xdfk9874t3
Packard Bell: Bell9
QDI: QDI
Quantex: teX1
xljlbj
Research: Col2ogro2
Shuttle: Spacve
Siemens Nixdorf: SKY_FOX
Speedeasy: lesarot1
SuperMicro: ksdjfg934t
Tiny: Tiny
TMC: BIGO
Toshiba: 24Banc81
Toshiba
toshy99
ToshibaLaptops: press left Shiftkey
Vextrec Technology: Vextrec
Vobis: merlin
WIMBIOS v2.10: Compleri
Zenith: 3098z
Zenith
Zeos: zeosx
Old HPs (really old, around the time HP formed) had the 8 space passwords for a backdoor for the BIOS and for "technician" login of the windows reinstall partition, when they implemented that. technician level login allowed reinstall without asking for a cdkey, and also had a few interesting utilities. however it was removed shortly after it was implemented due to useage abuse, so its rare.
Some old MSI motherboards have "microstar" or "microsta" (depending on character length available)
Some old Packards had a keyboard shortcut during POST, that went into the BIOS without checking for password. but I dont remember exactly, something like Alt-f10. Google might help with this one.
Hopefully this will be of some use to those people with password protected bioses