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need help with password protected computer

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digger1
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25 May 2008, 12:56 pm

I bought a laptop computer today at a yard sale but when I turn it on, it'll prompt me for a password but if I enter in anything three times, it'll say "operating system not found."

any such thing as a workaround?



Lily_cat
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25 May 2008, 12:59 pm

I'd go back to the person I got it from and ask.



SabbraCadabra
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25 May 2008, 1:14 pm

Harder to do in most laptops, but if you open it up and remove the CMOS battery for about 15 seconds, it'll reset the password and everything.

Sometimes there are jumpers you can switch too, but I'm going to guess this is much less likely in a laptop than in a desktop.


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digger1
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25 May 2008, 1:35 pm

Lily_cat wrote:
I'd go back to the person I got it from and ask.


he doesn't remember the password.

and I'll try removing the battery. It's the button type battery on the inside, right?



KingdomOfRats
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25 May 2008, 2:11 pm

does it allow access to BIOS?


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supahneko
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25 May 2008, 2:16 pm

Remove the main battery and the bios battery on the mother board (watch battery) let it sit for about a minute then put them back in and install in OS of your choice.



digger1
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25 May 2008, 2:24 pm

KingdomOfRats wrote:
does it allow access to BIOS?


it does but the BIOS passwords and the HDD0 passwords aren't the same.

I'll try the battery thing.

I mean, there has to be a way cops do it to break into suspected pedophile's computers.



supahneko
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25 May 2008, 2:25 pm

You may also want to try a boot disk... (knoppix or wolvix)



digger1
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25 May 2008, 2:29 pm

I don't think it's a linux computer. In fact, I don't even know what it's OS is. Can I make a boot-disk with any OS and throw it in?



supahneko
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25 May 2008, 2:30 pm

Yep, you could even try bart pe which is windows based



KingdomOfRats
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25 May 2008, 2:43 pm

digger1 wrote:
KingdomOfRats wrote:
does it allow access to BIOS?


it does but the BIOS passwords and the HDD0 passwords aren't the same.

I'll try the battery thing.

I mean, there has to be a way cops do it to break into suspected pedophile's computers.

that sounds good if can get into BIOS......had been thinking...get into BIOS-swap the boot sequence to read the disc drive first,burn a copy of an older linux OS on other computer,boot that on the laptop,format the hard drive and install with it....but if it wont even do that without battery swap...?


cops would probably just take the hard drive out and copy it to another?


[edited in]
--too slow with writing posts...
on the subject of linuxes...

ubuntu does a live disc as well...
just as long as the laptop wont lag a lot with it if its an old one.


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Apple_in_my_Eye
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25 May 2008, 4:19 pm

digger1 wrote:
I don't think it's a linux computer. In fact, I don't even know what it's OS is. Can I make a boot-disk with any OS and throw it in?


I'm no linux guru, so maybe you know this already, but KNOPPIX and most other linux distros nowadays have "live CD" versions; boots & runs the OS from CD, without using the HD at all. I've found that a great tool for partitioning/formatting/disaster recovery.