Bios Password

[dannyt187]

I have a Dell 5100 notebook running Windows XP Pro. I haven't used the laptop in a while and forgot the login password to Windows. I decided to reinstall windows but when I went into the bios to change the boot sequence to CD the bios asked for a password. I never set a password for the bios and was just dumbfounded that this happened. So, I tried a few of the backdoor passwords to no avail eventually getting a "System Disabled" message.

My problem is that now I can no longer access the bios screen, normally F2 would do it as well as F12 but they are not responding. Can someone shed any light on this? Also, the buttons F2 and F12 do work cause the led's respond to the button presses.

Thanks

[blackcivic]

not sure how you feel about dismantling your laptop but you can remove the cmos battery or jumper or as an alternative, you find some utilities that will bypass it for you...

[dannyt187]

not sure how you feel about dismantling your laptop but you can remove the cmos battery or jumper or as an alternative, you find some utilities that will bypass it for you...

That's the one thing I want to avoid. It's a friends computer and I don't want to unexpectedly break something. The issue started with a forgotten WinXP password then uncovered a forgotten Bios password then to being unable to access to the bios setup screen all of a sudden.

Now I have been able to do what I set out to do in the first place which was to reinstall windows, which was difficult in the beginning b/c I couldn't set the boot sequence. My way around this was to pull out the HDD, turn on the laptop, insert WinXP Boot CD, within seconds of the Blue Win Setup screen I reinserted the HDD and voila HDD recognized and WinXP is installing. Bios issue is still there but who cares at least I can use my computer now.

Thanks for your reply, hope my experience helps you or anybody else who is having a similar problem.