getting around password

I once found a DELL laptop computer in the trash (REALLY!) and it had a BIOS password set on it.

The laptop did not have a method of jumpering some pins to reset the BIOS. But I was able to get enough info from the cardboard box that the thing was in (other letters and addresses) that I was able to track down the old owner. I wanted to check with him to ensure that it was not a stolen laptop that someone had stolen, couldn't make work, and decided to trash it.

Turned out it was something someone really intended to throw out (don't ask me why, since it really wasn't that bad of a PC) but they could not recall what the BIOS password was either.

So, now armed with their blessing (and name and address of the original owner) I contacted DELL. After talking to the right people, and some verification, I was able to talk them into giving me the "super-encoded" password that would override and shut off the BIOS password. So then, once unlocked, I was able to get to the OS. (I subsequently reformatted the drive and reinstalled the OS.) That unlocking password only had to be entered once, since it then forced the BIOS to just shut off the BIOS password.

The whole "get the secret password" process took a week or two of talking to the Dell Support people. Then one morning, I got a call from India and the person gave me the unlocking password.

By the way, that ?super-unlocking password? varies from PC to PC. It is something that evidently is different per PC, it probably is based on the Service Code which is in ROM and some hashing algorithm.

Good luck. I just wanted to let you know that with some companies PC's can be unlocked, even if there appears no way to get past the BIOS password.