Can I bypass the startup password on a computer?
I have a customer that called and said a scammer claiming to be from AOL had gotten on her computer the other day and she would not pay him anything and then when she re-started her computer it came up prompting for a password (BIOS password).
Is there something I can do to get past the password to get into her computer or do we need to change out the motherboard?
Is there something I can do to get past the password to get into her computer or do we need to change out the motherboard?
John
If the customer has proof of purchase, they can contact the manufacturer and see if they can reset it. Likely not, and most likely you will need to replace the motherboard to provide new BIOS
Also check it is the BIOS password that they've reset, that's pretty tricky to do from a remote connection. It's more likey to be SysKey that they've changed the password for. If so you won't be able to get back into Windows but theirdata will be untouched and can be recovered from the HDD.
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You can also reset the password by removing CMOS battery and waiting at least 20 minutes because of power stored in capacitors.
Manufacturers have largely disabled this method.
Manufacturers have largely disabled this method.
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BIOS is not air-gapped and since BIOS can be updated from a program installed on the OS, I consider this a possibility. HOWEVER, a VERY VERY low possibility. I'm 99% certain David is correct, ESPECIALLY if you haven't seen the PC personally and are going purely by what the customer tells.
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Sorry I didn,t get back sooner. I picked up the computer in question this evening and will look at it as soon as I get back to the shop. I promise to update this tomorrow after I take a look at it.
ASKER
I started the computer up this morning and it was not at all like the customer said. The bad guy did a Computer ransom lockout scam with a password. I feel kind of foolish for believing the costumer instead of looking at the computer first.
Thank you all for your time and effort in helping me out with this issue. I still learned a lot through this.
Thank you all for your time and effort in helping me out with this issue. I still learned a lot through this.
Thanks for the update. We (none of us) can always know from a distance what is going on. Better to get hands on.