Get round password-protected Bios settings

Helpline Q&A Directory

I want to change my PC's Bios settings, but they are protected by an unknown password.

You could try a 'back door' password. These vary for different Bios. For an Award Bios try the following passwords in both upper- and lowercase: award sw, award_sw, award pw, _award. For an AMI Bios try the following passwords in upper- and lowercase: ami, a.m.i., ami sw, ami_sw, bios, password, biostar, biosstar.

You could also try clearing the password. Boot to MS-DOS, type Debug, then for an AMI or Award Bios enter: O 70 17 O 71 17 Q. For a Phoenix Bios enter the following code, using the capital letter 'O' not zero: O 70 FF O 71 17

If none of those works, it's worth trying a website which has the best collection of information on this topic we've seen, including lists of default passwords to try and password-cracking tools for the most popular Bioses. Go to www.neworder.box.sk and use the Search tool there to search for 'Bios password'.