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April 1st, 2008 09:00
Crack the BIOS password?
I have swore by BIOS passwords for years. What Im wondering is how secure are they?
A BIOS password that locks everything means you can't use the computer at all - no Access to the boot menu, system setup or even post. Is there any way to get around them? (Besides the Reset Password jumper on the motherboard of a Desktop).
Message Edited by mfinnan101 on 04-01-2008 11:44 AM
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qvindesl
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April 1st, 2008 11:00
Well its pretty safe, but as anything else there is also workarounds it, you could as you say take out the battery, but i would really not recommend it since if your bios should get a problem then you risk that you might not be able to get into your machine I.E corrupt the password etc.
mfinnan101
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April 1st, 2008 12:00
The memory the BIOS uses is non-volatile - taking the battery out would not have any effect on it.
But if you think about it, it wouldn't be too hard to brute force - It's not case sensitive, doesn't allow symbols and is only 8 charactars long.
That equates to 36^8 possible combinations, with todays processors that's in no way unreasonable.
mfinnan101
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April 1st, 2008 15:00
NemesisDB
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April 1st, 2008 15:00
Discussing how to crack laptop bios passwords will get you banned here. For laptops, there is a master password that dell will give to a verified owner to clear a forgotten password.
Regarding brute force -- 3 strikes followed by a mandatory reset would make the process take near-forever.
NemesisDB
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April 2nd, 2008 01:00
tradervics
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April 2nd, 2008 01:00
I assume (hope) that each Dell laptop has its own master password.