I have a SONY VAIO PCG-GRV550 P4 XP laptop . I TRIED TO REINSTALL WINDOWS XP PRO AND IT STARTED ASKING FOR THE BIOS PASSWORD. I DON'T HAVE A PASSWORD. HOW CAN I FIX THIS. PLEASE HELP
you really need to get the password from whoever put it on there. this page has other passwords on it you could also try - http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/reference/biosp.htm it also talks about pulling the cmos battery out for a bit to clear the bios.
I have had success flashing a password protected BIOS, but usually you are asked for the password in order to flash the BIOS. Pulling out the battery is CMOS/RTC battery is usually the only way though. If you attempt to pull the RTC battery, make sure that you have all other sources of power disconnected (AC power and notebook battery). Keep the RTC battery out for about five minutes before reassembling the laptop. The result should be that he BIOS has been reset to the defaults settings, which includes no password protection.
The other reason why I would check with the person who set the bios password originally: there might be some tracking software in the BIOS as well. Where I work we do that. When one of our laptops is stolen we can track it by IP address, even if the hard drive is low level formatted. If somebody was careless enough not to clear the BIOS password, they may have also left other suprises on there for you.
Did you try just pressing enter when askes for password? I have seen on some systems that if a password was once on, that the option is just there and you just have to press enter to set a new one. Really stupid thing with some of our hospitial computers.
I seriously doubt you will find software to crack the bios password, the other suggestions will probably work, either trip the bios reset jumper (I'm not sure where it would be on your motherboard, or if one even exits) or remove the battery. This problem can be solved, don't worry, one of the two solutions mentioned above, and restated in my post, will work.
This is what I see when i reboot my computer. I believe these are the series of tests that the bios performs at boot up. Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 copyright etc. -635k System Ram Passed -510M Extended Ram Passed -512k Cache SRAM Passed -System Bios shadowed -Video Bios shadowed -S/N: 65436643636436 -Fixed Disk 0: FUJITSU MHR2030AT -Atapi CD-Rom: SONY CD-RW/DVD-ROM CRX810E -Mouse initialized -ERROR -0271: Check date and time settings -WARNING -0251: System CMOS checksum bad - Default configuration used -Press <F1> to resume, <F2> to setup. -Now when i press either key i get -ENTER PASSWORD [ ] The problem I don't have a password.
Check this out: http://www.mobile-computing-links.c.../vorlon.ces.cwru.edu/~ames/r505gl/inside.html Its for the 505 Sony, but I think your 550 might be similar as a search took me here. Looks like no jumber, just a Bios battery. To solve your problem just pull the battery out and wait a full 30 minutes for your Capacitors to discharge. Then put the battery back and you should be good to go.
Getting to the battery will be an adventure, unfortunately. You will most likely have to disassemble your entire laptop to the point that you have acess to the motherboard. This generally means entirely diassembling it. If you can find any PDF Service Manuals for your laptop, it would make the job much easier, and make you feel more confident as you take it to pieces. I just had to do the same thing with a new HP Pavilion laptop for a friend. The service manual was useful, because it tells you which screws to remove, and in what order. Puting it back together again can be even trickier without documentation, unless you document your steps. The job can be done without a manual, but it is intimidating. Sadly, laptops are much more difficult to disassemble. But try to keep in mind that part of the difficulty is merely worrying that it won't work when you reassemble all the parts. It will though. Just take your time - some parts are rather fragile!
The last time i cam across this problem i used cmos kill to reset the bios or something here may be of use http://www.cgsecurity.org/
Ok i opened up my laptop with some tutorial i found on internet and saw where cmos battery was yes was looks like someone already opened up this laptop and took the cmos battery. I don't have a floppy drive only a cdrom but can't get into bios to set up cdrom to boot 1st. any suggestions. Maybe is there a way to clear the actual cmos chip and if so how can i clear it.
If I read your last post right, the CMOS battery is MISSING??? If this is right, the computer is trying to boot in default settings. Without the battery you can't get to the settings to change anything. Get the proper battery installed, then see if you can get to the settings to clear the password. Since you didn't have one before, I don't think you will need one after the battery is back in place. I don't know how it was working before without the CMOS battery unless it was using the laptop battery pack for storage of the settings. Jerry
If there isn't a battery there, you will need one. IF there is a battery there, remove it, let is sit overnight (sleep is good once in a while). Add back the next moring and see how it works. If there is a battery there, how did you know it was removed once before?
i opened the laptop with a schematic i have from sony and the location where the battery is located the battery is not there
