default BIOS password?
default BIOS password?
I recently acquired a refurbished PC built for point-of-sale use to support a local charity group. The hardware is solid but not top-of-the-line. The prior owners likely embedded a password in the BIOS—otherwise they probably used a custom CMOS chip, which seems unlikely. The motherboard features a Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H (model revision 1.2) with an i3 processor and 4GB RAM. I’ve made several changes: shorted the BIOS according to the manual, removed the CMOS battery as instructed, replaced the old hard drive with a new one, and kept the password prompt appearing even after those steps. Am I in trouble? Thanks, John from the UK (retired Microsoft MCSE enthusiast always ready to help)
It seems likely. A possible approach would be to use a CH341a or similar device to extract the Flash-chip contents and examine them with a hex editor, verifying whether the password is saved in plaintext. If not found, you might try reconstructing the chip using a known or unknown dump and flashing it. However, working with a CH341a isn't advisable for someone unfamiliar with the process.