Was given an old PC but its locked, HELP

[Master Disaster]

OK so I've seen the other similar threads on this subject but mine is different.

 

I work at a school and last summer holiday they had the computer lab ripped out and upgraded to newer machines. The old machines were all stored in an outside shed where they've sat until this weekend. On Friday as I was leaving the school caretaker mentioned that these 25 old PCs were going into a skip to be taken away for recycling over the weekend so on my way out I called into the heads office and asked if I could take one home and she said I could take as many as I wanted as long as I don't try to sell them on (they're marked by our local council and have that smart dust stuff inside them) so I called in on Saturday and stuck one in my car.

 

They're basically old RM all in one machines (RM Ecoquiet 211) running XP but my intention is to install Ubuntu server on it.

 

Because its an old school machine its obviously come from a domain and I've asked the IT guys about local accounts but they've told me there is none, the built in Admin account is disabled by GPO and the machine is set for domain login only. Obviously the BIOS is also passworded and the IT guys don't know what that password is either so I have this machine but can't do anything with it as its set to network boot then HDD boot with USB boot disabled entirely.

 

I DO NOT want to get access to this PC, I want to format it and reinstall the OS.

 

My intention was to strip the thing down and remove the CMOS battery but that's not possible as its using some kind of proprietary security bit I've never seen before and I've already stripped one screw by trying to force it with the wrong bit.

 

Anybody got any ideas how I can reset the CMOS and enable USB boot on a machine with a locked BIOS where I can't get at the CMOS battery?

[Sack]

Did you even try to google? 

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-BIOS-Password

[Ezzy-525]

Out of interest what were the specs on these systems?

[Technomancer__]

3 minutes ago, Ezzy-525 said:

Out of interest what were the specs on these systems?

probably a 32bit shity core duo or pentium 4

[Master Disaster]

10 minutes ago, Sack said:

Did you even try to google? 

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-BIOS-Password

Amazing post, did you actually read anything I typed?

 

My intention was to strip the thing down and remove the CMOS battery but that's not possible as its using some kind of proprietary security bit I've never seen before and I've already stripped one screw by trying to force it with the wrong bit.

 

The specs are P4 with 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD.

[Helly]

you cant reset the bios from the outside, thats kind of the point. Otherwise the password would be kinda pointless. If you messed up the screw completely then there's not much you can do. If theres still a chance with it i'd suggest posting a picture of it. Maybe someone here knows what it is and you can buy a bit for it somewhere.

[Gaurav S Rao]

36 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

OK so I've seen the other similar threads on this subject but mine is different.

 

I work at a school and last summer holiday they had the computer lab ripped out and upgraded to newer machines. The old machines were all stored in an outside shed where they've sat until this weekend. On Friday as I was leaving the school caretaker mentioned that these 25 old PCs were going into a skip to be taken away for recycling over the weekend so on my way out I called into the heads office and asked if I could take one home and she said I could take as many as I wanted as long as I don't try to sell them on (they're marked by our local council and have that smart dust stuff inside them) so I called in on Saturday and stuck one in my car.

 

They're basically old RM all in one machines (RM Ecoquiet 211) running XP but my intention is to install Ubuntu server on it.

 

Because its an old school machine its obviously come from a domain and I've asked the IT guys about local accounts but they've told me there is none, the built in Admin account is disabled by GPO and the machine is set for domain login only. Obviously the BIOS is also passworded and the IT guys don't know what that password is either so I have this machine but can't do anything with it as its set to network boot then HDD boot with USB boot disabled entirely.

 

I DO NOT want to get access to this PC, I want to format it and reinstall the OS.

 

My intention was to strip the thing down and remove the CMOS battery but that's not possible as its using some kind of proprietary security bit I've never seen before and I've already stripped one screw by trying to force it with the wrong bit.

 

Anybody got any ideas how I can reset the CMOS and enable USB boot on a machine with a locked BIOS where I can't get at the CMOS battery?

Is there any header on the board called CLR_CMOS ? if it is,short two of the 3 pins (usually 3 pins are on the mobo),that should Reset it

[Ezzy-525]

9 minutes ago, Helly said:

you cant reset the bios from the outside, thats kind of the point. Otherwise the password would be kinda pointless. If you messed up the screw completely then there's not much you can do. If theres still a chance with it i'd suggest posting a picture of it. Maybe someone here knows what it is and you can buy a bit for it somewhere.

Or just go LTT on it and bust out the dremel.

[Gaurav S Rao]

Those are too good computers to go in the trash,atleast the motherboards are worth saving the most,those systems are too good to run Windows XP

Specs are: 

ASUS P8H61-I LX/RM/SI 2nd Gen i3,i5 or i7 Depends and 3rd Gen 95 W TDP Processors supported Windows 7    If i were you,I would get all 25 of them and replace my Core 2 Duo Desktop and give the other 25 to my other family members

[marten.aap2.0]

maybe you can put the hdd in another pc, boot it from another drive and reset the whole hdd.

or use an external boot drive to boot that computer and reset the drive

[DnFx91]

42 minutes ago, Sack said:

Did you even try to google? 

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-BIOS-Password

i nearly got a warning from LTT mods for pointing out people's inability to google simple things.

 

Be careful lol

[Gaurav S Rao]

3 minutes ago, DnFx91 said:

i nearly got a warning from LTT mods for pointing out people's inability to google simple things.

 

Be careful lol

LMGTFY

[Gaurav S Rao]

Take a HDD and put it in a usb enclouser and connect it to a different system,then use rufus and put a Ubuntu server install thing on it,then put the HDD in the PC (Swap the Original drive with the Install drive for install,and then swap back the original drive to the original prot it was in

 

If that doesnt work,install Ubuntu server on a different computer and install it and put the RM system 

 

and if that also doesnt work try a really bad idea (not recommended) Put the drive with the install in the system as primary and boot it up and when it is running,put the original HDD Back in while it is running (before opening the installer) (Not recommended) and then try to install

 

Note:It will only work if you can get past the Post screen without it asking you for the password

[Sack]

33 minutes ago, DnFx91 said:

i nearly got a warning from LTT mods for pointing out people's inability to google simple things.

 

Be careful lol

I once tried to do something Linus would have done, and I got a warning, so yeah, I know. Some of the mods have no humour, but sometimes the point needs to be forced a little.

[DnFx91]

31 minutes ago, Sack said:

I once tried to do something Linus would have done, and I got a warning, so yeah, I know. Some of the mods have no humour, but sometimes the point needs to be forced a little.

yeah man, i could bring up the fact that Hackinstosh is a completely banned subject on LTTF, but this exists, sooooooo ?

 

[Sack]

Just now, DnFx91 said:

yeah man, i could bring up the fact that Hackinstosh is a completely banned subject on LTTF, but this exists, sooooooo ?

 

4

Yeah, I only just learned that last week and was very surprised since they've done a video of actually building one.

[DnFx91]

1 minute ago, Sack said:

Yeah, I only just learned that last week and was very surprised since they've done a video of actually building one.

my first article on here was about my triple boot hackintosh build, had to persuade the Mod to let me keep it up and he was very understanding given that i wasn't actually giving info on how to go about making a hackintosh. It's a super grey area but the principle of it is still weird, given that LTT has done a couple of hackintosh related videos over the years, not just the one i linked.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, DnFx91 said:

i nearly got a warning from LTT mods for pointing out people's inability to google simple things.

 

Be careful lol

How about when I point out peoples inability to read the thread before posting?

[DnFx91]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

How about when I point out peoples inability to read the thread before posting?

as far as i know that is fine haha. 

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Helly said:

you cant reset the bios from the outside, thats kind of the point. Otherwise the password would be kinda pointless. If you messed up the screw completely then there's not much you can do. If theres still a chance with it i'd suggest posting a picture of it. Maybe someone here knows what it is and you can buy a bit for it somewhere.

Thanks for the sensible response, unfortunately taking a picture isn't really possible as the screws are recessed about 5cm into a hole and even with my LED torch shining into the hole I can barely make out the screw head.

 

I looks like a T2 would fit it but in the middle of the screw head there's an extra circle of metal so a normal T2 bit won't fit it.

 

I'm actually wondering if a really small socket might fit and turn it from the outside but the hole is really small (its the same size as a screwdriver shaft) so getting a socket to fit in the hole would be really difficult.

 

Edit

 

I googled Torx with a hole and this came up...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Screwdriver-Bits-Security-Bit-set-Torx-Hex-Tamperproof-33pc-BERGEN-AT851-/141370852012?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275

[PineyCreek]

5 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Thanks for the sensible response, unfortunately taking a picture isn't really possible as the screws are recessed about 5cm into a hole and even with my LED torch shining into the hole I can barely make out the screw head.

 

I looks like a T2 would fit it but in the middle of the screw head there's an extra circle of metal so a normal T2 bit won't fit it.

 

I'm actually wondering if a really small socket might fit and turn it from the outside but the hole is really small (its the same size as a screwdriver shaft) so getting a socket to fit in the hole would be really difficult.

 

Edit

 

I googled Torx with a hole and this came up...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Screwdriver-Bits-Security-Bit-set-Torx-Hex-Tamperproof-33pc-BERGEN-AT851-/141370852012?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275

You can probably get a 100-pc set of security bits for a low cost on amazon.co.uk...it'll be garbage alloy but it'll probably work for your application.  If it's really that small you might have to find a jeweler's-style screwdriver with that bit.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Gaurav S Rao said:

Those are too good computers to go in the trash,atleast the motherboards are worth saving the most,those systems are too good to run Windows XP

Specs are: 

ASUS P8H61-I LX/RM/SI 2nd Gen i3,i5 or i7 Depends and 3rd Gen 95 W TDP Processors supported Windows 7    If i were you,I would get all 25 of them and replace my Core 2 Duo Desktop and give the other 25 to my other family members

Apologies, its not the Ecoquiet 211 its the plain Ecoquiet 2. Much older than the 211.