default BIOS password?

[John_Hagen]

I just bought a used designed-for-POS PC to repurpose for charity (a local community group). The spec is basic but sound. However, the previous owners put a password in the BIOS - either that or they have a custom CMOS chip, but that's probably unlikely. The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H (rev. 1.2) and it holds a 4th generation i3 and 4GB RAM. So far I have:

1. shorted the BIOS as per the manual
2. removed the CMOS battery as per the manual
3. swapped the hard disk for a new one, in case the original was encrypted

... but still it boots to a password prompt before it does anything else. Am I fubar?

 

many thanks, John in the UK (retired Microsoft MCSE and always being begged for help)

 

[Levent]

If clearing CMOS doesnt work, only other option is either flashing the EEPROM with a external programmer or replacing the chip. 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, John_Hagen said:

... but still it boots to a password prompt before it does anything else. Am I fubar?

Probably, yes. One thing that could be attempted would be to use a CH341a or similar to dump the contents of the Flash-chip and check with a hex-editor, if the password is stored there in plaintext-format. If not, you could attempt to see if anyone has made a dump of the contents with a known or no password and flash it on the chip.

 

Alas, messing around with a CH341a and the chip isn't something I'd recommend to someone who doesn't know what they're doing.