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Pulling the CMOS seems to have no effect anymore.

I work in consumer laptop repair. Something thats bugged me is, once in a while ill get a computer with a BIOS password that is a real issue. It USED to be back in the day, you could pull the CMOS and discharge the unit fully to clear the BIOS. The last few years, pulling the CMOS doesnt even mess up the clock. What magic is going on?

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manufacturers might've got sick of catching flack for making it so easy to bypass security measures people put on their stuff...

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r5 3600,3450@0.9v (0.875v get) 4.2ghz@1.25v (1.212 get) | custom loop cpu&gpu 1260mm nexxos xt45 | MSI b450i gaming ac | crucial ballistix 2x8 3000c15->3733c15@1.39v(1.376v get) |Zotac 2060 amp | 256GB Samsung 950 pro nvme | 1TB Adata su800 | 4TB HGST drive | Silverstone SX500-LG

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HTPC i3 7300 | Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H | 16GB G Skill | Adata XPG SX8000 128GB M.2 | Many HDDs | Rosewill FBM-01 | Corsair CXM 450W

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Ampix0 said:

I work in consumer laptop repair. Something thats bugged me is, once in a while ill get a computer with a BIOS password that is a real issue. It USED to be back in the day, you could pull the CMOS and discharge the unit fully to clear the BIOS. The last few years, pulling the CMOS doesnt even mess up the clock. What magic is going on?

Maybe they're using some sort of nvROM for security so it cannot be bypassed?

 

It could also be that you have to disconnect the main battery rather than just discharge it because it probably retains a bit of charge even when "empty" so it doesn't wear out as quickly. Have you actually disconnected the main battery?

 

You can also try the "take out the battery and hold the power button for 60sec" trick to fully discharge all capacitors.

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Having issues with a Corsair AIO? Possible fix here:

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Are you getting weird fan behavior, speed fluctuations, and/or other issues with Link?

Are you running AIDA64, HWinfo, CAM, or HWmonitor? (ASUS suite & other monitoring software often have the same issue.)

Corsair Link has problems with some monitoring software so you may have to change some settings to get them to work smoothly.

-For AIDA64: First make sure you have the newest update installed, then, go to Preferences>Stability and make sure the "Corsair Link sensor support" box is checked and make sure the "Asetek LC sensor support" box is UNchecked.

-For HWinfo: manually disable all monitoring of the AIO sensors/components.

-For others: Disable any monitoring of Corsair AIO sensors.

That should fix the fan issue for some Corsair AIOs (H80i GT/v2, H110i GTX/H115i, H100i GTX and others made by Asetek). The problem is bad coding in Link that fights for AIO control with other programs. You can test if this worked by setting the fan speed in Link to 100%, if it doesn't fluctuate you are set and can change the curve to whatever. If that doesn't work or you're still having other issues then you probably still have a monitoring software interfering with the AIO/Link communications, find what it is and disable it.

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On 11/5/2017 at 1:46 PM, pyrojoe34 said:

Maybe they're using some sort of nvROM for security so it cannot be bypassed?

 

It could also be that you have to disconnect the main battery rather than just discharge it because it probably retains a bit of charge even when "empty" so it doesn't wear out as quickly. Have you actually disconnected the main battery?

 

You can also try the "take out the battery and hold the power button for 60sec" trick to fully discharge all capacitors.

Done all of the above to discharge units. nvROM is what I assume too. Though, still the clock situation too.

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I mean if you think about it whats the point of locking the bios if you can just pull a battery. Its good for security that they do that but bad for times when you need to legitimately reset or remove the password. 

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