bios

[#1]

nasty problem - laptop vista corrupt - can't login - need to boot off dvd - bios not set for dvd drive first - cannot access bios as some prat has put a password on it - phoenix - have tried all backdoor passwords and removed backup motherboard battery to no avail.
any experts out there
thanks

[#2]

its a acer extensa 5210 with Phoenix TrustedCore bios

[#3]

May help:
http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.shtml
Regards,
Neil

[#4]

I had a similar problem with my ZE4500 from ebay. Seller didn't tell me the bios password (along with other numerous faults for a machine that was in GWO).
Anyway.. I discovered that removing the battery doesn't work on laptops. The manufacturers worked out that stolen laptops could be easily reset using this method and sold on to unsuspecting people so they stopped this being possible.
I also tried every back door password possible for my bios. None worked. Tried software recovery, none worked.
In short it turned out to be a motherboard return or replace. Needless to say I just lumped it and continued using it. The only problem was I couldn't change the boot device priority. Didn't really matter.... about a year later it died... (over heating, dodgy battery connector, charger socket, cracked screen, HDD packed up and the keyboard was also becoming a bit shot too!). The only good bits left of it are now the motherboard, optical drive, processor and heatsink/fan!
Good luck!

[#5]

Thanks Njal
I have spent a day on google trying all of those but to no avail.

[#6]

When you took out the battery how long did you leave it? You may need to leave it a few hours so any capacitors run down, was there any pins near the battery as often there is  two pins to clear the cmos near by.

[#7]

battery was out for over 20 hours. It is a laptop.
Absolute bugger to split to remove battery. No pins visible to short.
Just going to admit defeat and leave back to customer.

[#8]

Had the same problem with my Dell CSx. BIOS passwords on lap-tops are held in NVRAM, so no amount of pulling the battery will shift it. I eventually got 98SE installed, but it was a lot of messing around between 2 lap-tops. As yours is Vista, not sure how or if it would work the way I did it.

[#9]

If you disabled the hard disk, would it force a boot from DVD?
You could perhaps use an external hard disk (USB) - possibly the one you can't access now???
Once you have repaired your Vista, you could re-assemble the bits. 

[#10]

I removed the HDD but it still won't boot from DVD or external usb drive.

[#11]

Not much help, and you've probably seen it, but this:
https://www.synapsenow.com/synapse/data/7117/documents/Acer%20eSettings%20Management.pdf
says
"Supervisor password
If you check the Enable box, a password is required before entering BIOS. Click
Set New Password to define the password. If you forget your password, you will
need to take your computer to an Acer Customer Service Center."
Later addition, see:
http://www.motherboardpoint.com/t133868-old-acer-extensa-367d-password-protected.html
Regards,
Neil

[#12]

Just an idea for one thing you could try. Put the duff drive in an external USB caddy and try to fix Windows on another machine.

[#13]

StickyMick
You are on the right track. I put the drive in my own laptop then booted off a BartPe XP build disk.
I was then able to access the drive and replace the corrupt files.
Put disk back in original laptop and hey presto fixed.
Thanks to all for your help

[#14]

Not sure if it will help, but with my tosh laptop, no matter what the boot device priority, if I keep pressing C after switching on, will boot from the CD-ROM no matter what.  Is there not an option to just set boot device priority, without entering the full BIOS??,  sometimes its F12 after booting.....

[#15]

Quote from: newmillscomp

StickyMick You are on the right track. I put the drive in my own laptop then booted off a BartPe XP build disk. I was then able to access the drive and replace the corrupt files. Put disk back in original laptop and hey presto fixed. Thanks to all for your help

Glad you got it sorted in the end.