Virus locked out startup at Bios - How do I reset Bios password

[Sbods]

Hi my dad has fallen foul to telephone scammers and his laptop has been locked out at boot up.

After pressing the power on he gets a black screen and a blue box asking for a password (I'm guessing that this is a Bios password as is it virtually immediately after power on....Windows has not booted).

After three attempts the system becomes disabled with an error code of 61066100

I have tried removing the CMOS battery and the problem remains.

Anyone out there know how to get around this or totally reset the Bios to get around / reset the password?

Your help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Steve

[DavidPK · Accepted solution]

@Sbods

Enter    74944126

Regards,

DP-K

[Sbods]

Worked a treat - thank-you.

Problem is it now boots windows to a black screen and a box saying "This computer is configured to require a password in order to start up. Please enter the startup password below"

I have looked around and found this

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/499573/this-computer-is-configured-to-require-a-password-in...

But I do not really understand it....any advice?

[DavidPK]

Hi,

You're welcome

I think you're referring to a syskey prompt - one possible chance of getting around this is if the scammers did not have time to delete the system restore points, so it may be worth trying the following.

Shutdown the notebook. 

Tap away at f8 as soon as you start the notebook to enter Windows Recovery Console. 

Use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode and hit enter. 

If this loads Ok, from the Start Menu, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools and launch System Restore.  Pick a restore point at least 48 hours before your Dad was contacted by the scammers and then proceed with the restore process.  When complete, Windows will hopefully reboot as normal.

Regards,

DP-K

[Sbods]

Unfortunately safe mode starts up to the same black screen and password prompt.

[DavidPK]

Hi,

Here are a couple of other options.

1. If you have a retail Vista installation disc, this can be used to run a windows system restore from the recovery console as follows.

Shutdown the notebook, tap away at the esc key as soon as you press the power button to access the Start-up Menu.  Insert the Vista installation disc.  Select Boot Options ( f9 ), use the arrow keys to highlight the CD/DVD drive and hit enter.  If you see a prompt to 'Press any key to boot...', do so.

Now follow the guide on the following link to run Windows System Restore - choose a restore point at least 48 hours before this issue.

Run Windows System Restore From The Recovery Environment.

2.  Another option, if all your Dads personal data etc is backed-up, would be to reset the notebook to its 'Factory Condition' and then set it up from the beginning – if you don’t have the Recovery Media, the notebook will have shipped with a Recovery Partition which can be accessed at boot - ie shutdown the notebook, then start tapping away at f11 as soon as you power on.

A full guide on this can be found on the following link ( Note: you may find the option to run windows system restore from the recovery menu - if you do, try that first, before resorting to a 'Factory Reset' ).

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00809678

Regards,

DP-K