how to reset power-on password on compaq presario 5204 desktop

[fire5506]

I was given a compaq presario 5204 desktop a couple of years ago. I never tried to use it until today so I can't ask the person who gave it to me for the password.  When I try to power it up I get a screen asking for the power-on password. How do I reset it or remove it? I want to donate it to the model railroad club I belong to, but it is useless this way.

[erico · Accepted solution]

Unplug the PC and open the case. remove the RTC battery (silver and the size of a coin), press the power button. Look near the battery for a jumper that is labelled clr cmos or something close. remove the jumper and then put it back in the same position.

Please post your results.

I was unable to find any information on the motherboard but it is probably like virtually every other motherboard.

Best regards,
erico

[fire5506]

That worked. It didn't give me the power-on password window. I'm really surprised it has windows 2000 on it, now it is asking for the administrator password.

[dniauh]

Is this BIOS password or Windows Password?

BIOS Password can be cleared by CMOS reset, but you would have to crack it open to get to CMOS battery.
Link below is a tutorial for Bios
Top 3 methods to crack bios password!

Windows Password can be force changed with a bootable USB thumb drive with a Windows Password Recovery Tool using a Linux Distro. I am guessing you dont have a CD or DVD drive, so you will have to create a bootable USB drive with the password reset tool. OR reinstall Windows via External CD or DVD Drive and software or create a bootable thumb drive of say 8GB in size with the OEM disk copied to that drive if it allows with piracy protection maybe not allowing OEM CD or DVD to be copied to another drive.

Link below is a reset tool for Windows Password Recovery

[fire5506]

I opened the case removed the battery to get rid of the BIOS password.

Now I am stuck with the windows administrators password. It is windows 2000 pro. I do not have any discs for this machine as it was donated to me. It does have a CD drive and a 3 1/2 floppy drive.

[wb2001]

It would be better to consider it a loser, as Win2000 was not the original OS.

Compaq Presario 5204      Running Microsoft(r) Windows(r) 98           January 1999

Processor  350 MHz AMD-K6(r)-2 processor with 3DNow!TM technology 

System Bus  100 MHz system bus 

System Memory  64 MB 100 MHz SyncDRAM, three total DIMM slots upgradable to 384 MB (SyncDRAM DIMM required) 

Hard Drive  4.0 GB UltraDMA hard drive with Performance Accelerator software 

CD-ROM Drive  32X Max CD-ROM drive 

Modem  56K ITU V.90 modem 

56K ITU V.90 modem for quick Internet downloads 

Graphics  • 2X AGP Graphics (133 MHz Accelerated Graphics Port)

ATI 3D Rage LT Pro TM Graphics (64-bit Hardware Accelerated 3D Graphics)

Maximum non-interlaced resolution of up to 1280 x 1024 (when supported by monitor) 

Power Supply  • Steady-state 110 watts

One PCI/ISA combo slot with modem installed (9")

One PCI slot open for expansion (9")

One ISA slot open for expansion (9") 

Two USB ports (front-accessible)

Serial RS-232C compatible, DB9 connector (16550)

Parallel EPP/ECP standard centronics-compatible interface (DB25 connector)

[jongdeng]

There is also a lot of password recovery software out there to either to reset power-on password. As for free program, Ophcrack is the best choice. But without basic password cracking knowledge you may can't get it to work. The recovery time mainly depends on the complexity of your passwords. In other words, if your password is too long or you are computer newbies, it doesn’t work at all. So you had better try the most powerful and easy-to-use windows password reset tool such as Windows Password Key.
For more: http://www.lostwindowspassword.com/windows-password-recovery.htm